Organized Tours

Bus Tours

Ibusz (tel. 1/485-2700; www.ibusz.hu), with decades of experience, offers 11 different boat and bus tours, ranging from basic city tours to special folklore-oriented tours. Unfortunately, the tours are pretty sterile and boring, and we actually think you're better off taking a walking tour or a different boat tour . Ibusz operates year-round, with an abbreviated schedule in the off season. All buses are air-conditioned, and all guides speak English. Some sample offerings are a 3-hour Budapest City Tour for 5,000 Ft to 10,000 Ft ($25-$50; free for children under 12), and a 2-hour Parliament Tour (you'll be inside the building for 2 hr.) for 7,500 Ft ($38). There's a free hotel pickup service that will pick you up 30 minutes before departure time. For a full list of tours, pick up the Ibusz Budapest Sightseeing catalog, available at all Ibusz offices, Tourinform, and most hotels. Tours can be booked at any Ibusz office and at most major hotels, or by calling Ibusz directly at tel. 1/485-2700. All major credit cards are accepted.

Queeny Bus Ltd (tel. 1/247-7159, 1/246-4755 or 70/338-1159; www.queenybus.hu) offers bus tours on an open-air bus that departs from major hotels, at the Basilica under a green parasol with a sign indicating CITY TOUR, or at the Museum of Ethnography. The company offers three basic tours. The first departs from the Museum of Ethnography, will set you back 8,500 Ft ($43) and is a 4-hour tour taking you to City Park, Parliament, the diplomatic quarter, and the Gellért Hill. It departs at 9am on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday to Sunday, and at 11am on Tuesday to Sunday. The second tour departs from the Basilica, sets you back 6,000 Ft ($30), and takes you to the Basilica, Parliament, Heroes' Square, the Castle District, the Danube shores, and the diplomatic quarter. Departs daily at 10am, 11am, and 2:30pm. A third tour, lasting two hours and departing from the Basilica at 11am and 2:30pm, will set you back 4,800 Ft ($24) and takes you on a tour of highlights of the city from May to September.

Various

EUrama Travel Agency (tel. 1/327-6690; www.eurama.hu) offers a series of 12 tours including city tours, walking tours, Jewish Budapest, an Etyek wine tour, one of the Hungarian puszta, a folklore evening, a Danube Bend tour, and one around Lake Balaton. Prices vary between 5,000 Ft ($25) and 17,000 Ft ($85), and run from 1 1/2 hours to 10 hours. Children under 12 receive a 50% discount.

Boat Tours

A boat tour is a great way to absorb the scope and scale of the Hungarian capital, and a majority of the city's grand sights can be seen from the river. The Hungarian state company MAHART operates daily 2-hour sightseeing cruises on the Danube, using two-story steamboats. The Budapest office of MAHART is at V. Belgrád rakpart (tel. 1/318-1704; www.mahartpassnave.hu). Boats depart frequently from Vigadó tér (on the Pest waterfront, between the Erzsébet Bridge and the Chain Bridge, near the Budapest Marriott hotel) on weekends and holidays in the spring and every day in summer. Additionally, MAHART offers chartered boat tours (for large groups) up and down the Tisza River in eastern Hungary from April 1 to October 15. These tours are booked through separate agencies in the towns of departure (Tokaj, Kisköre, Tiszacsege, Szolnok, Szeged, and many others along the river). Ask at MAHART for further information and for the telephone numbers necessary for booking.

Legenda, at XI. Fraknó u. 4 (tel. 1/266-4190; www.legenda.hu), a private company founded in 1990, offers several boat tours on the Danube, using two-story steamboats. The daytime tour, called "Duna Bella," operates daily at 2:30pm, year-round, with additional daily trips during the summer. The 2-hour ride includes a stop at Margaret Island, with a walk on the island. Tickets cost 3,600 Ft ($18). The nighttime tour, departing daily at 8:15pm, is called "Danube Legend" and is more than a bit hokey, but worth it for the view of the city all lit up. "Danube Legend" tickets cost 4,200 Ft ($21). On both trips your ticket entitles you to two free glasses of wine or beer and unlimited soft drinks. A shorter variation of the daytime tour, without the stop on the island, runs from mid-April to mid-October. All boats leave from the Vigadó tér port, Pier 7. Tickets are available through most major hotels, at the dock, and through the Legenda office. Look for the company's brochure at Tourinform.

The Operetta Ship, departing from at Vigadó tér (tel. 20/332-9116, 1/318-1223, or 1/488-0475; www.operetthajo.hu), offers a unique candlelit boat tour that includes performers of the Hungarian State Opera House singing famous operas, operettas, Italian and Spanish songs, musicals, instrumental solos, and Hungarian folklore. During the tours, you will hear famous excerpts from Strauss, Mozart, Lehar, Gershwin, Puccini, and more. The boat tour runs from April until October, and operates Monday to Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday from 8 to 10pm. The boat tour with a dinner included costs 12,500 Ft ($63), or 8,500 Ft ($43) without the meal. There is also a "music" sightseeing tour guided in English, German, or Hungarian, that costs 4,000 Ft ($20).

Walking Tours

Several new companies offer walking tours of historic Budapest. We recommend "The Absolute Walking Tour in Budapest" offered by Absolute Walking Tours (tel. 06-30/211-8861; www.discoverhungary.com). The tours, conducted by knowledgeable and personable guides, start at pickup point 1 outside the Evangelical Church in Deák tér (all metro lines) at 9:30am and 1:30pm or at pickup point 2 on the front steps of the Mucsarnok at Hosök tere (Yellow line) at 10am and 2pm from mid-May through September. From October through mid-December and February through mid-May, tours start daily at 10:30 and 11am only, in January on weekends only, from the same departure points that are listed above for the high-season tours. Students get a 500 Ft ($2.50) discount. Tickets are 4,000 Ft ($20), free for children under 12. Show this book (or the company's flyer, on display at many tourist haunts) and you'll get a 500 Ft ($2.50) discount. Buy your ticket from the tour guide at the start of the tour. Tours last anywhere from 3 1/2 to 5 hours, depending on the mood of the group, and take you throughout both central Pest and central Buda. Wear your best walking shoes and leave the heavy knapsack at your hotel.

Budapest Walks (tel. 1/340-4232) is another company offering walking tours. It features four tours: "Highlights of Pest," "Gems of Buda Castle," "Music Budapest," and "Fine Arts Museum and the City Park." Tours are conducted daily from May through September only. The Castle Hill tour starts at 2pm (Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Sat), and meets in front of the Matthias Church in Buda's Castle District; the Pest tour starts at 2pm Tuesday and Thursday, and meets in front of Café Gerbeaud, in Pest's Vörösmarty tér. Both tours last 2 1/2 hours; the Pest tour is 3,200 Ft ($14), 4,500 Ft ($20) with a tour of Parliament included; the Buda tour is 3,800 Ft ($17). "Music Budapest" is offered Monday and Friday at 2pm for 4,500 Ft ($20); meet at the Opera House. "Fine Arts Museum and the City Park" is offered Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm for 3,200 Ft ($14); meet in front of the Fine Arts Museum in Hosök tere (Heroes' Sq.).

Specialty Tours

Chosen Tours (tel./fax 1/355-2202) specializes in tours related to Jewish life and heritage in Budapest. The 1 1/2- to 2-hour guided walking tour of Pest's historic Jewish Quarter is a good introduction to that fascinating neighborhood. Tours are conducted from April through October and run Monday through Friday and Sunday, beginning at 10am in front of the Dohány Synagogue, on Dohány utca. The walking tour costs 2,420 Ft ($11). You should reserve a space on the tour ahead of time. Chosen Tours offers a 1-hour, air-conditioned bus tour of Jewish sights in Buda as an add-on to the walking tour. Called "Budapest Through Jewish Eyes," the combination tour ticket costs 3,740 Ft ($17). Reserve your space early. Other tours, available for private bookings, include a tour of Jewish art and a trip to Szentendre, as well as tours catering to individual needs and interests (such as Jewish "roots" tours). The company offers a free pickup service from select hotel locations.