Spending a week in Budapest gave us ample opportunity to discover all sorts of interesting aspects of the city. I was going to make this a top 5 list of things to do, but couldn’t limit it to just 5, so have doubled it. We didnt’ get around to everything, but out of all the things we did see and do, here are my top 10 cool (read interesting) things to do…

10. Budapest Metro. The Budapest metro system is worth a mention of its own. The trains hurtle along at speeds that seem unlikely for trains of such age. The interior condition of the trains is fantastic – the old-style green interior walls with chrome trim take you back to times long before I was born. The steep escalators to get to the underground stations are some of the steepest and deepest I’ve ever come across, complete with bakelite grip on the escalator stairs. The underground is fast, efficient and has an air of past eras. Just make sure you have a validated ticket at all times, as the ticket-checkers mentioned on travel sites do exist – they wait at the exits to the stations and can slap you with a fine if you ticket is invalid.

9. Chain Bridge. Being the daughter of an engineer, I had to spend some time admiring the Chain Bridge. It gives the impression of withstanding the ages – it’s large, solid and very well-built. Looking at the smaller details of the bridge such as its end points and mid-towers makes a walk across this bridge quite educational.

8. Parliament Building. This one is kinda hard to miss if you’re anywhere on the river. It’s large, ornate facade dominates the river frontage in the centre of the city. It’s spectacular in its own right, and well worth the walk around. When we were there, we weren’t able to get near the actual building, but it was good to walk around and look at the outside nonetheless.

7. Gellert Hill. On the Buda side, south of Castle Hill, you may notice a statue on a hill of a lady holding something aloft. Follow her, and make the trek up that hill and you’ll find Gellert Hill. The lady is in fact the Liberty Statue, and is holding a palm branch aloft, commemorating the Soviet liberation of Hungary from Nazi forces during WWII. It now stands as a monument to those who sacrificed their lives during the war. The hill itself provides good views over the city, and down the river.

6. Museum of Military History. Situated up on Castle Hill, if you’re into military history this is the place to spend a few hours. It is jam-packed with seemingly hundreds of examples from Hungarian military history through the centuries. Although I’m not hugely into military history I found it very interesting and a good way to spend a couple of hours.

5. Monument Park. I didn’t actually get out to this park, but my husband spent an afternoon there and his photos said enough. To get out there, you have to take a train, then a bus, then another bus, but it seems like it’s worth it. Budapest is one of the few cities which, after the fall of Communism, didn’t tear down and melt the Communist-era statues adorning the city. Instead, they were moved to a park outside the city centre where people can now wander amongst these relics of a past age. The sheer size of some of these statues is impressive, as are the attitudes of many of them – workers, soldiers – their bronze faces all very earnest.

4. Pizza Marzano. After some dismal attempts to find a nice restaurant, towards the end of our stay (second last night) we stumbled across this restuarant. The staff were fantastically friendly, spoke good English (our Hungarian is appalling), and the food was fantastic with heaps of choices (including vego!). This restaurant made such a good impression on us that we booked for the following night as well and are happy to recommend it to anyone travelling to Budapest. There are three of them around Budapest – we went to the one on Batthyány Ter.

3. Elizabeth Tower and chairlift (Libegö). This was quite an unexpected find, and doesn’t seem to feature in many of the guidebooks. Out on the far western side of Buda, where the mountains start, there is a hill with a tower on top – János Hill. We had seen the tower, but were not sure how to get up the hill to the tower (or if in fact it was anything worth seeing!). After considerable investigation, my husband discovered that there is a chairlift which runs up the hill. We took the chairlift up, and walked the extra bit to the top of the hill to the tower. The tower was named after Elizabeth, an Austro-Hungarian queen who was, it seems, much loved by her people. The tower provides an amazing view – almost the entire city can be viewed from the top, along with a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside. The ride up and back down the chairlift also gives great views – jump on at the bottom, and you pay at the top. You can also access the tower by the Children’s Railway – we didn’t get there, but it’s on our list for next time.

2. Matthius Church. This church is pretty hard to miss if you’re up on Castle Hill. There is a small entrance fee, but it’s worth it for the inside. The inside walls of the church are painted – every square inch. Intricate patterns and motifs adorn every spare bit of space inside the building. The church also contains the oldest piece of stone carving still in its original place – carved in 1260 it is on a stone pillar and represents a monk (scholar) showing a younger man a book.

The church also houses the Crown of the Crooked Cross. We had heard of this crown, and were keen to see if the cross on it really is crooked (it is!). The room housing the crown also has lots of information about the crown and its history which provides a lot of insight into the Hungarian people and their history.

We were a little surprised to find a room full of relics as well, in Matthias Church – including part of a skull and a complete foot (not sure who the owners were…).

1. Underground Military Hospital. We stumbled upon this quite by accident. After visiting Matthias Church on Castle Hill (it’s more a cathedral than a church), we walked past a glass booth with signs mentioning tours through an underground military hospital. Thinking it sounded interesting, we waited for a tour guide to arrive. When she arrived, we were informed that the normal front entrance to the tour was closed and that we would have to enter through the exit. We followed our guide through the streets of the Castle District until we arrived at a huge iron gate across the entrance to what appeared to be an underground bunker of sorts. With a degree of trepidation, we followed our guide in (who locked the iron gate behind us…), and found ourselves in the underground network of tunnels, which is underneath Castle Hill. There are something like 10km of tunnels underneath the Hill, and amongst them a military hospital and a nuclear bunker (we didn’t get to see the bunker). The military hospital was built for use in WWII and was also used during the 1956 Revolution. It’s well worth the visit – the hospital has been preserved for the last 50 years and makes you feel like you’re walking back in time – the kitchen is even still authentic. The hospital is also full of wax dummies (of patients) to make it very realistic.

Deeper into the mountain are bare tunnels, which we got a glimpse of, along with indications of how the tunnels have been used through the ages – storage of food and people (living and dead), and a good hiding place.