Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Separated from Erzsébetváros by Rákóczi út, which runs out to Keleti Station, Józse-
fváros (the VIII District) is an amalgam of high and low life. While the Hungarian Na-
tional Museum, Eötvös Loránd University and the Szabó Ervin Library on Múzeum
körút make for a lively student quarter, its seedier hinterland beyond the Nagykörút
district - nicknamed “Chicago” between the wars - still has an association with vice
and crime, though this is largely redundant now as the area around the old apartment
blocks near the Rákóczi tér market hall has become increasingly gentrified. You can
wander safely anywhere in Józsefváros by day, and between the Kiskörút and
Nagykörút in the small hours, but elsewhere stick to main roads and avoid pedestrian
underpasses after midnight - particularly around Keleti Station, where Kerepesi Ce-
metery and the Police History Museum are worth a visit by day.
Üllői út - leading to the airport - marks the boundary of the adjacent
Ferencváros
(Franz
Town, the IX District), once the most solidly working-class of the inner-city districts. Today,
Rádayutca
and the backstreets behind the wonderful
GreatMarket Hall
on Vámház körút
are full of hip restaurants and bars; luxury condos rise where teenage insurgents once fought,
and the district's historic far-right sympathies are challenged by a
Holocaust Memorial
Centre
. Along the riverbank there is much ongoing development all the way down to the
Palace of Arts
complex, which is transforming the balance of the district. Football fans will
want to see Fradi in action at the
FTCStadium
, and children will enjoy the
NaturalHistory
Museum
.
ARRIVAL: JÓZSEFVÁROS AND FERENCVÁROS
Public transport
links for the two districts are excellent, and include metro lines #2, #3 and
#4, trams #4 and #6 along the Nagykörút and tram #2, which runs down the Pest bank of the
Danube to the Palace of Arts.
