BASICS - The Rough Guide to Budapest - page 52

48-54 (Móricz Zsigmond Gimnázium) 1 319 8525, ibcbudapest.org ; Roman Catholic:
Saturday 5pm, Pesti Jézus Szíve Templom, VIII, Mária utca 25 1 318 3479.
Hungary has a rich Jewishheritage and Budapest boasts a sizeable and increasingly active
Jewish community. The city is also the focus of huge donations aiming to restore buildings
that were devastated in the Holocaust.
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TRAVEL ESSENTIALS
Admission charges
The majority of the city's museums charge between 600Ft (€2) and 800Ft (€2.50), though
the showpiece ones, such as the Museum of Fine Arts and the House of Terror cost around
1800-2200Ft (€6-7). There's usually a reduction or free entrance if you show a student,
youth or senior citizen card. If you're planning on visiting multiple museums, consider buy-
ing the Budapest Card , which offers good savings. For details of admission charges to Bud-
apest's baths, see section on Tickets . Churches may charge a small fee to see their crypts and
treasures.
THE BUDAPEST CARD
If you're doing a lot of sightseeing, the BudapestCard ( budapest-card.com ) represents
great value. It's available for 24hr (4500Ft), 48hr (7500Ft) or 72hr (8900Ft), and grants
free public transport in the city, free entrance to eight museums (Museum of Fine Arts,
the Hungarian National Museum, the National Gallery and the Budapest History Museum),
free entry to the Lukács Baths, and two free guided walking tours. In addition, there are
discounts of between ten and fifty percent on lots of other attractions, including some of
the baths, plus shops and restaurants. The card is available online, from tourist offices, ho-
tels, central metro stations and at the airport, and comes with a booklet explaining where it
can be used.
Climate
Budapest has quite distinct seasons ; summers can be extremely hot with prolonged periods
of sunshine and temperatures regularly reaching the mid-30s (ºC). Winters, by contrast, can
be bitterly cold, with snow common in the months either side of Christmas - though this
can make for a wonderful sight around the festive season, particularly with the markets in
full flow. The most reliable seasons are spring and autumn, which are generally pretty mild;
spring is invariably beautiful, and it's not uncommon for the city to experience long days of
sunshine throughout March and April, though May can get showery. The sun, meanwhile, of-