Budapest Travel Guide - Too Many Things to Do & See in Hungary!

Good morning and welcome to a sunny beautiful but very cold winter Budapest. I hope you are having a wonderful day and thank you for joining me on today's trip as we have a wander around part of Budapest. Now Budapest, I don't know if you know, it's like two cities. Buda on one side, Pest on the other, with the river Danube dividing the two and the chain link bridge linking the two. So today I'm going to focus mostly on the Pest side and have a walk around and show you what there is to see there. Let's start. And what better place to start the day than on Heroes Square. Now this was commissioned in 1896 to celebrate 1,000 years, that's right, a millennia of a country being here and it's 1,000 years in 1896. That is amazing. Now on the centre pedestal you've got the angel Gabriel and either side in the two colonnades flanking it are chieftains, kings and freedom fighters from throughout Hungary's history. It's a big open plaza, free to wander around and either side you've got the Museum of Fine Art over there and the Hall of Arts on this side. Let me show you a little bit. Now heading out of Heroes Square you go into the gardens which are also very beautiful behind and we are going to look at Vagyohunyad Castle right over there. Vagyohunyad Castle sits in the park by the boating lakes and at this time of year an ice rink. Now it's an unusual castle because it was built in 1896 as part of the millennial anniversary but it was built to showcase the evolution of Hungarian architecture through the centuries. So you have styles from everywhere, you've got parts of the middle ages blend with gothic renaissance, baroque with romanesque, creating a beautiful eclectic palace and it's set in these beautiful gardens which you can wander around. And also our next point is very close by over there, the Széchenyi Baths. The Széchenyi Thermal Baths. Now these are Budapest's biggest and most popular thermal spa baths and they've been providing soothing healing for over 100 years now. You can choose from a selection of 18 different thermal geothermal pools, some inside and some outside. You can have a massage, you can go in the sauna, you can work out in the gym or just relax in the pool with a glass of wine and a beer. Everything is thoughtfully provided right here at these beautiful healing baths. Now you should be totally relaxed after your time at the baths but now it's time to get a move on and see some more things. We are going to head back to the metro station now, get the yellow line, go five stops in towards the city and get off at opera station. Now just five stops down the line from where we got on the metro and you get off at the opera where you go, guess what? The Hungarian State Opera House. It was opened in 1884 and ironically at the moment it's closed for renovations until 2021. These buildings do need maintenance. Operas are still ongoing in Budapest at the Erkul Theatre so you can still catch an opera while you're here and they'll be running there until the renovations are finished in this beautiful opera house that has some of the best acoustics in Europe that has made it so popular. Come back in 2021. Now from here it's a straight walk almost straight down this nice wide boulevard for 12 minutes to see St Stephen's Basilica. Now from the opera house it's a pleasant 12 minutes walk to St Stephen's Basilica, the largest church in Hungary. Big enough for over 8,000 people inside. It took 54 years to build and during that building nearly 20 years of construction had gone by when the main dome collapsed. Now that must have caused a mess and a half. Now the architect who designed the opera house was brought in and the building was completed. Now when it's finished the dome stands 96 meters high. Now the city ordinance limits all buildings in the city to be a maximum of 96 meters high and it's exactly the same height as the parliament buildings here which symbolizes the balance in Hungary between the church and the state. Let me show you. Listen to the bells it's beautiful. That was beautiful hey. And just a short walk down the street here to the end, less than five minutes and we are heading to Erzsébet garden to see the Budapest Eye. Another short five minute walk takes you to Erzsébet Park and the Budapest Eye. Reaching a height of 65 meters it offers great views of the city especially the basilica which is close by and is a relaxing way to look over Buda, Pest and the Danube river. And from here it's only a five minute walk Located at the end of the quite touristy shopping street of Václav Utka, Václav's square is named after the renowned Hungarian poet by the same name whose statue is in the middle of the square. Now from here it's a 15 minute walk down to the river.