Walking Tours Budapest

Budapest abounds in exquisite Art Nouveau structures and interiors , the radical design style that swept across turn-of-century Europe within architecture, applied arts, and fine art. Hungary developed its own cutting-edge take on the movement, known as Hungarian Secession, exemplified in its founding father, Ödön Lechner , featuring the use of porcelain along with Asian motifs and elements . This 3-hour Art Nouveau walking tour of Budapest scratches the surface of a city filled with beautiful examples of this cutting-edge aesthetic, highlighted by an expert art/architecture historian as your guide.



*Discover the flamboyant Royal Postal Savings Bank , designed by Ödön Lechner, also known as the Gaudi of Hungary, and discuss the interior design elements of the entrance hall.



*Admire the facades and interior designs of the glorious Gresham Palace , once an office space and series of luxury apartments, and today Budapest’s most luxurious hotel.



*Visit a flower shop, which still has its original interiors, a department store, several bank offices, and an Art Nouveau museum and coffee house , where we explore the common motifs of Hungarian Secessionism.



*Consider the use of tiles in facades that Hungarian Art Nouveau became famous for, as we pause at Thonet House, thanks to innovations by the famous Zsolnay porcelain and ceramics factory in Pécs , a town in the south of Hungary.



*Examine the various Asian motifs and elements employed by designers , as a reference to the perceived eastern origins of Hungary, and also popular in Art Nouveau across Europe.



*Except on Saturdays, we conclude at the fascinating orthodox Kazinczy Street Synagogue , decorated in Art Nouveau style.

This 3-hour Communist Budapest tour with a local historian guide will lead you through the 1956 Revolution in which hundreds of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets to throw off a hardline Stalinist-inspired dictatorship. While the uprising was brutally crushed, it ultimately led to the more liberal, “goulash communism” of the 1960s-1980s . Explore the daily life of propaganda and suppression that Hungarians suffered behind the Iron Curtain and consider the legacies of the Cold War that continue to influence Hungarian politics today.




*Starting at Bem József Squar e, we follow in the footsteps of the first mass demonstration of the 1956 uprising . The Square includes a coffeehouse that still has its original interior from the 1960s.



* Traveling by subway to Kossuth Square in front of Parliament, we explore monuments from the 1956 revolution , before continuing to Liberty Square where we discuss aspects of the Cold War before the US Embassy , the monument to the Soviet Army , the statue of Ronald Reagan and an atomic shelter.



*Another short subway ride takes us to a communist-era shopping center and the drab 1970s socialist housing that was revered at the time for modern conveniences.



*Dropping by the former People’s Stadium (now Puskas Soccer Stadium), with classic socialist realist statues still standing , we can explore the heavy-handed propaganda favored by the regime.



* Riding in Stalin’s trolley bus to Dozsa György Street , we take in the boulevard that was used for May Day parade s.



*We conclude outside the House of Terror , the imposing museum housed in the former headquarters of the communist secret services with a slab of the Berlin Wall in front. (Although the exhibit within is not included in the tour, this is the perfect endpoint for those interested in delving deeper into Hungary’s Cold War experience).

In 2015, Budapest was named as a member of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network after an application submitted by agency Design Terminal succeeded. The Hungarian capital is now the second city (Berlin was the first) in the Central European region to be awarded the title “City of Design.” This tour with an Insight Cities urban historian helps you to explore the sophistication and creativity, and the diverse cultural influences that play thorough Budapest's cutting-edge design scene. We focus on the 5th district and vast warehouses such as Magma, a flagship for Hungarian design from jewelry to tableware (only items by Hungarian designers are to be found there). Nearby, high up on the floors of the Paris courtyard lies the workshop of Je Suis Belle duo: Tibi and Dalma, fashion designers who graduated from Moma (the prestigious Budapest applied design school) and started their own brand in 2005.

Closer to the Danube, we visit another great workshop: Tipton eyewear. Zachary, its founder, is a Hungarian who grew up in the USA and started by making glasses frames out of his father vinyl collection! Since then, he even began a line of frames out of celluloid film (the collection is now sold out but we can see them!). Heading east, we walk the delicious smaller streets of the 5th district to stop in front of In Situ, another popular Hungarian design shop and several intimate boutiques. From there we move back to the boulevards to enter Paloma. Launched in 2015, this courtyard is now home to some 40 Hungarian designers of all kinds (jewelry, bag, shoes). The pastry shop-café next door is a wonderful place to have a break. Our last stop is the Tisza shoes shop of Astoria. The logo of Tisza was reshaped as in the beginning of the 2000 but Tisza used to be the shoe brand that everyone wore during Hungary's communist decades, as there was nothing else available. It is thus fascinating to see the come-back of Tisza on the quality shoe market and the brand’s re-emergence as iconic of Hungary's hipster youth. If we are lucky enough to tour with you during the weekend, we’ll make sure to end at one of Budapest's two great weekend design markets: Gouba or Wamp!

This 3-hour Communist Budapest tour with a local historian guide will lead you through the 1956 Revolution in which hundreds of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets to throw off a hardline Stalinist-inspired dictatorship. While the uprising was brutally crushed, it ultimately led to the more liberal, “goulash communism” of the 1960s-1980s . Explore the daily life of propaganda and suppression that Hungarians suffered behind the Iron Curtain and consider the legacies of the Cold War that continue to influence Hungarian politics today.




*Starting at Bem József Squar e, we follow in the footsteps of the first mass demonstration of the 1956 uprising . The Square includes a coffeehouse that still has its original interior from the 1960s.



* Traveling by subway to Kossuth Square in front of Parliament, we explore monuments from the 1956 revolution , before continuing to Liberty Square where we discuss aspects of the Cold War before the US Embassy , the monument to the Soviet Army , the statue of Ronald Reagan and an atomic shelter.



*Another short subway ride takes us to a communist-era shopping center and the drab 1970s socialist housing that was revered at the time for modern conveniences.



*Dropping by the former People’s Stadium (now Puskas Soccer Stadium), with classic socialist realist statues still standing , we can explore the heavy-handed propaganda favored by the regime.



* Riding in Stalin’s trolley bus to Dozsa György Street , we take in the boulevard that was used for May Day parade s.



*We conclude outside the House of Terror , the imposing museum housed in the former headquarters of the communist secret services with a slab of the Berlin Wall in front. (Although the exhibit within is not included in the tour, this is the perfect endpoint for those interested in delving deeper into Hungary’s Cold War experience).

Budapest abounds in exquisite Art Nouveau structures and interiors , the radical design style that swept across turn-of-century Europe within architecture, applied arts, and fine art. Hungary developed its own cutting-edge take on the movement, known as Hungarian Secession, exemplified in its founding father, Ödön Lechner , featuring the use of porcelain along with Asian motifs and elements . This 3-hour Art Nouveau walking tour of Budapest scratches the surface of a city filled with beautiful examples of this cutting-edge aesthetic, highlighted by an expert art/architecture historian as your guide.



*Discover the flamboyant Royal Postal Savings Bank , designed by Ödön Lechner, also known as the Gaudi of Hungary, and discuss the interior design elements of the entrance hall.



*Admire the facades and interior designs of the glorious Gresham Palace , once an office space and series of luxury apartments, and today Budapest’s most luxurious hotel.



*Visit a flower shop, which still has its original interiors, a department store, several bank offices, and an Art Nouveau museum and coffee house , where we explore the common motifs of Hungarian Secessionism.



*Consider the use of tiles in facades that Hungarian Art Nouveau became famous for, as we pause at Thonet House, thanks to innovations by the famous Zsolnay porcelain and ceramics factory in Pécs , a town in the south of Hungary.



*Examine the various Asian motifs and elements employed by designers , as a reference to the perceived eastern origins of Hungary, and also popular in Art Nouveau across Europe.



*Except on Saturdays, we conclude at the fascinating orthodox Kazinczy Street Synagogue , decorated in Art Nouveau style.