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Budapest World War II

Our most recommended Budapest World War II

Budapest: The Great Synagogue Skip the Line Ticket

1. Budapest: The Great Synagogue Skip the Line Ticket

Skip the lines and head straight to the security check with a guide to start your tour of the Great Synagogue. Visit the Heroes’ Temple, the graveyard, and the Jewish Museum. Honor Holocaust victims at the Emanuel Tree in the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park. Take a guided tour to hear about the history and architecture of the largest synagogue in Europe and the second-largest in the world, as well as the fate of the Hungarian Jews before and after WWII.  Then use your ticket to enter the Hungarian Jewish Museum next to the Synagogue. Admire its red and yellow brick facade combining Romantic style with Moorish elements. Learn about the life of the Jewish people in Hungary through everyday objects.  See the famous Emmanuel Memorial Tree in the Synagogue's backyard. Admire this magnificent weeping willow's small metal leaves engraved with a name of a Holocaust victim and plaques honoring non-Jewish rescuers.  Then, finish your visit the graveyard in the backyard of the Heroes’ Temple, the burial site of those who died in the ghetto during WWII.

Jewish Budapest: 3-Hour Small Group Tour with Historian

2. Jewish Budapest: 3-Hour Small Group Tour with Historian

Discover one of the most popular areas of inner Pest. The 7th district is where Jewish culture has bloomed for over 200 years and today hosts the largest and most active Jewish community of Eastern Europe. As a highlight of the tour, visit the Rumbach Street Synagogue and discover the neighborhood of the Dohány Street Synagogue, which is the largest in Europe and one of the largest synagogues in the world.  Walk through the Jewish Quarter, on the streets of the former Ghetto, which hosts synagogues, monuments, kosher restaurants, and kosher shops. Hear local stories of this neighborhood and about Budapest. During your walk, visit the Carl Lutz Memorial, dedicated to one of the Righteous Among the Nations, who is also known as Hungary’s Schindler. Then pass by the lively Gozsdu Passage and visit the Rumbach Street Synagogue, built in 1872 by Viennese architect Otto Wagner. Apart from the largest Synagogue of Europe, and the other two most important Synagogues, hear local tips about the ruin pubs and nightlife. Learn about the street art and other secrets of Elizabeth Town.

Budapest: City Center Walking Tour

3. Budapest: City Center Walking Tour

Discover the most iconic locations in Budapest on this walking tour of the inner city of Pest. Start your stroll in Marcius 15 Square and admire the Gothic Medieval cathedral of the Great Blessed Lady. Walk along the Duna Corso river promenade and enjoy the beautiful view over the Danube, its bridges, and the Castle of Buda on the opposite side. Pass by the spectacular dance palace Pesti Vigado, and see the historical Gerbeaud Cafe in Vorosmarty Square. Take a stroll through Elizabeth Park and see Budapest Eye, the largest Ferris wheel in Europe. After a short walk, you will arrive at one of the highlights of the tour: St Stephen’s Basilica, with its monumental dome and colonnade.  Continue through the traditional pedestrian streets of the city and see the cute statue of Mr. Safe who will definitely make you smile. Next, arrive at Liberty Square where you will learn about Budapest's traumatic past as a center of Nazi occupation and Communist oppression.  Finish your tour in Kossuth Square and admire the sights surrounding the majestic Hungarian Parliament building. Hear stories of dictatorship and the 1956 revolution. Afterwards, you can pay a visit to the poignant Shoes on the Danube Bank monument or enjoy a stroll along the banks of the river.

Budapest: Guided Tour to the Hospital in the Rock & Castle

4. Budapest: Guided Tour to the Hospital in the Rock & Castle

Start at the Holy Trinity Statue, from where you walk around the magnificent Matthias Church. Admire the Fishermen's Bastion, a fantastic fairy tale structure offering the best view over the Danube and the Hungarian Parliament building.  Head to the President's Palace and the Royal Palace complexes and walk around the courtyards and fountains, and look at the proud guards outside the palace.  Walk back from the Royal Palace, and explore the other side of the castle. From the medieval walls, you have an excellent view towards the Buda Hills - the western part of the city with its forests and nature parks.  After the guided walking tour enjoy a few minutes break in the entrance hall of the Hospital in the Rock Museum. Receive a skip-the-line ticket from your tour guide and who will help you to join your scheduled visit to the museum. This will be the most exciting part of your tour. Have a 1-hour guided tour in the "Hospital in the Rock" WW2 underground bunker museum. This place used to be a secret military hospital hidden deep down below the Buda Castle. The hospital is part of a system of natural caves and tunnels, that stretches over nearly six miles. The museum that is located in the old rooms of the hospital was established to preserve its rich history.  See many rooms exhibiting hundreds of lifelike wax figures and showing you the story of the underground hospital, that was then turned into an atomic bunker during World War 2. Follow your guide through the tunnels of this place and get a feeling of what life during these times, especially as a wounded soldier must have looked like.

Budapest: Communist History Tour with House of Terror Option

5. Budapest: Communist History Tour with House of Terror Option

Travel back in time to the 45-year long Communist period in Hungary under Soviet military occupation with one of these exciting guided tour options. Choose the morning or the afternoon walking tour options which are identical for their first part as both tours start as a Communism-themed walking tour accross central Budapest. Meet your tour guide and begin a historical walk from the magnificent Hungarian Parliament, where you will see dramatic monuments, including the one commemorating the many victims of the red dictatorship. Continue to Liberty Square, where you will find the Soviet Liberation Memorial, the last Communist monument of the city in its original place. See the famous windows of Budapest, where Hungary's anti-Communist Catholic Church leader Cardinal Mindszenty spent the many years of his exile. Explore the ventilation channels of a secret underground nuclear bunker built in the years of the Cold War. Hear about and see sites of the Hungarian anti-Soviet revolution of 1956.  Choosing the morning walking tour option, after the walk be invited to a 1-hour guided visit in Budapest Retro Center. This unique collection displays street views, typical vehicles, the astronauts of the Soviet-Hungarian space flight, real interior home designs, and thousands of objects from the period of the 1960-1980. The exhibition is arranged over 3 floors in a fun and interactive way. Dress as a Communist comrade, or you can try to be a TV news presenter of the time. Choosing the afternoon walking tour option, enhance your experience with an additional ticket to the House of Terror Museum and uncover the secrets of the former seat of AVO State Protection Police (the local version of the Soviet KGB) as you visit the site on your own. See how it was faithfully restored to commemorate the many victims of the most brutal period of Communist dictatorship of the 1940s and 50s.  As a third option, select a guided tour in the House of Terror Museum. Follow your tour guide to learn about Hungary from WWII through Nazi rule to Soviet Communist occupation. You will be guided around the life and economy of the 1950s, interrogation and torture cells, the office room of the dreaded director, hear the stories and see the memories of mass deportations, labor camps and political trials, the brave 1956 revolution and its consequences, leading to the end of Communism in 1989.

Jewish Heritage Guided Walking Tour in Budapest

6. Jewish Heritage Guided Walking Tour in Budapest

See the most beautiful monuments of Budapest's Jewish district on this 90-minute guided walking tour. First, your guide shows you the most important chapters of the Hungarian Jewry’s history and the Elizabethtown. Meanwhile, walk on the streets of the so-called Pest Jewish Quarter, and explore the "status quo ante” Rumbach Street Synagogue (outside visit). As the highlight of the tour, visit the Dohány Street Synagogue (interior visit), which is the largest in Europe and the second largest in the world. You also get a local guided tour in the Jewish Museum, where you get acquainted with the Hungarian Jewish heritage trough a unique collection of art pieces from Hungary and Eastern Europe, and the rich tradition of Judaism, its holidays and everyday life.A separate room commemorates the Hungarian Holocaust.  Beside these you will visit the Martyrs’ Cemetery, the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park with the Tree of Life and the Heroes' Temple (outside visit). After the tour it is possible to visit the Jewish Quarter Exhibition in the Goldmark Hall and the Family Research Center.

Budapest: Half-Day Small Group Jewish History Tour

7. Budapest: Half-Day Small Group Jewish History Tour

Explore the history of the Jewish settlements in Budapest on a half-day tour of the Jewish Quarter, and learn about a history that dates back to the 13th century and covers the Mongolian invasion. Tours are conducted by air-conditioned minivan for up to 6 passengers, and can be tailor-made on request. You will visit Europe's largest synagogue, the Great Synagogue on Dohány Street. Located within the Jewish Quarter, the complex is also home to the Jewish Museum, Heroes' Temple, Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park, and Jewish Cemetery. Admire the Byzantine-Moorish architecture and onion-shaped domes of the synagogue’s twin towers. Next, head to the historical confines of Pest to see the Moorish Revival style Rumbach Street Synagogue, built in the style of the octagonal Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Continue to the orthodox Kazincy Street Synagogue to experience a more intimate place of worship. Your journey through Jewish heritage ends at the Shoes on the Danube Promenade memorial on the banks of the River Danube, where you can honor the Hungarian Jewish victims of World War 2.

Budapest: Downtown and Jewish Quarter Tour in German

8. Budapest: Downtown and Jewish Quarter Tour in German

We start the tour at the Houses of Parliament with a short explanation of the hungarian history. Then it followes a walk through the Downtown with the old buildings from the 1890s: art niveau palaces, the Postal Saving Bank, the Hungarian National Bank and the St. Stephan's Basilica. After this, the walk continues in the famous jewish districht, where several synagogues and jewish monuments can be find. But not only: modern street art and ruin pubs are here too (you'll get many tips of good restaurants & bars, of course). The end of the walking tour is at the Kazinczy street, near to the Karavan Street Food court and the famous Szimpla ruin pub.

Budapest: Jewish Cuisine and Culture Walk

9. Budapest: Jewish Cuisine and Culture Walk

These days the seventh district is one of Budapest’s hippest neighborhoods, known for its quirky bars, cool cafés, hidden art galleries, and cutting-edge design shops. Before World War Two it was one of Europe’s largest Jewish communities, and it remains the center of Jewish life in Hungary today. By the early 18th century the neighborhood had become a melting pot of religions and ethnicities. During the war Jews were herded into these streets, walls were put up, and a ghetto was created where the majority of Jews survived the war. This walking tour focuses on the area’s history and culture, with a special emphasis on exploring and tasting Jewish-Hungarian cuisine in several styles. We will discuss the neighborhood’s past, including its more recent past during which many historic buildings were demolished, altering the fabric of the neighborhood. You will see the neighborhood’s four synagogues, which have long been focal points of Budapest’s Jewish society. You will also see the modern face of the district, including fabulous murals and street art, fun design shops, and great cafés. Though the neighborhood today can claim to have some of the most diverse culinary offerings in Budapest, the tour will focus on the dynamic Jewish cuisine found here. Do come hungry, as the tour will include tastings of several Hungarian-Jewish specialties which could be (depending on the day): sausages, matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, Jewish eggs, cholent, roasted goose, and flódni. You’ll leave the tour with a full belly, as well as a deeper understanding of Hungary’s Jewish history, culture, and cuisine.  

Budapest: Festive & Jewish Quarter Self-Guided Walking Tour

10. Budapest: Festive & Jewish Quarter Self-Guided Walking Tour

Discover at your own pace the old Jewish quarter of Budapest, known today as the festive but also cultural and artistic district of the city! The only thing you need to explore for 1 hour? Your smartphone! The voice of a local guide will guide you throughout the visit and the stories will be triggered automatically as you go along. Start your tour whenever you want, alone or with friends, far from tourist groups... During this 1h30 audio-guided tour, start your walk on the elegant Andrassy Avenue. Sometimes called the "Champs Élysées" of Budapest, it’s been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2002. Then discover the communist period of Budapest by passing in front of the House of Terror. You will then continue on your way along Andrassy Avenue where many must-see places, stories and anecdotes await you. You will pass the first Budapest Department Store, admire the magnificent City Opera House and walk along the Hollywood Boulevard of Budapest. Continue your journey by entering the Jewish quarter of Budapest to discover the largest Synagogue in Europe! You will understand why this district has nowadays lost part of its identity... You will pass by buildings such as the Monument of the Righteous or the Memorial Park which bear witness to the tragic history of the Jews in Budapest. You will then discover why today this district is especially known as a place for festivities and artistic and cultural events. You will learn for example the history of the famous ruin bars in Budapest! Many anecdotes will enrich your walk in the city. A short stop at a terrace or a shop, a small craving? Resume the visit when you want, right where you paused. It's impossible to get lost. The guide provides clear audio directions and a map indicates clear directions to follow in real time. And if you take a wrong turn, the integrated geo-localization feature will get you back on track in no time! customize your itinerary as you wish, relax and enjoy a fun and entertaining tour of Castle district, at your own pace. As all good things must come to an end, you will finish your visit with the most famous ruin bar of the city: the Szimpla Kert. A unique place to discover absolutely if you come in the district.

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What people are saying about Budapest

Overall rating

4.6 / 5

based on 63 reviews

Excellent introduction to landmark moments of local history, and also a good way to remember the highlights of Hungarian and European history relevant to the objectives seen during the tour.

I learned a lot about Jewish history. The entire experience was amazing, Noémi Csutak did a great effort on this trip and made us unforgettable memories. Highly recommend it

The tour is worth the time, we've done it twice. The skip the line ticket saves time, there's always a line to enter.

Great tour for a high-level overview of the city's culture and history.

I was really happy with the services, easy and reasonably priced