# Is Várkerület a Good Area to Stay in Budapest? Map & Verdict

Verdict: Mixed. Fine for some travellers, wrong for others.

Interactive map: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-budapest/varkerulet
Every Budapest district: https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-budapest.md

District I is Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion and the best view in Hungary. It is also the most expensive district, the steepest, and empty of restaurants after 21:00.

Facts: 28 min walk to Deák Ferenc tér; 55 min to the airport; price €€€€; best for couples, sights, quiet; lines M2, 19, 41, 56.

District I is the castle side: Castle Hill itself, Víziváros along the river below it, Tabán and the northern slope of Gellért Hill. It is small, it is a UNESCO site, and the view from the Fisherman's Bastion over the Parliament is the photograph you came for.

Staying there is a different question. Wikivoyage puts the most expensive accommodation in Budapest on and around Castle Hill and says the same about its restaurants. Private cars cannot drive onto the hill, the buses 16 and 116 are the way up, and the funicular stops at 22:00. When the day-trippers leave, the hill has almost nothing open, and dinner means walking down and crossing a bridge.

Víziváros, the flat strip along the Danube below the castle, is the answer to most of this. Batthyány tér has M2 - one stop to Deák Ferenc tér - trams 19 and 41 along the embankment, the Király and Rudas baths within walking distance, and normal restaurants. Book on the hill for two nights and the view; book Víziváros for a week.

What works:
- The Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church are your street
- Víziváros has M2 at Batthyány tér, one stop from the centre
- Genuinely quiet at night - the tour groups all leave
- The Király and Rudas thermal baths are both in the district
- The Danube embankment and the Chain Bridge are a five-minute walk

What does not:
- The most expensive rooms and the most expensive restaurants in Budapest
- Castle Hill is a real climb and cars cannot drive up it
- Almost nothing is open on the hill after the day trips go home
- Everything except sightseeing is on the other side of the river
- Cobbles and steps make it hard work with luggage or a pram

Hotels in Várkerület: https://www.stay22.com/allez/booking?aid=stayzones&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fsearchresults.html%3Fdest_id%3D1244%26dest_type%3Ddistrict%26group_adults%3D2%26no_rooms%3D1

## Other districts in Budapest

- [Belváros-Lipótváros](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-budapest/belvaros-lipotvaros): Recommended. District V is the centre in every sense: Parliament, the Basilica, the river and all four metro lines. You pay Vienna prices for it and you eat badly if you stay on Váci utca.
- [Terézváros](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-budapest/terezvaros): Recommended. District VI runs from the Opera up Andrássy út to Heroes' Square and the Széchenyi baths. Central prices minus a third, and the M1 does the walking.
- [Erzsébetváros](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-budapest/erzsebetvaros): Mixed. District VII is the old Jewish Quarter and the ruin bar district at the same address. Two square kilometres, the best food in Budapest, and no sleep on a Saturday.
- [Józsefváros](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-budapest/jozsefvaros): Mixed. District VIII is two districts. The Palace Quarter is the prettiest quiet corner of central Pest; the streets behind Népszínház utca are the ones locals walk around at night.
- [Ferencváros](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-budapest/ferencvaros): Recommended. District IX is the Great Market Hall, Ráday utca and half the District V price. Stay inside the Grand Boulevard; the district runs a long way south of it.
- [Újbuda](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-budapest/ujbuda): Mixed. District XI is 33 km² of Buda. The Gellért baths and Bartók Béla út are worth booking; the rest of it is suburbs, and a hotel listed as District XI can be 10 km out.
- [Angyalföld](https://stayzones.com/where-to-stay-in-budapest/angyalfold): Recommended. The southern end of District XIII, Újlipótváros, is where people who live in Budapest would stay: 1930s streets, real restaurants, the Parliament 15 minutes away. The north is not.