Gellért Hill: the climb to the Citadella

Stops along the way

Things to notice.

1. 01

   1

   Szent Gellért tér and the Gellért Baths

   Start at the foot of the hill by the *Gellért fürdő* (thermal bath) — the art-nouveau bathhouse with the famous tiled pools. Don't go in yet; note it for the end, when the climb is behind you. The trailhead path starts just up the hill from here.

   01

   Szent Gellért tér and the Gellért Baths

   Start at the foot of the hill by the *Gellért fürdő* (thermal bath) — the art-nouveau bathhouse with the famous tiled pools. Don't go in yet; note it for the end, when the climb is behind you. The trailhead path starts just up the hill from here.

   ◉Street View
2. 02

   2

   Szent Gellért Cave Church (Sziklatemplom)

   A few steps up, a church built into the rock of the hillside, run by the Pauline order. It was sealed behind a concrete wall for decades under communism and reopened in 1989. Small, dim, strange; pay the modest entry and go in.

   02

   Szent Gellért Cave Church (Sziklatemplom)

   A few steps up, a church built into the rock of the hillside, run by the Pauline order. It was sealed behind a concrete wall for decades under communism and reopened in 1989. Small, dim, strange; pay the modest entry and go in.

   ◉Street View
3. 03

   3

   Szent Gellért Monument

   The bishop on his terrace halfway up, arm raised over a waterfall and colonnade, marking the spot where — legend says — pagan Magyars rolled him off the cliff in a barrel. The first proper view of Pest opens here. A bridge above links you onward up the path.

   03

   Szent Gellért Monument

   The bishop on his terrace halfway up, arm raised over a waterfall and colonnade, marking the spot where — legend says — pagan Magyars rolled him off the cliff in a barrel. The first proper view of Pest opens here. A bridge above links you onward up the path.

   ◉Street View
4. 04

   4

   The Citadella

   The squat Habsburg fortress at the summit, built in 1854 to point guns down at a restless city. The walls and the surrounding terrace give the widest panorama in Budapest — both banks, every bridge, the whole sweep of the Danube. The fortress itself has been under long restoration; the views around it don't depend on it.

   04

   The Citadella

   The squat Habsburg fortress at the summit, built in 1854 to point guns down at a restless city. The walls and the surrounding terrace give the widest panorama in Budapest — both banks, every bridge, the whole sweep of the Danube. The fortress itself has been under long restoration; the views around it don't depend on it.

   ◉Street View
5. 05

   5

   Liberty Statue (Szabadság-szobor)

   The bronze woman holding a palm leaf over the city, fourteen metres tall on her plinth, visible from half of Budapest. Walk the terrace around her base for the all-round view — Castle Hill to the north, the green Buda Hills behind, Pest laid flat to the east.

   05

   Liberty Statue (Szabadság-szobor)

   The bronze woman holding a palm leaf over the city, fourteen metres tall on her plinth, visible from half of Budapest. Walk the terrace around her base for the all-round view — Castle Hill to the north, the green Buda Hills behind, Pest laid flat to the east.

   ◉Street View
6. 06

   6

   The garden descent to the Gellért Baths

   Take the wooded paths down the eastern slope, through the landscaped garden of the hillside, back toward Szent Gellért tér. Now you've earned the *fürdő*: the indoor pool under its glass roof is the reward for the climb. Tram 19 or the M4 home.

   06

   The garden descent to the Gellért Baths

   Take the wooded paths down the eastern slope, through the landscaped garden of the hillside, back toward Szent Gellért tér. Now you've earned the *fürdő*: the indoor pool under its glass roof is the reward for the climb. Tram 19 or the M4 home.

   ◉Street View