Day 2 - things to do on Day 2 in '3 days Budapest' - a weekend getaway in Budapest, Hungary

Route: Deak square - Roosevelt square - Chain Bridge - Castle Hill - Royal Palace - Funicular - Batthany square - Moszkva square - Millennial Park - Marxim restaurant - Pioneer Railway - Moszkva square - Deak square

1, get to the city center Deak square (the meeting point of almost all public transport vehicles). Take a 5 minute walk to Gresham Palace (Four Season Hotel Budapest) and have a nice cup of coffee /tea.

2, take a 10-15 minute walk through the Chain Bridge (in peak summer months only open to pedestrians, concerts, street vendors, exhibitions right on the bridge). You can get a fantastic view of both sides of Budapest divided by the river Danube - great place for making photos too.

a, at the end of the Chain Bridge you will see the Tunnel of Budapest. Take the street on the right of the Tunnel - in about 15-30 minutes you will be up in the Castle District. Can you see the church tower and the Fisherman's Bastion? Keep heading towards them in the nice medieval streets of the Castle.

b, or take a left turn after the Chain Bridge and keep walking on the river bank (turn right after the bridge, up to Batthany square, then walk to Moszkva ter, then take the castle minibus up to the Royal Palace, the Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion)

3, visit Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion - they are right next to each other. Cool down in the church, listen to a choir, or a concert, take photos on the balconies of the Fisherman's Bastion (top panoramic photo spot in Budapest, Hungary). If you are hungry by now, you can decide to have a fancy lunch in one of the posh restaurants in the Castle district or go down the hill about 15 min, to the shopping mall and take a lunch in the mall or the neighboring restaurants.

4, Eating, shopping, lying in the grass: walk down to the post-communist square called Moszkva ter (about 15 min) or take the minibus to the square. One of the most popular shopping malls in the city is right here (Mammut - the mammoth). Take a look around in the mall, buy some nice travel gifts or just enjoy your lunch in one of the approx. 20 restaurants in the building. Peep into the farmer's market in Feny utca. There are some further restaurants you may be interested in (outside of the mall): Szent Jupat Etterem (all kinds of dishes, big portions of Hungarian foods), or the cosy shady terrace of Trombitas Restaurant (pizza, salads). Or, if you want a special pizza, you can go over to the smallish Marxim Etterem (next to the Millenial Park in Kisrokus street, which is a restaurant with a communist interior design and pizza names featuring Lenin, Breznev, the ghost of Communism, etc. and other communist think tanks.

5, walk over to the Millennial Park - an ex-industrial building turned into a cultural center (nice cafe, exhibitions, concerts, tech museum for kids, playground for kids, park and shallow artificial duck pond). Depending on when you visit Budapest, you may bump into a Czech cultural day with beers, or a science-fiction fan festival or an International Book Festival, etc. There is always something going on at the weekends, and it is a nice green spot during the weekdays.

6, After getting some cultural inspiration, get back to nature and history. Take a trip on the Buda hills with the former Pioneer Railway. First walk back to Moszkva ter, then take the streetcar (pick from 18, 56 or 59). Get off at the second stop and get changed to the cogwheel train right next to the streetcar. The cogwheel railway is called 'Fogaskereku' in Hungarian. The last stop of the cogwheel train is what you need (about 20 min). Get off, wait for the ex-pioneer train to stop in the nearby railway stop, and enjoy your 40-minute ride in the woods of the Buda hills on the unique Children's Railway. Beautiful scenery, post-communist railway (the ticket inspectors and some other railway staff members are kids - literally - and they take pride in what they do!). It may sound slightly complicated to get there, but it is not, and the public transport is quite frequent.

7 a, Again on Moszkva square. Option A: the Margaret island. The next stop would have been the fascinating Margaret Island with its huge parks, fountains, medieval ruins, open-air swimming pools. But currently the Margaret Bridge, the southern entrance to the Margaret Island, is under construction and will be until 2011 or so. So you can only go the island from the northern bridge called Arpad Hid (practical, uninteresting bridge). You can get to the northern entrance of the Margaret Island easily by first taking the number 4 or number 6 streetcar to the Danube river (to the foot of the Margaret Bridge on the Buda side) for about 8 minutes, and then changing into the suburban train and getting off at Arpad bridge stop (the 3rd stop).

7 b, Again on Moszkva square. Option B: get on the red line subway / metro for 10 minutes to get from Moszkva square on the Buda side to Kossuth square on the Pest side. Take a look at the neo-gothic Parliament building (except for national holidays), then walk on Nador street to find a great dinner spot (Iguana Bar, Grill Restaurant - Mexican foods - in Zoltan street, the Italian Taverna Pomo d'Oro Restaurant or the Momotaro Ramen Restaurant Chinese eatery are all very close to the Parliament and they are of high standards, among the best Budapest restaurants).

8, walk back to the Chain Bridge and enjoy the night lights of Budapest. Great time for taking night photos of the romantic playful lights of this great city. Check out Godor Club night life on Deak square - jazz concerts, exhibitions and many people enjoying the night.

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