A Wonderful Day Trip from Budapest to the Danube Bend

When we were planning our family vacation to Budapest, we knew that we wanted to explore at least a small part of Hungary outside the capital. In doing research into various day trips from Budapest, I kept reading about the beauty of the Danube Bend; specifically, the beautiful villages of Szentendre, Visegrad and Esztergom. We decided that of all the possible day trips from Budapest, we would do a Danube Bend tour and explore these wonderful villages.

We didn’t plan to rent a car during our family visit to Budapest so that meant taking public transportation or hiring a guide for the Danube Bend tour. While Szentendre is easily accessible by train and boat, we wanted to explore a little further around the Danube Bend on our day trip from Budapest.

We had already booked a walking tour in Budapest so we reached out to our guide Timea from Budapest Jewish Walk. She was so wonderful and was more than happy to take us on a day trip from Budapest. We had a fantastic day and if possible, it was even better than our walking tour of Budapest.

Timea met us at our apartment at 9:00 sharp along with the taxi that she had booked for our Danube Bend tour. She sat in the back with us so she could chat while en route. Lucas has a history of car sickness so he happily took the front seat while CJ and Sydney took the far back seat in the minivan. There was plenty of room for everyone and the driver was very nice.

Our First Stop on our Danube Bend Tour: A Visit to Szentendre

Our first stop on our day trip from Budapest was the small town of Szentendre. It is only about 25km outside Budapest and we arrived long before the tour buses that bring crowds of tourists during the day. This is a beautiful little town right on the Danube river.

Along the boardwalk of the Danube in the beautiful village of Szentendre

Nearby is Szentendre Island. It’s accessible by ferry and is a wonderful place to relax with small little villages.

The ferry travels from Szentendre to Szentendre Island

We had many plans for the day so we didn’t make it to Szentendre Island but it’s on our list for our next visit to Budapest.

Timea told us about the churches in Szentendre and life in the village. She and her family vacation on Szentendre Island so she’s very familiar with the area.

Tasty Marzipan

Our first stop in Szentendre was a marzipan shop.

Incredible marzipan shop with little marzipan treats in many different designs

They have a lovely little store with an area in the back where they design and decorate their marzipan delights. There’s a window in back where we watched the artist create little racing cars from marzipan paste.

Intricate ceramics

We walked around the village center and stopped at a wonderful little ceramic store where I bought a black dog, like Zermatt, to place on a shelf in our front porch at home.

Lucas insisted on running up every set of stairs we found!

Beautiful churches

We then wandered to an orthodox Serbian church. This was one of several Serbian churches in the village and it was beautiful. Rather than frescoes on the wall, paintings were done on canvas and hung with designed frames.

Relaxing in a beautiful Serbian church

Timea suggested that we visit the ceramic museum but we opted to visit a locally owned ceramic shop instead as we were wary of the time. We wanted to make sure we’d have time for our two other planned stops on our Danube Bend tour.

Tasty Langos

With that in mind, we also didn’t want to stop into a restaurant for lunch. Instead, Timea brought us to a wonderful little hole in the wall location where they make and sell langos. It was aptly named Langós, even though they sell both langós and pancakes.

The entryway to Langos would be easy to miss.

This little walkway leads to this wonderful langos shop

They opened at 11:00 sharp so we relaxed on the stairs to wait for the opening. By 11 a.m. there was a line behind us so even though they’re not easy to find, the word is out!

They make langós to order. Most of us ordered the traditional garlic and cheese. We were given the fried langós with a bowl of garlic sauce. We added the garlic ourselves and they then top it with cheese and sour cream.

Timea showed us how to prepare our langos

These were huge and really messy but very good.  They offer a variety of toppings and the cinnamon topping looked very good as well. Langós are definitely one of our favourite treats in Budapest.

Our second stop on our day trip from Budapest: A Visit to the beautiful town of Visegrad

After our wonderful little snack, we headed back to our taxi for our short ride around the Danube Bend to Visegrad.

Visegrad is the home of a 750-year old medieval hilltop residence of King Matthias. This palace was the official residence of the kings of Hungary until the 1400s and is said to be one of the finest royal palaces in Hungary.

Upon arrival you’ll find the base filled with small souvenir shops. We walked on past towards the descending stairs that lead to the washrooms below.

I’ll tell you now, unless you’re desperate, wait until you reach the ruins as the one at the entrance is the most expensive toilet I’ve ever paid to enter.

Before tackling the upward route, we filled our water bottles at the well/pump near the base. The water is potable so don’t hesitate to use it.

At the top of the walkway, there were a few souvenir kiosks and a lady, near the castle wall, with a beautiful falcon. For a small fee, Caiden was able to hold falcon.

We noticed afterwards that its legs were tied and that really bothered us. Had we noticed beforehand, we likely would have kept walking. We’ve seen birds in the past that while tamed and tagged, they have full ability to move and fly so this was unexpected.

The View

Truly, when one visits the castle, the main attraction is the beautiful view of the Valley of the Danube Bend.

The island to the right is Szentendre Island.

Gorgeous view!

As you stand in front of the castle, the incredible curve in the Danube River which leads to the name “Danube Bend” becomes crystal clear.

Across the Danube is the village of Vac. There is a ferry that goes to the village and we had hoped to visit there as well but visiting Szentendre, Visegrad and Esztergom in one day was as much as we could fit in and still enjoy.

The Castle

The castle was destroyed after a Turkish invasion and buried in a mudslide. It wasn’t discovered until 1934.

The castle is very much in ruins and you do need a bit of an imagination to visualize how it looked in the past. There is a diorama in the castle as well as a room of armour and weapons that help in that regard.

After a brief look around the public areas of the castle, we headed back to our van. I love this exit!

Our Third Stop: A Visit to Esztergom

Our final stop of our wonderful day trip from Budapest to the Danube Bend was the wonderful city of Esztergom, the country’s most sacred city and the seat of the archbishop of Hungary.

Esztergom was once the capital of Hungary. St. Istvan, Hungary’s first Christian king, was baptized and crowned here. The Esztergom Basilica is the still the largest cathedral in Hungary and the third largest church in Europe.

The interior of the Esztergom Basilica is stunning.

And the view from the Esztergom basilica is equally beautiful.

Across from Esztergom is an expansive view of Slovakia nestled by the beautiful Danube. Hungary and Slovakia are joined by the expansive Mária Valéria Bridge. While destroyed during World War II, the bridge reopened in 2002. (We didn’t get a chance to visit Slovakia during our visit but there are some wonderful things to do in Bratislava if you have time to add it to your itinerary.)

Looking over Danube River to Slovakia

The view from the tower is even more amazing if you’re able to make the 400 step climb! One note, it is divided by different levels so it sounds much worse than it really is.

Beware the weather though. Bad weather was threatening and while we were able to reach the Panorama Café with relative ease, continuing to the top was stalled until the attendants were sure we would not face rain or lightening.

See the fossil in the marble stairs!!

The first level has a nice diorama of Esztergom

The view from the Panorama Cafe level

Once the weather cleared, we climbed to the top!

Beautiful!

Below the cathedral is the remnants of a 10^th century castle. As Visegrad, it was largely destroyed by the Turks. We didn’t take the time to visit during our day trip from Budapest but you could easily make a visit to Esztergom a full day visit if the castle museum and other nearby attractions are included.

Old Esztergom castle complex

By the time we finished our exploration of the basilica we were long overdue for a quick snack. Timea brought us through a little path to a cute little café where we had wonderful cappuccinos and ice cream. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

You may also be interested in our walking tour with Timea and our top things to see and do in Budapest. Check them out!

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