Places/Hungary

Budapest

Budapest

Two cities on a river, a parliament that looks like a film set, and baths that are civic, not spa-theatre.

Pest is the flat, busy side. Buda is the hill and the older quiet. Most visitors sleep in Pest and are right to, then cross the river on foot at least once rather than only from a boat.

The baths are the city’s most original advice. Go to a thermal bath as a resident might: a weekday morning, a towel, no urgency. It is not a nightclub unless you have chosen the one that decided to be.

See

• The river on foot

  Cross the Chain Bridge early. Walk the Pest embankment until the parliament stops being a surprise and becomes a building.

• A bath

  Széchenyi if you want the famous outdoor pools. A smaller bath if you want fewer cameras. Read the locker system before you are wet and confused.

• The castle district, briefly

  The view back to Pest is the point. The streets are handsome and can be finished in a morning.

• A market hall for orientation

  The Great Market Hall’s upstairs is tourist food. The ground floor is still a market if you go early. Buy fruit. Eat elsewhere.