The parliament view
The whole Gothic building on the far bank with the Danube between — the picture that identifies Budapest worldwide.
TUX — CC BY-SA 2.5 hu · Jakub Hałun — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jakub Hałun — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jakub Hałun — CC BY-SA 4.0
Usually there is no need. The difference in view between the levels is small, and the free lower level gives you nearly the same scene. Come very early or after dark and the upper terrace itself is free, because the ticket window is closed.
Three ways: bus 16 from Deák tér, which goes straight to the top and is easiest; the funicular from the Chain Bridge end, which is prettier but ticketed and queued; or the steps on foot from Clark Ádám tér, about fifteen minutes uphill.
Before 8am or after 8pm. Between 11 and 5 the arcades fill with tour groups and movement slows to a shuffle. Sunrise in particular gives you the place nearly empty with the best light on the parliament.
Matthias Church is immediately attached, Buda Castle is ten minutes south along the hill, and the Church of St Mary Magdalene and the Vienna Gate sit at the northern end — the whole Castle District walks in half a day.
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The Fisherman's Bastion is not a bastion and never defended anything. It was built between 1895 and 1902 as an ornamental viewing terrace on the edge of the Castle District — white conical towers, arcades and stairways that belong more to a fairy tale than to military history. The name comes from the fishermen's guild, which by tradition was responsible for defending this stretch of wall in the Middle Ages. Its seven towers are deliberate: one for each of the seven Magyar tribes that settled the Carpathian basin in 896. The architect, Frigyes Schulek, designed it as a frame for Matthias Church behind rather than a rival to it, which is why the two work together in every photograph taken here. The view from the top is the most famous in Budapest: the Danube directly below, the Gothic parliament on the far bank, the Chain Bridge to the right. The lower level and arcades are completely free at any hour; the token ticket covers only the upper terrace during daytime hours — and once the ticket window closes in the evening, the whole terrace is free.
The whole Gothic building on the far bank with the Danube between — the picture that identifies Budapest worldwide.
Each conical tower stands for one of the seven Magyar tribes that settled here in 896 — count them as you walk.
A bronze of the king on horseback between the bastion and Matthias Church, its plinth carved with scenes from his life.
The white stone is fully lit, the crowd thins right out, the parliament opposite is lit too — and there is no ticket after evening.
Szentháromság tér, Castle District, Buda 1014