Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

Travel Bloger

Updated 30/06/2026

How Many Bridges Does Budapest Have?
Bridges of Budapest, North to South
The Famous Bridges of Budapest
The Bridges Most Visitors Never Notice
Budapest Bridges at a Glance
Best Budapest Bridges for Photos
Budapest Bridges at Night
Best Bridges to Walk Across
Getting Across: Trams and Buses
Why So Many Bridges Were Rebuilt
Frequently Asked Questions

Budapest is really two old towns stitched together by water. On the west bank you've got hilly Buda, with its castle and its baths and its steep little streets. On the flat east bank there's Pest, where most of the shops, cafes and nightlife sit. And running right down the middle is the Danube, almost 500 metres wide in places, which is a lot of river to throw a bridge across.

So the bridges aren't just pretty. They're the thing that turned two separate towns into one city back in the 19th century, and they're still the reason the place hangs together today. Each bridge has its own story, and together they're the backbone of the Hungarian capital's transport infrastructure. They're also the reason the Budapest skyline looks the way it does - that line of lit-up arches and chains stretching off into the dark is basically the city's signature. If you've only got a couple of days here, honestly, wandering between a few of the bridges of Budapest tells you more about the place than half the museums will.

Here's what you actually need to know about them, from the famous ones everybody photographs to the odd little crossings barely any visitor ever sees.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

So How Many Bridges Has Budapest Actually Got?

It's the question everyone asks, and if you're wondering how many bridges in Budapest cross the river, the honest answer's a bit slippery - because it depends on what you count.

Across the main channel of the Danube, inside the city, there are eight road bridges and two railway bridges. So ten crossings of the big river if you want a clean number. People often say "nine" (that's seven road bridges plus the two rail ones, leaving out the giant motorway bridge way up at the northern edge) or even "seven" if they only mean the central ones you'd actually walk near. None of those answers is wrong, exactly. They're just counting different things.

And then it gets messier, in a good way. There are more bridges over the narrower Soroksári branch of the Danube down south, the ones out towards Csepel Island, plus a couple of small crossings to Óbuda Island up north. Add those in and you're well past a dozen. So when someone tells you Budapest has X bridges, the honest reply is "over what, exactly?"

For a visitor, though, the count that matters is simple: there are eight road bridges between Buda and Pest, and you'll probably only ever set foot on three or four of them.

Bridges of Budapest: North to South

If you want a Budapest bridges map but don't fancy squinting at your phone, just picture the river flowing north to south and list them in order. That's how locals think about it, and it makes the whole city click into place.

From the top of town heading down:

Megyeri Bridge - the huge motorway one at the very edge
Újpest Railway Bridge - trains only
Árpád Bridge - busy, connects to the north tip of Margaret Island
Margaret Bridge - the one that bends to touch Margaret Island
Széchenyi Chain Bridge - the famous one, dead centre
Elisabeth Bridge - sleek and white, at the narrowest point
Liberty Bridge - short, green, much loved
Petőfi Bridge - the practical southern one
Rákóczi Bridge - modern, with the National Theatre nearby
Southern Railway Bridge - trains again, right next to Rákóczi

Get that order roughly straight in your head and any bridges Budapest map you look at afterwards makes instant sense. The four in the middle (Margaret, Chain, Elisabeth, Liberty) are the ones you'll keep crossing.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

The Famous Bridges of Budapest

These are the famous bridges in Budapest, the crossings that show up on postcards and fridge magnets. They're also the ones worth slowing down for.

Széchenyi Chain Bridge (Lánchíd) - the one on every postcard

If Budapest had a logo, it'd be this one - the Chain Bridge was the first permanent bridge ever built between Buda and Pest, and the first bridge of any kind to give people a fixed way over the River Danube here. Construction began in 1839 and it opened a decade later, in 1849. Before that, people had to cross by ferry or by a wobbly pontoon bridge that got pulled out every winter when the ice came. Count István Széchenyi, the reformer the bridge is named after, pushed the whole project through after he got stuck on the wrong side of the river for days and couldn't get to his father's funeral. That story might be a bit polished by now, but it's the one Hungarians tell.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

The design came from English engineer William Tierney Clark, and a Scottish engineer called Adam Clark (no relation, funnily enough) ran the actual building work on the ground. Clark liked Budapest so much he stayed, and the square at the Buda end, Adam Clark Square, is named after him, while the Pest end opens onto Széchenyi Square. At each corner sit four big stone lions, carved by János Marschalkó and added in 1852. There's a daft old legend that the sculptor forgot to give them tongues and threw himself in the Danube out of shame. They do have tongues, by the way - you just can't see them from below. The legend stuck anyway, because it's a better story.

Here's the fresh bit a lot of older guidebooks miss: after a long renovation that started in 2021, the Chain Bridge reopened in August 2023 and it's now car-free. Residents actually voted on it, and about 79 per cent went for keeping private cars off. So today only buses, taxis, cyclists and people on foot cross it, which makes walking over a far calmer thing than it used to be. The bridge links the foot of Castle Hill and Buda Castle on the Buda side with central Pest, right by the grand old Gresham Palace building and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. It's a suspension bridge, with two stone towers and the famous lion statues at its entrances, about 375 metres long. Its centre span of roughly 200 metres was one of the biggest in the world the day it opened.

See Chain Bridge from the water - popular boat tours on Alle Travel

Many Budapest river cruises pass directly beneath the iconic Chain Bridge - it's one of those moments that pretty much everyone remembers from any Danube trip. Cruises where you'll see it up close:

For the full selection of cruises and operators passing Chain Bridge, see the Chain Bridge boat tours overview on Alle Travel.

Margaret Bridge (Margit híd) - the one with the island in the middle

Margaret Bridge is the second oldest crossing in the city, built between 1872 and 1876 to a design by French engineer Ernest Gouin. It was finished in 1876, spans roughly 637 metres, and was rebuilt by 1948 after the war left it in pieces. And it's got a genuinely weird shape: it bends in the middle, the two halves meeting at a wide angle rather than running dead straight. There's a practical reason. A little spur was tacked on later to give the bridge access to Margaret Island, which sits right under it, and the bridge had to kink to point at it properly.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

That island connection is the whole appeal. Margaret Island is a long green park in the middle of the river, full of joggers, picnic blankets and a musical fountain, and the bridge drops you right onto its southern tip. Trams 4 and 6, which run round Budapest's Grand Boulevard pretty much non-stop, rumble across it day and night. If you're crossing here, the views back towards Parliament are some of the best in the city.

See Margaret Bridge from the water - popular boat tours on Alle Travel

Quite a few Budapest river cruises glide right under Margaret Bridge - a highlight that stays with you long after any Danube journey. Cruises where you'll catch it up close:

Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd) - the short green one everybody loves

Ask a local for their favourite and a lot of them will say this one. Liberty Bridge is the shortest of the central bridges at 333 metres in length and around 20 metres wide, painted a lovely bottle green, and it opened in 1896 for Hungary's Millennium celebrations, marking 1,000 years since the Magyars turned up in the Carpathian Basin. It was designed by János Feketeházy, and on top of each of its four masts sits a Turul - the mythical falcon-like bird from Hungarian legend, perched on a golden ball.

It connects Fővám tér on the Pest side, right next to the Great Market Hall, with the foot of Gellért Hill in Buda. Two universities sit close by on the Pest end too, the economics one and the technical one, so there's always students about. The really nice thing, though: on warm summer weekends the city sometimes shuts the bridge to traffic completely, and people just take it over. You'll find folks sprawled across the tram lines, picnicking, even doing yoga up on the green ironwork. It's a brilliant thing to stumble into if your timing's lucky.

See Liberty Bridge from the water - popular boat tours on Alle Travel

Some of the best Budapest river cruises take you right beneath Liberty Bridge - one of those views that never fails to impress on a Danube trip. Cruises where you'll see it up close:

Elisabeth Bridge (Erzsébet híd) - the white one named after a queen

Elisabeth Bridge is the modern-looking one, all white cables and clean lines, and it crosses at the narrowest point of the Danube in the city, a span of just under 300 metres. It's named after Queen Elisabeth of Bavaria, better known as Sissi, who was genuinely adored in Hungary.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

The original bridge here was built between 1897 and 1903, an elegant chain suspension design, but like nearly all the others it got destroyed in the war. It couldn't be rebuilt in its old form, so what you see now is a minimalist cable-stayed structure designed by Pál Sávoly and completed in 1964 - a stark modernist contrast to all the historic architecture around it. It's not as romantic as its neighbours, sure - but it carries a ton of traffic, and the white sweep of it looks great lit up at night. Buses 7, 8E and 108E pour across it, linking the city centre with the Buda hills. From up on Gellért Hill, just behind the Buda end, you get one of the classic postcard angles down the whole row of bridges.

See Elisabeth Bridge from the water - popular boat tours on Alle Travel

A number of Budapest river cruises pass right beneath Elisabeth Bridge - one of those views that tends to leave a lasting impression on any Danube trip. Cruises where you'll see it up close:

For the full selection of cruises and tours passing Elisabeth Bridge, see the Elisabeth Bridge tours overview on Alle Travel.

Petőfi Bridge (Petőfi híd) - the workhorse nobody photographs

Let's be honest, Petőfi Bridge is the one tourists skip. It went up between 1933 and 1937 to plans by Pál Álgyay Hubert, opened in 1937, then took heavy war damage and was rebuilt by 1952. It's plain, practical and busy. But it earned its place: when it opened, the southern Buda bank was basically empty fields, and the new crossing is a big part of why that side filled up with apartments and life.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

It's named after Sándor Petőfi, the revolutionary poet and one of Hungary's national heroes. Trams 4 and 6 cross here too (this is the other end of their Grand Boulevard loop, the far end from Margaret Bridge), and the Pest end lands you at Boráros tér, a proper transport hub. Not a sightseeing stop - but useful to know about.

See Petőfi Bridge from the water - boat tours on Alle Travel

Several Budapest river cruises drift right under Petőfi Bridge. Cruises where you'll see it up close:

Árpád Bridge (Árpád híd) - the busy one up north

Árpád Bridge is the traffic monster of the bunch - one of the longest road bridges in the city and reckoned to be the busiest. It's named after Grand Prince Árpád, the chieftain who led the Hungarian tribes into the region in the 9th century, so you can't get much deeper into Hungarian history than that.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

There's a nice bit of deep history here: the Romans had already built a crossing near this spot almost two thousand years ago, linking their town of Aquincum (whose ruins you can still poke around on the Buda side) with a fort located across the water. Today's bridge reaches the northern tip of Margaret Island, and tram 1 runs across it. It was designed by János Kossalka, started in the 1930s, and oddly enough its half-finished state was probably what saved it from being destroyed in the war.

Rákóczi Bridge (Rákóczi híd) - the modern one with grass tram tracks

This was the city's newest road bridge for a good while, opened in 1995, and a lot of locals still call it by its old name, the Lágymányosi Bridge. It's the southernmost road crossing in the city, designed by Tibor Sigrai, and named after Francis II Rákóczi, the prince who led an early-1700s uprising.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

It's worth a mention for two reasons. One, the cluster of culture on the Pest bank - the National Theatre and the Müpa arts centre both sit right beside it, so if you're heading to a concert you'll likely end up here. Two, when tram 1 was extended across it, the planners laid the Buda-side tracks into actual grass, so the trams glide along on a green strip. Small thing - but it's a lovely touch.

Megyeri Bridge (Megyeri híd) - the giant at the edge of town

Right up at the northern edge, where the M0 ring road loops around the city, sits the Megyeri Bridge. It's the longest and newest bridge in Hungary, a cable-stayed thing stretching 1,862 metres across two arms of the Danube and an island in between, opened in 2008 to a design by Mátyás Hunyadi. You won't walk this one - it's a motorway crossing - but it's got the best backstory of the lot.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

When it was being built, the transport ministry ran an online poll to name it. Things got away from them fast. The internet decided action star Chuck Norris should win, then American comedian Stephen Colbert told his TV viewers to vote for him instead, and "Stephen Colbert híd" rocketed to first place with something like 17 million votes - more than the entire population of Hungary. Officials, fair to say, panicked. The rules apparently required a namesake who was Hungarian-speaking and, er, dead, so Colbert was politely shown the door. In the end the naming committee picked "Megyeri" because the bridge connects two neighbourhoods, Káposztásmegyer on the Pest side and Békásmegyer over in Buda. Democracy in action, sort of.

The Bridges Most Visitors Never Notice

Beyond the famous eight, there's a whole second tier of crossings doing the unglamorous work. You'll probably never go out of your way for these, but they round out the real picture of bridges in Budapest.

Újpest Railway Bridge (Újpesti vasúti híd)

The Újpest Rail Bridge is a railway bridge up in the north, carrying trains across the river near Újpest. Unlike most rail bridges here, this one's actually got a walkway, so you can cross it on foot if you're the curious type and find yourself up that way.

K Bridge (K-híd) and the Sziget connection

The K Bridge is a small crossing onto Óbuda Island, and most of the year barely anyone thinks about it. But every August the island hosts the Sziget Festival, one of Europe's biggest music gatherings, and suddenly tens of thousands of people are pouring across this little bridge to get to the stages. So for one week a year it's possibly the most-used bridge in the city by young people, and dead quiet the other 51.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

Shipyard Bridge (Hajógyári híd)

Another modest crossing near Óbuda Island, around the old shipyard area that gives it its name. Industrial roots, not much to see - but it's part of the network that knits the northern islands to the mainland.

The Southern Railway Bridge (Összekötő vasúti híd) - a quiet record-holder

Tucked right next to Rákóczi Bridge, all rusty steel and easy to overlook, the Southern Railway Bridge is one of the hardest-working structures in the whole country. Roughly 90 per cent of the rail traffic between eastern and western Hungary crosses the Danube right here, with something like 250 trains a day clattering over it. The first version dates back to the 1870s.

And here's a bit almost no travel article mentions: it just got a massive upgrade. Between 2019 and 2022 the old structures were torn down and rebuilt, turning it into a three-track crossing, and the wider Southern Circular Railway project around it's still going, with new stops, noise barriers and pedestrian underpasses being added through the mid-2020s. Not romantic, but it's one of the biggest pieces of rail engineering Budapest has seen in a century.

Gubacsi and Kvassay Bridges - out towards Csepel

Way down south, these two cross the narrower Soroksári arm of the Danube and connect the mainland to Csepel Island, which is big, residential and industrial in parts. The Gubacsi Bridge is a short, plain road-and-rail crossing, and the Kvassay Bridge sits near the Budapest freeport, handling a lot of industrial traffic. You'll likely never go near them, but they're the reason a whole southern part of the city actually functions.

A Handy Table of Budapest's Main Bridges

Here's the quick reference, the kind of thing that's handy to glance at before you set off:

Bridge	Hungarian name	Opened	Connects	Get there by	Best for
Chain Bridge	Széchenyi Lánchíd	1849	Castle Hill (Buda) and central Pest	Bus 16, trams 2 nearby	History, photos, the classic walk
Margaret Bridge	Margit híd	1876	Buda, Pest and Margaret Island	Trams 4 and 6	Reaching the island, Parliament views
Liberty Bridge	Szabadság híd	1896	Great Market Hall and Gellért Hill	Trams 47 and 49	Walking, summer weekend takeovers
Elisabeth Bridge	Erzsébet híd	1964 (rebuilt)	District V and District I	Buses 7, 8E, 108E	Night views, going up Gellért Hill
Petőfi Bridge	Petőfi híd	1937	District IX and District XI	Trams 4 and 6	Getting around, not sightseeing
Árpád Bridge	Árpád híd	1950	Óbuda, Margaret Island and Pest	Tram 1	The Aquincum Roman ruins nearby
Rákóczi Bridge	Rákóczi híd	1995	Ferencváros and Újbuda	Tram 1	Müpa and the National Theatre
Megyeri Bridge	Megyeri híd	2008	Káposztásmegyer and Békásmegyer	M0 motorway (no walking)	The view if you're driving in

Best Budapest Bridges for Photos

If you're after Budapest bridges photos that don't look like everyone else's, the trick is usually shooting the bridges rather than standing on them.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

For the Chain Bridge, the best angles are from a distance: climb up to Fisherman's Bastion or anywhere on Castle Hill and you get the whole bridge framed against Parliament across the water. Gellért Hill, behind the Buda end of Elisabeth Bridge, gives you that famous shot of several bridges receding down the river at once - probably the single best panorama in the city. Margaret Island and Margaret Bridge are great for catching Parliament reflected in the water on a still morning. And honestly, a Danube River cruise gets you angles you simply can't reach on foot, with the lit-up arches sliding past one after another.

A small tip: early morning, before about 8am, you'll have most of these spots almost to yourself, and the light's softer too.

Budapest Bridges at Night

This is when the city earns its reputation. Once the sun drops behind the Buda hills, the bridges light up, and Budapest bridges at night is a totally different experience from the daytime version.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

The Chain Bridge is the star - its strings of lights trace those famous curves, and since it's car-free now you can stand in the middle and just take it in. Liberty Bridge glows green and feels intimate because it's so short. Elisabeth Bridge's white cables look almost futuristic lit up, and Margaret Bridge gives you Parliament floodlit gold in the background. For the full effect, walk the riverbank promenade on the Pest side after dark, or grab a spot up on Gellért Hill where you can see four or five bridges shining at once. Late evening, the crowds thin out and it gets genuinely peaceful.

Best Bridges to Walk Across (and a little route)

Not every bridge is a nice walk - some are loud, traffic-choked things you'd not want to linger on. But a few are a real pleasure on foot.

The Chain Bridge is the obvious one now that cars are gone. Liberty Bridge is short, low and lovely, with great views from the middle. And Margaret Bridge is worth it for the island detour.

If you've got an afternoon, here's a route that strings the best of them together. Start on the Pest side at the Great Market Hall and cross Liberty Bridge to the foot of Gellért Hill. Catch your breath (or hike up the hill for that panorama), then walk north along the Buda bank to Elisabeth Bridge and cross back over to Pest. Keep going up the riverside promenade to the Chain Bridge and cross that one over to Castle Hill, where you can ride the little funicular up or just wander the old streets. It's a few hours of easy walking and you'll have crossed three of the prettiest bridges in the city, seen both banks, and earned yourself a beer.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

Getting Across: Trams and Buses

You don't have to walk, mind you. Budapest's public transport runs right over most of the bridges, and it's cheap and frequent. Here's the rough breakdown:

Want to cross...	Hop on
Margaret Bridge or Petőfi Bridge	Trams 4 and 6 (the Grand Boulevard loop)
Liberty Bridge	Trams 47 and 49
Árpád Bridge or Rákóczi Bridge	Tram 1
Elisabeth Bridge	Buses 7, 8E and 108E
Chain Bridge	A BKK bus, a taxi, a bike, or your own two feet

Trams 4 and 6 are the ones you'll use most, since they run almost around the clock and cross two bridges between them. And tram 1 is handy if you're heading out to Müpa or the Aquincum ruins.

So Why Were So Many Bridges Rebuilt?

If you've been doing the maths on the dates, you'll have spotted that loads of these bridges "opened" twice. There's a grim reason for that.

In the winter of 1944 to 1945, during World War II and the Siege of Budapest, the retreating German troops blew up every single bridge across the Danube in the city. Every one. The Chain Bridge, Margaret Bridge, Liberty Bridge, Elisabeth, the lot - all dropped into the river within weeks. For a while there was no fixed way across the Danube in the capital at all.

What came next is one of the things that makes the city's story stick with you. The Hungarians reconstructed them, one by one. The Chain Bridge reopened in 1949, exactly 100 years to the day after its first opening, and all the other bridges followed over the years that came after. Some went back up looking just as they had before; others, like Elisabeth, came back in a completely new modern form because the old design couldn't be recreated. So when you're standing on one of these, you're often standing on something that was destroyed and then willed back into existence. That shared history of loss and rebuilding ties almost all the bridges of Budapest together.

Budapest Bridges: Map, History and Photo Spots

Frequently Asked Questions

How many bridges are in Budapest?

Across the main Danube in the city there are eight road bridges and two railway bridges. People round that to "nine" or "seven" depending on whether they count the rail bridges and the big motorway one up north. Throw in the smaller crossings to the islands and over the southern Soroksári arm and you're past a dozen. For sightseeing, the eight road bridges are what matter.

Which is the most famous bridge in Budapest?

The Széchenyi Chain Bridge, no contest. It was the first permanent crossing, it's the city's unofficial symbol, and since 2023 it's car-free, so it's a joy to walk.

Which bridge is best for photos?

For the bridge itself, shoot the Chain Bridge from Castle Hill or Fisherman's Bastion. For a sweep of several bridges at once, head up Gellért Hill behind Elisabeth Bridge. Both are even better just after sunrise.

Can you walk across the Chain Bridge?

Yes, and it's free and open all day, every day. Since the 2023 renovation there's no car traffic, just buses, taxis, bikes and pedestrians, so it's calmer than it's been in decades.

What's the longest bridge in Budapest?

The Megyeri Bridge at 1,862 metres, the cable-stayed motorway crossing up north. Among the central road bridges, Árpád is one of the longest and easily the busiest.