Buda Castle tickets: the hill is free, the Hungarian National Gallery is 5,800 HUF and closed on Mondays, and the funicular shuts 5 to 16 October

💡 The Short Version: Walking Castle Hill is free. The Hungarian National Gallery is 5,800 HUF (about £13) and closed on Mondays, the Castle Museum is 3,800 HUF, and the funicular is 4,500 HUF one way and closed from 5 to 16 October 2026, then every Monday of an odd-numbered week. The Fisherman’s Bastion terrace and Matthias Church have their own guide. Or book a tour: GetYourGuide’s Buda Castle District Walking Tourad (from £10, 2 hours) is the cheapest guided walk, and its Buda Castle Cave Tourad (from £14) goes underground.

What the castle hill costs

Prices are the operators’ adult prices, converted at about 434 HUF to the pound. The hill, its courtyards and the walls cost nothing, and the buildings and viewpoints are the paid part.

• Hungarian National Gallery: the ticket is for a single entry on the day. A ticket for a temporary exhibition also opens the permanent one. The dome is open from 10:00 to 17:00 with any ticket, and its balconies close in bad weather.
• The Habsburg Palatine Crypt can be visited only after a registration the museum confirms.
• Saint Stephen’s Hall shares an entrance and ticket office with the Castle Museum, but visiting is by timed booking.
• Funicular: the maintenance days are Mondays of odd-numbered weeks, unless the day is a holiday. No BKK ticket or pass works on it: it sells its own, and children aged 3 to 14 pay 2,000 HUF one way.
• The Budapest Card makes the Gallery, the Castle Museum and Saint Stephen’s Hall free, and so is worth more here than at most Budapest sights.

Getting up the hill

• Funicular: the lower station is at Clark Ádám tér, at the Buda end of the Chain Bridge, and the upper at Szent György tér, between the castle and the Presidential Palace. It departs every 5 to 10 minutes, takes 95 seconds, and the ticket office shuts at 21:50. Buy online at siklojegy.hu or at the ticket office.
• Bus: buses 16, 16A and 116 climb the hill on an ordinary BKK ticket.
• On foot: walking up from Clark Ádám tér is free, and is the way up while the funicular is closed.

The Castle Hill Funicular, from Clark Ádám tér up to Castle Hill. Photo: Marek Mróz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

• Castle bus: the official Buda Castle bus is free with the Budapest Card.

Tours worth paying for

The tickets above are enough for most visitors. These are on GetYourGuide. Prices are its lowest “from” prices, per person.

A cheap guided walk of the hill

From £10 · 4.6 stars from 2,393 reviews · 2 hours

Budapest: Buda Castle District Walking Tourad is a two-hour guided walk round the castle district. It lists no admission, so add the Gallery or the church separately. The Budapest Card includes a free walking tour of Buda.

A walk that includes Saint Stephen’s Hall

From £22 · 4.6 stars from 4,273 reviews · 1.5 hours

Budapest: Buda Castle Walk with Saint Stephen’s Hallad adds the hall that shares the Castle Museum’s entrance. The Budapest Card makes the hall free on its own, so cardholders need not buy this.

The longer history walk

From £46 · 4.9 stars from 1,053 reviews · 2.5 hours

Budapest: Historic Buda Castle Walking Tourad is the dearest of the walks and has the highest rating. It costs about £36 more than the two-hour walk above and lasts half an hour longer. It lists no entry ticket.

The cave tour

From £14 · 4.6 stars from 7,682 reviews · 40 minutes to 1.5 hours

Budapest: Buda Castle Cave Tourad goes into the caves under Castle Hill and is the biggest GetYourGuide product on the hill. The Hospital in the Rock is the cave attraction with its own operator, price and booking.

The castle bus

From £15 · 4.4 stars from 508 reviews

Budapest: Official Buda Castle Electric Hop-on/Hop-off Busad is the bus the Budapest Card makes free. Without the card it is an alternative to the funicular for getting up and round the hill.

What to see

The Gallery alone takes 1.5 to 3 hours, so a day is the room for the Gallery, the church, the bastion and the Castle Museum together. Go in this order.

1. Fisherman’s Bastion and Matthias Church, early. The terrace opens at 9:00 and the church’s hours change daily, so go first. The bastion and church guide has the prices and the tower slots.
2. The Hungarian National Gallery (Szent György tér 2), closed Mondays. The Gallery suggests 1.5 to 3 hours. Its Gothic collection holds the largest museum collection of winged altars, panel paintings and wooden sculptures from the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. The 19th-century galleries on the first floor of the main wing hold about 150 paintings, among them Pál Szinyei Merse’s Picnic in May. The central halls on the second floor cover Hungarian art from 1896 to 1945, with Csontváry and Gulácsy.
3. The dome, with any Gallery ticket, if the weather is clear. The balconies close in bad weather.
4. The Castle Museum, for the palace’s medieval and later history. Saint Stephen’s Hall inside needs a timed booking.
5. The Hospital in the Rock, a short walk from Matthias Church by the stairs and lift on Tóth Árpád sétány. It is a 60-minute guided tour.

What to skip: the Habsburg Palatine Crypt unless you have registered, and the Castle Museum if the Gallery has filled your day. The walk along the ramparts and the courtyards cost nothing.

The Royal Palace on Castle Hill, which houses the Hungarian National Gallery and the Castle Museum. Photo: VargaA, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Hours, rules and getting there

• Hungarian National Gallery: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00. The exhibitions begin closing at 17:30 on the top floor, the ticket office closes at 17:00, and entry is allowed until 17:00, even with a pre-bought or free ticket. The shop and café are open until 17:45.
• Funicular: 8:00 to 22:00 every day except the maintenance days. It is closed from 5 to 16 October 2026.
• Address: the Gallery is at Szent György tér 2, in the Royal Palace, and the funicular’s upper station is beside it.
• Tickets: the Gallery sells through Jegymester and Liget+, and at the desk.
• Getting there: the funicular and the walk start at Clark Ádám tér; trams 19 and 41 stop at Clark Ádám tér. Budapest public transport has the fares.

Castle Hill looks across the river to the Hungarian Parliament, and the Chain Bridge is the walk between them. St Stephen’s Basilica, the Hungarian State Opera tours, the House of Terror and the Dohány Street Synagogue are the Pest-side sights, Budapest’s thermal baths compared covers a bath, and the Budapest Card pays for the Gallery. For the rest of the city’s bookings, see what to book before you go to Budapest. 3 days in Budapest and Budapest in one day build the plan round the bookings, including the Monday closure. To sleep within reach of the hill, where to stay in Budapest compares the areas, and Danube river cruises show the castle skyline from the water. Where to eat in Budapest lists places near the hill.