Luxury holidays in Hungary
Soak in the Széchenyi's outdoor pools, then watch Parliament turn gold over the Danube at dusk. Say how many nights you have, and we add a river cruise on to Vienna.
It comes off your final price, and is refunded in full if you don't go ahead.
Hungary
10 days · 9 nights
Budapest → Bratislava → Vienna → Moravia → Prague
You begin with three nights in Budapest, crossing between hilltop Buda and the grand avenues of Pest. A guided walk in Bratislava leads on to Vienna's palaces, galleries and an intimate concert at the Mozarthaus. A winery lunch in Moravia carries you to Prague for its Castle District and Jewish Quarter.
Budapest sits on more than a hundred thermal springs, and an afternoon in one of its old bathhouses is the best way to feel the city. At the Széchenyi, locals play chess in the steaming outdoor pools beneath a yellow neo-baroque palace, and at the Rudas an Ottoman dome arches over the water. Afterwards, a grand café on the Pest side serves cake beneath gilded ceilings.
As dusk falls, the Danube becomes the centrepiece. Parliament glows on the Pest bank, and across the river the towers of Fisherman's Bastion look down from Castle Hill. Beyond the capital, Lake Balaton is ringed by wine hills and summer villas, and the river carries on west towards Vienna, which makes Budapest a natural start for a Danube cruise.
Days your travel expert can plan into your stay, on either bank of the river and beyond.
Tour the restored Opera House, then the Great Synagogue and Jewish Museum. Continue to the Millennium Monument and finish at St Stephen's Basilica.
Walk Castle Hill's cobbled lanes past the former Royal Palace and Matthias Church, where Hungarian kings were crowned. End with the view from Fisherman's Bastion and Gellért Hill.
Spend a morning in Szentendre, a riverside town of baroque houses and craft shops just north of Budapest. The Margit Kovács Museum holds her ceramics and sculpture.
The river splits the capital in two, and each bank has its own character.
The royal palace, Matthias Church and the Fishermen's Bastion on the hill, with views across the river to Pest.
The Parliament, St Stephen's Basilica, grand coffee houses and the Széchenyi thermal baths in the City Park.
Advent markets fill December, while May and September suit the baths and the river best.
Cold, but the thermal baths are at their best.
Winter light and quiet streets, warm cafés and baths.
Spring begins, the first river cruises set off.
Mild days and blossom along the Danube embankment.
Warm and green, long evenings by the river.
Warm and sunny, summer festivals begin.
Hot afternoons, outdoor bars and river terraces.
Warm, with St Stephen's Day fireworks on the 20th.
Mild days and the wine harvest in the countryside.
Autumn colour on the hills of Buda.
Cool and grey, Christmas markets begin late in the month.
Christmas markets in Vörösmarty Square and by the Basilica.
Budapest has non-stop flights from London and the Gulf, and most other cities connect once. Your travel expert finds the best connection from your home airport.
Austria is a few hours upriver, and many cruises call there next.
Vienna and the vineyards of the Wachau on the Danube.
Tell us when you want to go, for how long and who is travelling. Your travel expert replies in writing with a trip shaped around you.
