Unofficial visitor guide · Budapest
Budapesti Történeti Múzeum – Vármúzeum · Google Maps
The Castle Museum of the Budapest History Museum fills the southern wing of Buda Castle, down to the rooms of the medieval royal palace. Its ticket list includes no audio guide, and guided tours are for booked groups. Here is what helps if you don't read Hungarian.
Independent guide by the makers of Tales of Museums. Not affiliated with the Castle Museum.
Checked on 15 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official Castle Museum website before you go.
Checked on 15 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official Castle Museum website before you go.
Swipe for the works and stories worth knowing before you go.
In 1974 more than sixty statue torsos and thousands of fragments turned up in a sealed cellar in front of the royal palace. Carved for King Sigismund's court by masters from across Europe, many were left unfinished when the workshop broke up.
Rooms nobody had seen for centuries, including the Gothic Hall, the chapel and the Treasurer's House, were dug out after the Second World War destroyed the palace above them. Restored, they now form the museum's lowest level.
The Corvina Library display brings King Matthias's court to life with its music, a fold-out replica of one of his famous illuminated books, and a 3D animation of the early 16th-century palace. In the Royal Cellar you learn about medieval hygiene.
Found as a crumpled ball of mud ten metres down a well under the former Teleki Palace, this silk hanging survived because no air reached it. Its shields show the arms of the Árpád and Anjou kings, and it went into the well under King Sigismund.
From the late 18th century until 1944 the palace kept the Hungarian Holy Crown. By 1905 it was one of Europe's largest royal residences; in January 1945 it was the last German stronghold and burned for weeks.
A thousand years of the city, from its beginnings to the fall of communism, follow a winding corridor shaped like the Danube. Side rooms branch off it for topics such as the city's baths and its vanished vineyards.
The oldest finds are stone tools left by people living here 50,000 years ago; the youngest belong to the Hungarian conquerors. Each of the ten periods is told through one featured object chosen from hundreds of Budapest excavations.
In 1964 builders repairing war damage at Táncsics Mihály utca 26 found painted Hebrew inscriptions on a medieval vault. The room is now a small museum branch on the Jewish community of medieval Buda, and also a working synagogue; it is closed on Mondays and Saturdays.
Tales of Museums reads the label in front of you aloud in your language, for any label you can photograph. The museum asks you to keep your phone turned down and not to talk loudly, so bring headphones and mobile data.
Coming soon to the App Store for iPhone
The museum's ticket list, in English and Hungarian, includes no audio guide. For commentary in English you can book a tour with one of the museum's guides; a tablet tour comes only with the combined ticket for St Stephen's Hall. varmuzeum.hu: ticket information · varmuzeum.hu: tickets and tours (Hungarian)
Yes, in advance: a museum guide costs HUF 21,000 for up to 20 people or HUF 25,000 for 21–35, plus admission, with tours starting between 10 am and 4 pm. Book by email at info@btm.hu. Only the museum's own guides may lead tours unless it cannot offer your language. varmuzeum.hu: tickets and tours (Hungarian) · varmuzeum.hu: house rules (Hungarian)
Yes, for personal use, without flash or a tripod. varmuzeum.hu: house rules (Hungarian)
Yes. The house rules ask you to turn your phone down and not to disturb other visitors with loud talking. Keep your phone with you rather than in a coat at the cloakroom: the museum takes no responsibility for valuables left there. varmuzeum.hu: house rules (Hungarian)
Entry is free for everyone on Hungary's national holidays: 15 March, 20 August and 23 October. On the last Saturday of each month it is free for EEA citizens under 26 and for family members accompanying under-18s. A Budapest Card gets you in free once. varmuzeum.hu: tickets (Hungarian) · varmuzeum.hu: ticket information
The museum is in Building E at the southern end of Buda Castle. Walk from Dísz tér (bus 16A) to the main entrance in the Lion Courtyard, or take bus 16 to the Palota út – Gyorslift stop and ride the lift up. From the Castle Garden Bazaar an outdoor escalator and lift lead to the King's Cellar entrance. varmuzeum.hu: visit
Partly. The main entrance in the Lion Courtyard is barrier-free and lifts reach the first and second floors, where all the exhibitions are accessible. A lift goes down to the medieval palace level, but that area cannot be visited in a wheelchair. Visitors with disabilities and one companion get in free. varmuzeum.hu: accessibility
Yes, by booking a time slot. The hall shares the museum's entrance and ticket office, and a combined adult ticket for the hall and all Castle Museum exhibitions costs HUF 5,900 with a tablet tour of the hall. varmuzeum.hu: tickets (Hungarian) · varmuzeum.hu: visit
The Castle Museum opens every day from 10 am to 6 pm (last entry 5.30 pm), but closes on a few holidays, including 1 November and 24-26 December. On 31 December it is open only from 10 am to 2 pm, and on 1 January from noon to 6 pm. museum: special and festive opening days · museum: visit
Yes: the Castle Museum's prehistory exhibition, In Pursuit of Lost Times, was designed to appeal to everyone from the youngest children to the oldest adults and has interactive digital games, and a free family booklet in Hungarian, which you print yourself, leads a 1.5-hour trail around the Castle District for ages 8–12. For EEA nationals, children under 6 enter free, young people aged 6–26 pay HUF 1,900, and one or two adults with two or more family members under 18 get 50% off. Children under two must be in a pushchair or a carrier worn on the front; no child may ride on shoulders or a back, and toys stay out of the exhibitions. varmuzeum.hu: In Pursuit of Lost Times · varmuzeum.hu: museum map (interactive tools and games) · varmuzeum.hu: family activity booklet (Hungarian) · varmuzeum.hu: ticket information (family discount) · varmuzeum.hu: house rules, visiting with small children (Hungarian)
Tales of Museums is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the Castle Museum. Translations, narration and the extra facts use AI and can contain mistakes, so for anything important, check the museum's official information and the linked sources. Please follow the museum's photography rules.