Budapest Retro Communist Bike Tour

• Day tours by bike
• Hungary
• Budapest

Uncover the communist history of Budapest

Take a retro bike tour through the history of communism in Budapest! Riding first to St. Stephen’s Basilica, you’ll learn all about the largest church in Budapest, and about the legacy of Ferenc Puskás, soccer’s first international superstar.

Your guided bicycle tour takes you on to Szabadság Tér (Liberty Square), boasting Art Nouveau-style buildings, monuments and memorials of Reagan, the Soviet War and German occupation, all nestling beautiful lawns and paths. This square has been the site of a barracks and a setting for revolution. You’ll ride on the icon of Budapest – the stunning Hungarian Parliament – picture-perfect as it casts its reflection in the rippling Danube. Sitting in Buda, the Parliament is an awe-inspiring mix of Baroque, Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival architecture unlike any building you’ll have seen before. In Kossuth Square, learn about the sparking of the 1956 Revolution against Communist rule.

Cycle to the beautiful Margaret Island, designed to be a site of leisure for the working class, and containing Palatinus pools, a rose garden, and a monument to Communism watching over the Danube. Your guide will tell you about the prefabricated buildings of Óbuda, a socialist housing program that was the largest of its kind, before you cycle on to the Ganz Industrial Museum. Riding into Millenáris Park, you’ll find it hard to believe that this bustling hive of cultural activity was once at the center of the steel industry. Now, along with Margaret Island, it provides an urban oasis for city dwellers and tourists.

Cycling on to Batthány Ter, you’ll get the chance to see historic railcars from East Germany at an HEV train station, as well as take in the magnificence of the square itself. Your day tour continues to the Gellért Bath, an exquisite thermal spa built in 1918 in the Art Nouveau style, and now one of Europe’s leading hot spring spas. Nearby is Cave Church, a spectacular anomaly of architecture built into the rocks of Gellért Hill.

Bike on to Great Market Hall, the largest market in Budapest. Take in all the sights and smells of authentic Hungarian produce, before riding on the former Karl Marx University. Vaci Utca follows, one of the world’s most attractive pedestrian shopping areas and one of the oldest streets in Budapest.

Your bicycle tour winds down at Deak Square, once home to the Central Bus Station during the Communist era, now home to the Design Terminal, an agency for international innovation and an icon of Budapest’s progressive outlook.

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Highlights

St. Stephen’s Basilica, Szabadság Tér, Hungarian Parliament, Margaret Island, Óbuda, Ganz Industrial Museum, Millenáris Park, Batthány Ter, Gellért Bath, Cave Church, Great Market Hall, Karl Marx University, Vaci Utca, Deak Square, Design Terminal

What’s included

• Bike and helmet rental
• English, Dutch, or German-speaking guides

Meeting place & directions

BudaBike - Budapest, Szent István tér 4, Basilica, 1051 Hungary