Once called the “Queen of the Danube,” Budapest has long been the focal point of the nation and a lively cultural centre. The city straddles the Danube (Hungarian: Duna) River in the magnificent natural setting where the hills of western Hungary meet the plains stretching to the east and south. It consists of two parts, Buda and Pest, which are situated on opposite sides of the river and connected by a series of bridges.

The heart of Pest is the Belváros (Inner Town), an irregular pentagon with its longest side running parallel to the Danube; only traces of the original town walls remain. The Váci utca, a narrow street turned pedestrian thoroughfare, is the most fashionable shopping centre of Budapest. Another, newer pedestrian-friendly street, the New Main Street, also stretches through the city centre. The Town Hall (Fővárosi Tanács), a Baroque building erected between 1724 and 1747, is in the northeast corner of the Belváros next to Pest County Hall (Pest megyei Tanács). The Inner Town Parish Church (Belvárosi plébániatemplom) is the oldest building in Pest. Rebuilt in the Baroque style in the 18th century, as were many other churches in Pest and Buda, the church had been the most impressive of medieval Pest. St. Stephen’s Crown, the symbol of Hungarian nationhood, is on display in the Hungarian National Museum, a Neoclassical edifice located just outside the Belváros.