Recently refurbished and acting as essential navigation aids to first time visitors the many bridges of Budapest offer a break from the city's interior.
It’s wise in Budapest to familiarize yourself with just 4 of the major bridges, that way you’ll usually be able to get a good handle on where you are in the city – if you can just find the river.By the way, bridge in Hungarian is ‘hid’ pronounced ‘heed’ almost like a Glaswegian would say it.
From the north: straddling Margret Island is the purely functional Margret Bridge. A walk across will give you truly majestic views south and also allow you access to the car-free Margret Island where there is a 5km running track circling the island park, home to various impromptu outside bars during the hot summer months.
Next is the famous Chain Bridge (Lanc Hid), flanked by its noble but apparently tounge-less lions who occasionally sport hats and cigars care of the local student population. The chain bridge is sometimes closed to traffic in the summer to host various festivals. It will take you from the historical heart of Buda to the sophisticated heart of Pest.
Continuing on south you’ll find the much more modern Elizabeth Bridge (Erzsebet Hid – pronounced Air-sheb-et) a tribute to steel and a 1964 replacement for the one blown up in WWII (as were all of the bridges). It leads from the relatively uneventful Buda side into the heart of cafe-bar-restaurant land, district VII.
Last on our list the strangely green and ornate metal bridge, overlooked directly by the Liberation Monument, is the Freedom Bridge (Szabadság Híd – pronounced Sab-ad-shaag). It leads into the lower reaches of district VII and the more student laden district IX with its own fair smattering of watering holes, eateries, clubs and a huge market – eating drinking, dancing and shopping all taken care of.
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