3 days in Budapest: an itinerary built round the bookings

💡 The Short Version: Day 1, Pest: the Hungarian Parliament (UK visitors pay 14,000 HUF, advance tickets online only), St Stephen’s Basilica, the Great Market Hall and a river cruise. Day 2, Buda: the Castle District, the National Gallery (closed Mondays) and Fisherman’s Bastion, then Széchenyi Baths. Day 3, Andrássy út: the House of Terror (desk sales only, closed Mondays), the Opera House tour, the Dohány Street Synagogue (closed Saturdays) and the ruin bars. The Buda Castle Funicular is closed from 5 to 16 October 2026. Or book a tour: the 3-hour orientation walking tour of Buda and Pestad (from £29.75, 4.8 stars from 2,265 reviews) includes four public transport tickets but no admissions.

Before you go: what to book

The Budapest Card does not pay back for this plan. Bought separately, the sights in the table, a 72-hour travelcard (HUF 5,750) and Legenda’s evening cruise come to about HUF 84,900. With the 72-hour card at HUF 29,990, the Parliament, the Opera tour, the House of Terror, the Bastion and Matthias Church are still paid in full, the Basilica, Széchenyi and the synagogue are discounted, and the total is about HUF 89,200.

Fitting the plan to your dates

• Monday: the National Gallery and the House of Terror are shut, and the funicular is out of service on Mondays of odd-numbered weeks. Put Day 1 on the Monday, which is open throughout, and keep Days 2 and 3 for Tuesday to Sunday.
• Saturday: the synagogue is closed all day. Keep Day 3 for any other day.
• Sunday: St Stephen’s Basilica opens its nave at 13:00, so go to the terrace and treasury first. The Great Market Hall is open 10:00 to 16:00.
• Friday: the synagogue closes at 16:00, with its box office an hour before, so go there first. Széchenyi is open to 22:00, so Friday is the evening for it.
• 5 to 16 October 2026: the funicular is closed. Buses 16, 16A and 116 climb the hill on an ordinary ticket: see Budapest public transport.
• 23 October: the Fisherman’s Bastion terrace is free, the House of Terror is open, and Széchenyi charges its peak-day price from 23 to 25 October. The Great Market Hall is closed on public holidays.
• The Danube is low, so a cruise runs when water levels allow. Keep a second evening free.

Day 1: the Parliament, the Basilica and the river

The Hungarian Parliament

A 45-minute tour · 14,000 HUF for UK visitors · online tickets only in advance

UK visitors pay the non-EEA price, 14,000 HUF (about £32), double the EEA price of 7,000 HUF. Advance tickets are sold online only, at jegymester.hu, and the operator warns against overpriced tickets bought elsewhere; a limited number of same-day tickets go on sale at the Visitor Centre. Arrive on time: late visitors may be refused entry without a refund (Hungarian Parliament). GetYourGuide’s entry ticket with an audio guidead is from £36.54 (4.5 stars from 6,134 reviews), about 13% above the operator’s price.

The Hungarian Parliament from the Buda bank, with sightseeing boats on the Danube. Photo: দেবর্ষি রায়, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

St Stephen’s Basilica

Church 2,600 · terrace and treasury 5,000 · combined 6,800

Entry is ticketed, and the church is open from 13:00 on Sundays. The combined ticket adds the panorama terrace and the treasury, which are open every day until 19:00 (St Stephen’s Basilica). GetYourGuide’s entry with optionsad is from £10.20 (4.6 stars from 15,145 reviews), against £6.00 for the church ticket at the Basilica. St Stephen’s Basilica tickets has the rest.

St Stephen’s Basilica, seen across St Stephen’s Square. Photo: P. Hughes, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

The Chain Bridge and the Great Market Hall

On foot · free · market open Monday to Friday 06:00 to 18:00, Saturday 06:00 to 16:00, Sunday 10:00 to 16:00

Walk from the Basilica to the Chain Bridge and the Danube promenade, then south to the Great Market Hall, open to 18:00 on weekdays and 16:00 on Saturdays (Great Market Hall). Tram 2 along the Pest bank passes the Chain Bridge and the Parliament on one single ticket.

An evening on the river

Legenda 25 euros · GetYourGuide from £9.31 · runs when water levels allow

Legenda’s one-hour evening cruise is 25 euros, and the most-reviewed GetYourGuide cruise, the unlimited drinks cruisead, is from £21.08 (4.8 stars from 49,699 reviews). Danube river cruises says what the low water has stopped.

Day 2: the Castle District and a bath

Up the hill

Funicular 08:00 to 22:00 · closed 5 to 16 October 2026 · HUF 4,500 one way

The Buda Castle Funicular takes 95 seconds and sells its own tickets, HUF 4,500 one way and HUF 5,500 return online, plus a booking fee; it takes no BKK ticket. It is closed from 5 to 16 October 2026. Buses 16, 16A and 116 reach the top on an ordinary ticket (BKK).

The Hungarian National Gallery

Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00 · 5,800 HUF · closed Mondays

The permanent exhibition is 5,800 HUF, the dome is open with any ticket from 10:00 to 17:00, and last entry is at 17:00 (Hungarian National Gallery). Buda Castle and the Hungarian National Gallery says what is free on the hill.

Matthias Church and Fisherman’s Bastion

Church 3,400 · tower 4,000 · Bastion terrace 1,700

The church ticket is valid all calendar year, and tower tickets are for a 30-minute slot on a chosen date. The Bastion terrace is 1,700 HUF from 09:00 to 19:00, and free on 23 October and from 24 to 31 December (Matthias Church; Budavári Városüzemeltetési Kft). For a guide, the Buda Castle District walking tourad is from £10.20 (4.6 stars from 2,393 reviews, 2 hours), starting at Szentháromság tér. Under the hill, the Buda Castle Cave Tourad, run by the Duna-Ipoly National Park Directorate, is from £14.30 (4.6 stars from 7,682 reviews): the cave is 12°C, groups are 25, and it starts at Dárda utca 2.

The towers of Fisherman’s Bastion on Castle Hill. Photo: John Samuel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Széchenyi Baths in the evening

13,200 HUF on weekdays · to 22:00 on Fridays · no under-14s

Széchenyi is open every day, to 20:00 from Monday to Thursday and to 22:00 on Fridays, with the last entry an hour before closing. Online tickets go on sale 180 days ahead and cannot be changed or refunded. Children under 14 are not admitted. GetYourGuide’s ticket with optional upgradesad is from £33.15 (4.3 stars from 28,291 reviews), which sits between the operator’s weekday and Friday prices (Széchenyi Baths). Budapest thermal baths compares the other baths: the Gellért is closed for rebuilding.

The domed main building of the Széchenyi Baths, seen from the City Park. Photo: Natalia Semenova, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

Day 3: Andrássy út and the Jewish Quarter

The House of Terror

Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00 · 4,000 HUF · desk sales only · closed Mondays

Tickets are sold at the museum’s own desk, and the discounts are for EEA citizens only, so UK visitors pay the full 4,000 HUF. The museum was closed from 15 to 21 September 2026 after the culture minister ordered a review of the exhibition, and reopened on 22 September; the minister wrote that it can be visited in its current state until the review ends (House of Terror).

The Opera House tour

Daily at 13:30, 15:00 and 16:30 · 12,000 HUF · tickets a week ahead

The English tour takes 60 minutes and ends with a short concert. Tickets are released a week ahead, and there are no tours during performances (Hungarian State Opera). GetYourGuide’s Opera House Guided Tourad is from £27.62 (4.5 stars from 2,176 reviews), the same as the operator’s price. See Hungarian State Opera tours.

The Dohány Street Synagogue

Sunday to Thursday 10:00 to 20:00 · Friday to 16:00 · 9,000 HUF · closed Saturdays

The box office shuts an hour before closing. Cover your knees and shoulders: a cloak is sold at the door for 500 HUF (Dohány Street Synagogue tickets). Dohány Street Synagogue and the Jewish Quarter has the Quarter’s other sights.

The ruin bars after dark

Instant-Fogas daily 18:00 to 06:00 · free entry

Ruin bars says which to visit and what a crawl costs. Drinking in the street is illegal.

If it rains, or if you have more time

• A wet-day swap: the Hospital in the Rock is a 60-minute guided tour only, daily 10:00 to 19:00, at 30 euros for the English programme, with no photos and no under-6s (sziklakorhaz.eu). The Castle Museum is 3,800 HUF, and Lukács bath is 7,000 to 8,000 HUF and open to 19:00.
• With a fourth day, day trips from Budapest compares them. The Szentendre, Visegrád and Esztergom boats are not running while the low-water notice stands, so go by train: the Danube Bend day trip, or Szentendre alone on the HÉV.
• With less, Budapest in one day picks the sights for one day.

For the airport, see Budapest Airport to the city centre; for the fares, Budapest public transport; for where to sleep, where to stay in Budapest and hotels near the Hungarian Parliament; and for every booking and how far ahead, what to book before you go in Budapest. For tables worth booking, where to eat in Budapest; for a guided tasting, Budapest food tours. For the dates, see best time to visit Budapest, and in December Budapest Christmas markets.