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Assuming you will fly to Budapest but will not spend any time there, or you will arrive by train for example from Prague but will get off at Vac, and will be staying in Vac as described in the previous post, following is just a suggestion on a possible day trip and a walk in Budapest you can do to see the key sites of the city. Needless to say, a single day trip is not going to give justice to any kind of in depth experience but you can at least get a good feel for the city which is better than not-having dropped in at all.

From Vac the most convenient way to get to downtown of Budapest is with a suburban train running every 10 to 15 minutes from Estergom to Nyugati railway station, also known as the West Station, the final station of the suburban line ending in north-central part of Pest.

Nyugati is a convenient starting point for a walk that will take you past several key landmarks to the Danube, then across the Szechenyi Chain Bridge to the west bank and uphill to the Buda Castle Hill and its Old Town dominant landmarks, the Matthias Church and the viewing platform of Fishermen’s Bastion, the best place in Budapest to savor the skyline of the city, most well-known for the finest views across the Danube at the impressive edifice of the Parliament. But being at the Buda Castle Hill also offers nice views in the opposite direction, toward the residential districts of Buda Hills, opportunity to stroll the pleasant alleys of the Old Town, visit the Royal Palace, and a number of good museums.

While on such a short visit you will have hardly enough time to sample all of Budapest’s history and cultural legacy of the Magyars, Romans, Mongols, Turks, Habsburgs or Communists, with some small detours you could see at least one representation of Budapest’s most diverse architectural styles, from the Roman period to baroque, neo-Classical as well as Art Nouveau eras.

From the Nyugati station walk south to Terez boulevard, a major city artery. Walk some 1000 yards until you reach Andrassy Way. Those with ample time could turn left here and walk along Andrassy all the way to the City Park first. Along this route you can see number of prominent attractions including the Museum of Fine Arts.

With less time or to keep the walk to some six miles total, turn right on Andrassy, walk past the neo-Renaissance Budapest Opera until you reach a large intersection where you will turn right. Some 400 feet on your left you will see the monumental neo-Classical structure of St. Stephen’s Basilica. In front of its front entrance starts a nice pedestrian zone, where a wide plaza in front of the church leads into Zrinji ucta, a narrow pedestrian street lined with cafes and restaurants that will bring you all the way to Roosevelt park on the bank of the Danube.

You can cross the park in front of the luxury Four Season’s Gresham Palace Hotel, a striking Art Nouveau landmark which is worth a close look.

Beyond the park you enter the Szechenyi Chain Bridge, a mid-19 century structure and the first bridge to span the Danube and connect Buda with Pest, definitely one of city’s most recognized landmarks. Crossing the bridge allows for fine photos up the Danube looking north towards the neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance Parliament and the bridges beyond.

Once on the Buda side of the river you can opt for taking the funicular railway up to the Castle Hill or pick the slower option which is to walk up through the wooded hillside. Walking up allows for a bit better appreciation of the elevation of the castle town on your way to the actual and final destination of the whole walk, the neo-Gothic Matthias Church and the wonderful viewpoint at the Fisherman’s Bastion.

A site not to miss along the Danube Bend is the Visegrad Castle. Meaning “High Fortress,” Visegrad Castle is an imposing ruin best seen from the opposite bank, the left bank of the Danube, the side of the river the bicycle path follows on its way from Vac to Estergom.

Visegrad offers the finest panorama of the Danube Bend as it snakes through the Börzsöny and Visegrad hills. Its beginnings date back to the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries. The original structure was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century thereafter which it was reconstructed by the subsequent kings of Hungary, coming to prominence under the reign of King Mathias.

While Visegrad can be visited as part of your day cycling Vac to Estergom, it may be you’ll end up wasting some time on account of needing to wait for the ferry and will then have to hurry to get to Estergom before it gets dark. Although the ferry boats should run every hour they often wait until there are enough cars and trucks to ferry over to make the crossing worth their time and you may end up wasting more time than you wanted to.

On account of the possible delays with the ferry and to have ample time to enjoy the area, a trip to Visegrad is best done as a day trip from Vac. Nice trial of some 25 km follows the river with Danube on your left. The bike path leads through some dense vegetation at times, occasionally passing by nice villas near the waterfront. There are nice views of surrounding hills all the way until the castle comes up above the right bank. The ferry crossing is at Nagymaros.

Once on the other side of the river, you’ll first cycle through the peaceful Visegrad village with a number of cozy restaurants and cafes, then begin a steep winding climb toward the castle. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes to ascend to the castle where you can dismount, enter the citadel and walk around the ramparts of the stronghold. The hills around the castle offer some nice cycling and more fine views of Visegrad and the Danube Bend.

Eventually you can cycle back downhill, stop for a snack at a cafe before taking a ferry the other side and follow the bike path to Vac for overnight.

Cycling the Amber trail from Budapest to Krakow, a rewarding route that leads through Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland, does not necessarily require you start cycling from Budapest. While Budapest is indeed a worthwhile city to explore, which could also be done on a bicycle, it makes sense to consider establishing your base on the outskirts of Budapest and perhaps visit the center of Budapest on day trips.

There are two possible towns, both very low key, very scenic being located right on the Danube river, that make for a very pleasant base from which to explore the surrounding countryside and sites along the Danube. These two small towns are Vac and Szentendre. Vac is on the left bank and Szentendre on the right bank of the Danube, and both are essentially the gateways to the so called Danube Bend, where the river winds between hills towards Ezstergom, your exit point from Hungary on the way to Slovakia.

Vac was founded in the 11th century, when the town became an episcopate, a period from which date some of its earliest churches, namely the Vac cathedral, though most of its Romanesque architectural features were destroyed during the Mongol conquest. The surrounding general vicinity around Vac has been settled for centuries before that on account of good natural conditions, abundant forests, fertile soil along the mighty river and its usefulness as a navigable trade route.

Vac has a fascinating history. Sacked by the Mongols in 1241, Vac began to prosper again in late Gothic and during Renaissance periods. But then Turks invaded Hungary and for over a century until 1686 Vac had suffered neglect and destruction. Vac reemerged by the second half of the 18th century and some of its finest architecture dates from the late Baroque period and the Neo-Classical era that followed.

During the 19th century period of industrialization, the building of the original railway line in Hungary in 1846 between Vac and Budapest provided significantly to Vac development. Unfortunately as a result of the turmoil by World War I, Word War II and subsequent annexation of Hungary into the Soviet block, Vac had to endure major setbacks and suffering. Since the fall of communism and return of Hungary to democracy in 1989 Vac has came forth as one of the region’s most desirable locations where to live and its return to newly found prosperity shows in its refurbished monuments and pleasant ambiance of street life.