Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Abuzz with pavement cafés, street artists, vendors, boutiques and nightclubs, the
Belváros or Inner City is the hub of Pest and, for tourists at least, the centre of what's
happening. Commerce and pleasure have been its lifeblood as long as Pest has existed,
first as a medieval market town and later as the kernel of a city whose
belle époque
ri-
valled that of Vienna. Unquestionably the focal point of the Belváros is pedestrianised
Váciutca,runningparalleltotheDanube;themagnetformostfirst-timevisitorstothe
city,this popular promenade is actually little more than aglorified shopping street, but
you can still get a sense of the old atmosphere in the quieter backstreets south of Kos-
suth utca, where café life fans out in the shadow of some dramatic architecture.
The
Kiskörút
(Small Boulevard; comprising Károly körút, Múzeum körút and Vámház
körút) that surrounds the Belváros follows the course of the medieval walls of Pest, showing
how compact it was before the phenomenal expansion of the nineteenth century. However,
little remains from further back than the eighteenth century, as the “liberation” of Pest by the
Habsburgs in 1686 left the town in ruins. Some Baroque churches and the former Greek and
Serbian quarters attest to its revival by settlers from other parts of the Habsburg empire, but
most of the
architecture
dates from the era when Budapest asserted its right to be an imperi-
al capital, between 1860 and 1918. Today, first-time visitors are struck by the statues, domes
and mosaics on the Neoclassical and Art Nouveau piles, which are reflected in the mirrored
banks and luxury hotels that symbolize the post-Communist era. While restaurant prices in
the Belváros are above average for Budapest, and there are few bargains to be had in the
shops, one of the most enjoyable activities is people-watching from one of the many café ter-
races.
ARRIVAL AND GETTING AROUND
Bypublictransport
Withthreemetrolines(#1,2and3)convergingatDeáktér(line#1con-
tinues to Vörösmarty tér), the Belváros is easily reached. Moreover, several trams and buses
