Not to miss

Gellért Baths

The city's most famous thermal spa is the Gellért Baths below Gellért Hill. Soaking in this Art Nouveau palace has been likened to taking a bath in a cathedral. The pools here maintain a constant temperature of 44°C (111°F).

Royal Palace

The Royal Palace has been burned, bombed, razed, rebuilt and redesigned at least six times over the past seven centuries. It's now an 18th- and early 20th-century amalgam reconstructed after the last war. Take a majestic walk through Ferdinand Gate, under Mace Tower, to the Turkish cemetery or relax in the palace gardens behind the Budapest History Museum.

The palace houses the impressive Hungarian National Gallery (with a huge Hungarian art section), the Széchenyi National Library and the Budapest History Museum.

Hungarian State Opera House

The neo-Renaissance Hungarian State Opera House, among the city's most beautiful buildings, was designed by Miklós Ybl in 1884. If you cannot attend a concert or an opera, join one of the guided tours, which usually includes a brief musical performance. Tickets are available from the souvenir shop on the eastern side of the building facing Hajós utca.