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.

image of boardwalk around the Danube on our day trip from Budapest

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.

image of ferry travelling on Danube

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.

image of a beautiful yellow church with a line of what looks like lamp shades outside as viewed on our day trip from Budapest

image of several shops/houses with pastel colours and awnings in Szentendre Danube Bend tour

Tasty Marzipan

Our first stop in Szentendre was a marzipan shop.

image of lady setting out marzipan in shop on day trip from Budapest

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.

image of lady sitting behind glass window making cars with marzipan on our Danube Bend tour

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.

image of store window with ceramic animals on the shutters

image of all of us going up stairs on Danube Bend tour

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.

image of interior of Serbian church in Szentendre with full wall of frescos in frames as seen on day trip from Budapest

image of three kids sitting in side pews of church

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.

image of an arched entry in square in Szentendre on Danube Bend tour

The entryway to Langos would be easy to miss.

image of kids walking through a narrow grey stone walkway in Szentendre on Danube Bend tour

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!

image of our family sitting on stone stairs on day trip from Budapest

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.

image of Timea spreading garlic on langos dough

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.

image of my three kids at a high table eating langos on day trip from 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.

image of a stand up map of Visegrad castle area on Danube Bend tour

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.

image of entrance to stairs that lead to toilets

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.

image of CJ holding a falcon on our Danube Bend tour

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.

Image of the Danube with island in center

The island to the right is Szentendre Island.

Image of three kids looking over Danube River with Hungary flag flying on day trip from Budapest

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.

image of Danube with curve on our day trip from Budapest

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.

image of outdoor corridor walking through castle in ruins on our Danube Bend tour

image of us walking up stairs towards castle itself on our Danube Bend tour

image of us walking up ramp to castle on day trip from Budapest

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

image of us walking out the castle main entrance doors on our day trip from Budapest

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.

image of the front of white basilica with pillars and dome

image of pillars in front of basilica on day trip from Budapest

The interior of the Esztergom Basilica is stunning.

image of interior alter and dome of Esztergom Basilica on our Danube Bend tour

image of the relief over the door inside the Esztergom basilica on Danube Bend tour

image of the organ inside Esztergom Baslica

image of painted frescoes on the arched ceiling of the Esztergom Basilica

And the view from the Esztergom basilica is equally beautiful.

image of the Danube Bend with trees and orange rooftops of Esztergom on our day trip from Budapest

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.)

image of green arched bridge of Danube River with city in Slovakia on other side

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.

image of shell like fossil in orange marble stairs

See the fossil in the marble stairs!!

image of large white diorama

The first level has a nice diorama of Esztergom

image of arched window with danube beyond

The view from the Panorama Cafe level

Once the weather cleared, we climbed to the top!

image of photo of Danube Valley taken through arch

Beautiful!

image of my kids looking out over railing on top of cupola taking pictures

image of my three kids taken at top of tower with part of basilica tower in background

Below the cathedral is the remnants of a 10th 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.

image of large building with orange roof directly below church

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!

Did you like this article? Pin it!!

Looking for a day trip outside of Budapest? Look no further than the wonderful Danube Bend! Visit beautiful Szentendre, historic Visegrad and sacred Esztergom for a perfect day outside the city. Kids of all ages (and adults too!) will enjoy the activities of the Danube Bend including the castle ruins, the marzipan shop and the towers of the basilica.


Avatar for Joanne

Joanne

Hi! I'm Joanne. I'm a Canadian mom of three wonderful kids who love hockey, swimming, cheerleading and, of course, travel.

16 Comments

Avatar for Sharon

Sharon · September 12, 2018 at 10:19 am

WOW! Thanks for sharing this experience. I haven’t done much traveling since my kids were born, but I should totally add this to my bucket list.

    Avatar for Joanne

    Joanne · September 12, 2018 at 10:46 am

    Thanks for touching base Sharon! Travelling with kids is way easier than it looks 🙂

Avatar for Alexine

Alexine · September 8, 2018 at 6:08 pm

What a lovely trip in Hungary, I’m planning to go there too. Hopefull, within this year. I’d love to visit Szentendre in the Danube Bend as well. Love all your photos too!

    Avatar for Joanne

    Joanne · September 8, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    Thanks Alexine! You’ll have a great trip!

Avatar for Jenn

Jenn · September 7, 2018 at 11:43 pm

What an incredible trip. I would love to visit.

    Avatar for Joanne

    Joanne · September 8, 2018 at 9:03 am

    Thanks for touching base Jenn. It was wonderful and a lot of fun. We would have loved to stay longer but some times, vacations need to be short 🙂

Avatar for Evelyn Hernandez

Evelyn Hernandez · September 7, 2018 at 7:39 pm

Hungary is beautiful, never thought of adding it to our bucket list but thanks to your gorgeous images, we just did!

    Avatar for Joanne

    Joanne · September 7, 2018 at 7:47 pm

    You won’t regret it Evelyn!

Avatar for Nicole

Nicole · September 6, 2018 at 2:43 pm

You guys crammed a lot of fun stuff into a day trip, I’m impressed! The various views you captured of the Danube and the gorgeous churches are beautiful!

    Avatar for Joanne

    Joanne · September 6, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    Thanks Nicole! It was a lot of fun. The architecture around the Hungarian countryside is something else!

Budapest Itinerary: Five Amazing Days in an Incredible European City · May 22, 2019 at 10:46 am

[…] Budapest Jewish Walk. We enjoyed our day so much that I devoted a full post on our visit to the Danube Bend with Timea so definitely check that out for more details on our […]

Eight Reasons Why You Should Hire a Private Guide - Sunsets and Roller Coasters · May 5, 2019 at 7:22 pm

[…] our trip around the Danube Bend when vacationing in Hungary, we had originally planned to stop in Szentendre for lunch. We opted […]

Top 15 Budapest Activities for Young & Old - Sunsets and Roller Coasters · April 22, 2019 at 8:59 pm

[…] for the kids. If you’d like to know more, check out our full day with Timea. We also did a tour of the Danube Bend with […]

Best private Budapest walking tour - Sunsets and Roller Coasters · December 28, 2018 at 10:20 pm

[…] Our full day Danube Bend tour with Timea from Budapest Jewish Walk […]

The Best Private Guides in Europe!! - Sunsets and Roller Coasters · December 28, 2018 at 4:51 pm

[…] To find out more about our walking tour with Timea, check out our post Great Private Guide in and around Budapest and for more on our daytrip with Timea, check out our post A Wonderful Daytrip to the Danube Bend, Hungary […]

Budapest Family Apartment - Family of Five - Sunsets and Roller Coasters · December 16, 2018 at 2:01 pm

[…] also posted about our day trip outside Budapest, great Budapest restaurants, and Hungarian food you MUST try while visiting […]

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *