Budapest's Andrássy út walk: from St Stephen's Basilica past the Opera and the House of Terror to City Park, with what is open each day

One of 2 self-guided walks in Budapest. See every walk.

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: Start at St Stephen’s Basilica and finish at Vajdahunyad Castle in City Park: 3.9 km, about 50 minutes of walking and a full day with the Opera tour, the House of Terror and the museums. Walk it Wednesday to Friday: on Mondays the House of Terror and the Museum of Fine Arts are closed, on Tuesdays the Kodály Museum is, and on Sundays the Basilica’s nave opens at 13:00. Book the Opera tour, 12,000 HUF in English at 13:30, 15:00 or 16:30, a week ahead; the House of Terror sells tickets only at its desk. The Millennium Underground, line M1, runs under the avenue for the way back. Or book a tour: the Opera House guided tourad (from £28, 60 minutes) matches the Opera’s own, and a Communist history tour with a House of Terror optionad (from £43, 2 hours) is the guided way through the same history.

The route

Map of the walk numbered stops in walking order

Open the whole route in Google Maps - all the stops in walking order, set to walking directions, which is the version to put on your phone.

Andrássy út was laid out from 1872 to 1885, and UNESCO’s World Heritage listing for Budapest names it, with the Buda Castle Quarter that the Castle Hill walk covers. Prices are the adult rate in forint (HUF) from each operator, at about 434 HUF to the pound.

Walk it with a guide

A guide gives the history that the buildings do not show. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

• Budapest: Opera House Guided Tourad: from £28, 4.5 stars from 2,177 reviews, 60 minutes. It meets at the Opera at Andrássy út 22, goes inside with a live English guide and ends with a brief concert. The Opera may cancel tours during rehearsals and offers another date.
• Budapest: Communist History Tour with House of Terror Optionad: from £43, 4.8 stars from 223 reviews, 2 hours. It is a walk through central Budapest, from Parliament to Liberty Square, with an entry ticket to the House of Terror or to the Budapest Retro Experience Center, depending on the option.
• Budapest: St Stephen’s Basilica Entry with Optionsad: from £10, for the first stop. The Basilica guide compares the church and terrace tickets.

Hungarian State Opera tours and the House of Terror have the ticket detail for each.

1. St Stephen’s Basilica

Nave Monday to Saturday 9:00 to 17:45 (last tickets 17:15), Sunday 13:00 to 17:45 (tickets from 12:30) · Panorama Terrace and Treasury daily 9:00 to 19:00 (last tickets 18:30)

St Stephen’s Basilica on Szent István tér. Photo: Adam Kliczek, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Construction began in 1851 to József Hild’s plans. The dome collapsed in 1868, a year after Hild’s death, and Miklós Ybl took over, corrected the design and reworked the whole church with Renaissance elements. It was consecrated in 1905 and has carried St Stephen’s name since 1897. The terrace runs round the main dome 65 m up: 304 steps, or lifts that were installed in the chimney shafts in 2003.

• The Holy Right, the preserved right hand of King Stephen, is shown in a glass case in the church, where it has been displayed since 1987.
• Weekends: weddings can restrict the church space.
• Tickets: St Stephen’s Basilica tickets has the prices for the church, the terrace and the treasury.

2. The Hungarian State Opera

English tour 12,000 HUF (about £28), 60 minutes · daily at 13:30, 15:00 and 16:30 · tickets released a week ahead

The Hungarian State Opera on Andrássy út. Photo: Andrzej Otrębski, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Neo-Renaissance palace by Miklós Ybl was reopened with a gala on 12 March 2022 after a refurbishment of nearly five years. Inside are a foyer of Italian marble, a grand staircase, a horseshoe-shaped three-storey auditorium and a Royal Box, and the tour ends with a short concert by Opera soloists on the landing of the grand staircase.

• Booking: tickets are available one week in advance, at the box offices or online. The tour starts in the entrance hall at the information desk, in groups of up to 30.
• Not during performances, and when the auditorium is closed for a rehearsal the route changes to other areas. Photographs are allowed without flash or tripod.
• Hungarian-language tours are 6,400 HUF, and children under 3 go free.
• More: Hungarian State Opera tours.

3. Liszt Ferenc tér and the Liszt Academy

Tour with a mini concert, 6,700 HUF (about £15.45) in a foreign language, 50 minutes · dates and times on the Academy’s site

The Liszt Academy of Music on Liszt Ferenc tér. Photo: Fred Romero, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

The route leaves Andrássy út for Liszt Ferenc tér, the square beside the Liszt Academy. The Art Nouveau concert hall was restored in 2013 to the state it had when it was built in 1907. The Academy runs guided tours of 50 minutes in English with a mini concert by one of its students, through the Grand Hall and the György Solti Chamber Hall, and tickets are sold at the ticket office or online at zeneakademia.hu.

• Menza is on the square: see where to eat.

4. The House of Terror

4,000 HUF (about £9.20) · Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, cash desk to 17:30 · closed on Mondays · no online tickets

The House of Terror at Andrássy út 60. Photo: Fred Romero, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

The museum opened on 24 February 2002 in the building at Andrássy út 60 as a monument to the people held captive, tortured and killed there. The architect Attila F. Kovács gave it a black frame of blade walls and a black roof entablature, which sets it apart from the buildings on either side. The exhibition covers the two regimes Hungary lived under in the 20th century.

• Tickets are sold only at the museum, and there is no online payment. English guided tours are for groups of 10 to 30, at 20,000 HUF per group, booked by email.
• Getting there: the M1 to Vörösmarty utca, or trams 4 and 6 to Oktogon.
• More: the House of Terror.

5. Kodály körönd and the Kodály Museum

Museum 3,500 HUF (about £8.05) · Monday and Wednesday to Friday 10:00 to 17:00, Saturday 11:00 to 14:00 by appointment only, closed on Tuesdays

The buildings round Kodály körönd. Photo: Pasztilla (Attila Terbócs), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Kodály körönd is a circular crossing on Andrássy út, named after the composer Zoltán Kodály, who lived in a flat on it from October 1924 until his death in March 1967. The flat is now the museum, at Andrássy út 87-89. It is kept much as he left it: the dining room, a parlour with two pianos, and the study with a carved desk and a library covering two walls.

• Make an appointment, even on weekdays, to avoid waiting: phone +36 1 352 7106 or email at least two days ahead for a group. Ring doorbell number 30.
• A video programme is available on weekdays, and an English guided tour for groups of up to 20 is 18,000 HUF on top of the tickets.

6. Heroes’ Square

Free · the Museum of Fine Arts: 5,800 HUF (about £13.35), Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:00, closed on Mondays

Heroes’ Square and the Millennium Monument. Photo: Suicasmo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The avenue ends at the Millennium Monument, begun in 1896 for the thousandth anniversary of the Magyar conquest and largely finished by 1900, when the square was named. Albert Schickedanz designed it, with sculpture by György Zala. A 36 m column carries the Archangel Gabriel, and seven equestrian statues at its foot stand for the Magyar chieftains.

The Museum of Fine Arts

The museum on the square, at Dózsa György út 41, shows Egyptian and Classical antiquity and European art from 1250 to 1800, with Hungarian art from 1600 to 1800: 5,800 HUF for the permanent exhibitions, a single entry. The international art after 1800 is shown at the Hungarian National Gallery on Castle Hill, stop 2 of the Castle Hill walk. Ticket sales and entry end at 17:00, and the exhibitions start closing at 17:30.

• 9 October 2026: the museum opens from 12:00 to 20:00, with entry to 19:00.
• From 30 October 2026: the exhibition Bonjour Monsieur Gauguin runs to 28 February 2027.

7. City Park and Vajdahunyad Castle

Courtyards free · Széchenyi Baths: daily ticket with a locker 13,200 HUF Monday to Thursday, 14,800 HUF Friday to Sunday

Vajdahunyad Castle in City Park. Photo: Lessormore, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

The walk ends in City Park at Vajdahunyad Castle, a group of buildings from the 1896 millennium celebrations in several historical styles, a short walk from the square. The Museum of Hungarian Agriculture is inside.

• The Széchenyi Baths are 650 m on and open daily: Monday to Thursday 7:00 to 20:00, Friday 7:00 to 22:00, Saturday and Sunday 8:00 to 20:00, with the pools closing 20 minutes earlier. The baths name the Millennium Underground as their suggested way there. The Budapest Card is accepted for the daily ticket with a locker. See Széchenyi Baths tickets.

Where to eat

Művész Kávéház

Andrássy út 29 · daily 9:00 to 20:00

A coffee house founded in 1898, on Andrássy út opposite the Opera, with a long list of cakes. Stop here before the tour or after it. See where to eat in Budapest for more.

Menza

Liszt Ferenc tér 2 · daily 11:00 to 23:30, kitchen 11:30 to 22:30

A restaurant styled on a canteen on Liszt Ferenc tér. The daily lunch menu is 2,890 HUF from 11:30 while it lasts, and the fish soup, halászlé, is 4,290 HUF on the weekly menu. It is the lunch between the Opera and the House of Terror.

The best day to go

The timing that works, Wednesday to Friday: be at the Basilica at 9:00 for the terrace, take the Opera tour at 13:30 on a ticket booked a week ahead, have lunch on Liszt Ferenc tér and be at the House of Terror by 15:00, since the cash desk closes at 17:30. Be on Heroes’ Square before 17:00. Leave the Kodály Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts for a second day: the first closes at 17:00 and needs an appointment, and the second stops selling tickets at 17:00.

What closes:

• 9 October 2026: the Museum of Fine Arts opens from 12:00 to 20:00.
• 30 October 2026: Bonjour Monsieur Gauguin opens at the Museum of Fine Arts.
• During performances and some rehearsals: the Opera tour does not run, or changes route.
• Weekends: weddings can restrict the Basilica’s church space.

What does not close: the avenue, Kodály körönd, Heroes’ Square and the courtyards of Vajdahunyad Castle. A Monday still makes a good walk: the Basilica, the Opera tour, the Liszt Academy and the Kodály Museum are open, and only the House of Terror and the Museum of Fine Arts are not.

Getting there and back

• To the start: St Stephen’s Basilica is a short walk from Deák Ferenc tér, where metro lines M1, M2 and M3 meet. See Budapest airport to the city centre.
• From the end: the Millennium Underground, line M1, runs under Andrássy út from the city centre to the City Park, and the House of Terror is a short walk from its Vörösmarty utca station. Budapest public transport has the tickets.
• In reverse: the route also runs from City Park back to the Basilica, but the Opera tours at 13:30, 15:00 and 16:30 and the House of Terror’s 17:30 cash desk then set the order.

What to do with the rest of the day

• Castle Hill: the Castle Hill walk starts at Clark Ádám tér, about 1.3 km from the Basilica across the Chain Bridge.
• The thermal baths: Budapest’s thermal baths compares the Széchenyi Baths with the others.
• The Jewish Quarter: Dohány Street Synagogue and the Jewish Quarter is on the Pest side near the Basilica.
• An evening out: Budapest ruin bars.
• The whole trip: 3 days in Budapest and Budapest in one day build the days round the bookings, and what to book before you go to Budapest has the rest of the tickets. To stay near the avenue, where to stay in Budapest compares the areas.

Common questions

How long is the Andrássy út walk in Budapest?

3.9 km from St Stephen's Basilica to Vajdahunyad Castle in City Park, measured along the streets: about 50 minutes of walking. With the Opera tour, the House of Terror and the Museum of Fine Arts it fills a day.

What is Andrássy út?

The avenue laid out in 1872 to 1885 from the centre of Pest to City Park. UNESCO lists it, with the Millennium Underground Railway of 1893 to 1896, in the World Heritage site that also includes the Buda Castle Quarter. The Millennium Underground, line M1, runs beneath it.

Is the Andrássy út walk free?

The avenue, Kodály körönd, Heroes' Square and the courtyards of Vajdahunyad Castle cost nothing. The Opera tour is 12,000 HUF, the Liszt Academy tour 6,700 HUF, the House of Terror 4,000 HUF, the Kodály Museum 3,500 HUF and the Museum of Fine Arts 5,800 HUF. St Stephen's Basilica is ticketed, and the Opera tour is the one to book a week ahead.

What do I need to book for the Andrássy út walk?

The Opera tour, whose tickets are released one week ahead, and the Kodály Museum, which asks visitors to make an appointment, and requires one for groups at least two days before. The House of Terror sells tickets only at its desk, with no online sale.

Which day is best for the Andrássy út walk?

Wednesday to Friday. On Mondays the House of Terror and the Museum of Fine Arts are closed, on Tuesdays the Kodály Museum is closed, on Saturdays the Kodály Museum opens only by appointment from 11:00 to 14:00, and on Sundays the nave of St Stephen's Basilica opens at 13:00.

How do I get back from Heroes' Square?

On the Millennium Underground, line M1, which runs under the whole avenue. The House of Terror is a short walk from Vörösmarty utca station, and the Széchenyi Baths name the underground as their suggested way there.