Budapest city breaks - offbeat sights

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Photo: Suzanne GerberHeroic Communist statues at Memento Park

Look for the lions with no tongues at the Chain Bridge
The Labyrinth is a fascinating series of caverns under the streets of Buda
Stamp collectors will love the Stamp Museum
Use trams 4 and 6 to explore the grand boulevards
Pop in to the New York cafe which has been renovated recently

Offbeat sights

It's always worth exploring the more unusual attractions of a city and Budapest has plenty of offbeat sights. Find the famous tongue-less lions at the Chain Bridge or wander way below the streets of Buda in the labyrinth of caves and passageways.

Buda labyrinth

The Baroque street of Uri utca houses the entrance to Budavari Labarinthus, the labyrinth under Buda's Castle District. Descend the steep stairs for an attraction that will fascinate children and adults alike.

Water drips down the walls of the caverns once used for storage of military equipment. There's a cafe in one of the caverns. It's chilly, as you'd expect, so a sweater is advisable.

Kiraly baths

Built in 1556 during the Turkish occupation, the Kiraly Baths are one of Budapest's oldest bathing pools.The building is still topped by a green cupola and Turkish crescent. It's on the Buda bank south of the Elizabeth bridge.

Chain Bridge or Szechenyi Lanchid

The Chain Bridge is the city's oldest river crossing. It was built in the 1840s by British engineers William Tierney Clark and Adam Clark. Take a close look at the lions decorating the entrance to the bridge. They appear not to have tongues.

It's said that a young apprentice noticed this on the day the bridge was opened and the sculptor threw himself into the Danube and drowned. It's a myth, it seems, but it adds to the interest when walking over the bridge.

If you find the Chain Bridge fascinating, try also the Liberty Bridge a couple of crossings further south. It's an elegant structure painted green with views of the Gellert Hotel and hill topped by the Liberation Monument.

Gresham Palace

A grand building in the Art Nouveau style, Gresham Palace sits at the Pest end of the Chain Bridge and now houses the Four Seasons Hotel. Pop in to see the lobby of this building named after Thomas Gresham who founded the first London Stock Exchange.

Great Boulevard of Pest

This ring road around central Pest is really five streets. Trams 4 and 6 glide along. The boulevards are crammed most of the day and evening with people and traffic.

One of the highlights is the recently restored New York cafe and New York Palace hotel. It's a pricey but eminently stylish spot to eat and worth a look to see where Budapest's artists and literary circle once met daily. It's near Blaha Lujza ter.

Terror House

Even if you do not go in to this startling building on Andrassy Avenue, stop to study the plaques with the faces of the victims of Communist oppression displayed all round the building's base. Most met their deaths in the aftermath of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956.

Memento Park

If you want a taste of the tasteless statues from the Soviet era, take a trip out the XXII District (Tram 49 to Kosztolanyi D. ter and then Bus 150 to Memento Park).

Here you'll find statues that were removed from the city when Communism ended plus Stalin's Tribune Exhibition in the Barrack plus Movies. For motoring enthusiasts, there's a Trabant to inspect - although you can also still see the odd Trabant out on the streets of Budapest.