Danube Bend Full-Day Tour with Esztergom and Lunch from Budapest

Esztergom and the Basilica, the largest church in Hungary

Esztergom was the royal seat of Hungary in the Middle Ages and is still the seat of the country's Catholic primate. Its basilica, built in the 19th century on Castle Hill above the river, is the largest church in Hungary: a neoclassical giant with a columned portico and a green copper dome that dominates the skyline for miles along the Danube.

On this Esztergom tour you spend about 1.5 hours in the town with your guide, walking the hilltop around the basilica, seeing the grand interior and enjoying the wide view across the water to Slovakia. Visitors often ask whether the Esztergom Basilica is worth visiting; the scale of the nave and the panorama from the terrace usually answer the question within minutes.

Maria Valeria Bridge and the Slovak bank

The Danube marks the border between Hungary and Slovakia at Esztergom, and the Maria Valeria Bridge links the town with Sturovo on the northern bank. First opened in 1895, the bridge was destroyed in the Second World War and only rebuilt in 2001, reconnecting the two towns after more than half a century.

Your coach crosses to the Slovak side for a 15-minute photo stop, and from here you get the classic postcard view of Esztergom: the basilica rising above the river with the iron bridge in front. Because you briefly enter another country, bring your passport or national ID card on this tour. Before you reboard the coach, look downstream, where the river widens towards the hills of the Danube Bend.

Visegrad and the view over the Danube Bend

Visegrad sits exactly where the Danube makes its dramatic turn between the Visegrad Hills and the Borzsony mountains. The town was a royal residence in the 14th and 15th centuries, and the ruins of its medieval citadel still crown the hilltop above the river, with a lower castle and the remains of a royal palace closer to the water.

This is the stop for the best Danube Bend views: from the hill you see the river curve between green slopes and small villages, a scene that changes colour with every season. You spend about 1.5 hours in Visegrad, with time for photos and a relaxed three-course Hungarian lunch included in the tour.

Szentendre, the artists' town on the Danube

Szentendre is a small riverside town about 20 km north of Budapest, known for its cobbled lanes, baroque houses and church spires. Serbian and other Balkan settlers arrived here at the end of the 17th century and built several Orthodox churches, and in the 20th century painters made it an artists' colony, so today its streets are full of galleries, museums and craft shops.

Your guide shows you the old centre around the main square and its 18th-century memorial cross before you have free time to wander. Many travellers search for a Szentendre day trip on its own; on this tour it is the relaxed final chapter of the day, about 1.5 hours long.

Return to Budapest by river boat or coach

On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from May to late September, the day ends with about an hour on a river boat from Szentendre back to central Budapest, gliding past green islands and riverside villages before the city skyline appears. It is one of the nicest ways to arrive in Budapest, with the Parliament and the bridges coming into view from the water.

On other days, and whenever the water level of the Danube is too low or too high for boats, the return is by coach. The tour finishes at the Vigado ter pier or the tour office in central Pest, both easy to reach by tram or on foot from most central hotels.