The Danube Bend: Szentendre, Visegrád and Esztergom

Route description

Leave Budapest north on route 11 along the west bank of the Danube, reaching Szentendre in about 30 minutes. The small baroque town has Serbian Orthodox churches, galleries and cobbled lanes running down to the river. Park on the edge of the centre, as the old streets are narrow. A few kilometres outside town, the Hungarian Open Air Museum shows rebuilt village houses from every region.

Route 11 continues north beside the river to Visegrád, about 25 km. Here the Danube swings sharply around the hills in the bend that gives the region its name. Visit the remains of the royal palace in the lower town, then drive up the Panorama road to the 13th-century citadel, which has the best view of the bend. Walkers can climb from town in about 40 minutes.

The road then follows the river west to Esztergom, about 25 km, the seat of Hungary’s Catholic archbishops for a thousand years. The basilica on Castle Hill is the largest church in the country; climb up into the dome for the view. Below, the Mária Valéria Bridge crosses the Danube into Štúrovo in Slovakia, a short walk away for a different view back.

You can return to Budapest by the faster road 10 via Dorog, about 50 km, or cross to the other bank by the car ferry between Visegrád and Nagymaros and come back through Vác. Route 11 is narrow in places and busy at summer weekends, but fine for motorhomes. Hungarian motorways need an e-vignette, but this route uses only free main roads.