5 fun facts—interesting things about the City Park

The idea of transforming the neglected forest on the city’s outskirts into a public park emerged at the end of the 18th century. City Park opened to the public in the early 19th century, with some sources citing 1813. At the time, it was regarded as one of Europe’s first public parks, preceding several Western European counterparts. While other parks had previously opened to the public, City Park was the first to be intentionally designed as an urban public space. The latest addition to City Park is a tethered hot air balloon, offering you the chance to take to the skies of Budapest.

This neglected and untidy area was once known as Ökördűlő, or Ox Meadow. The decision to drain the marshlands belonging to the Rákos Stream catchment area was made at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, when drainage was formalised and an artificial lake with islands was also created. By the 1880s, it already attracted visitors as a true metropolitan park, complete with illuminated promenades and fountains. 

Vajdahunyad Castle was built for the 1896 Millennium celebrations based on the designs of Ignác Alpár. According to the original idea, it was implemented as a temporary structure of wood and plaster for the 1896 Millennium Exhibition. Due to its great success, it was rebuilt using durable materials between 1904 and 1908. The building complex evokes four defining architectural periods of Hungarian architecture—the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles—and houses the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture. 

The well supplying the water for the Széchenyi Thermal Bath springs from a depth of more than 1,200 metres, with a temperature of 74–77 °C. The water of the Széchenyi Bath is the warmest bathing water in Budapest—and is also among the hottest ones in the country. For comparison, the spring water temperatures of the Gellért and Rudas Thermal Baths only reach around 30–40 °C.

This is true with a small clarification—the City Park Lake in front of Vajdahunyad Castle is a boating lake in summer, with paddle boats also available. In winter, the famous City Park Ice Rink operates in the drained lakebed. Serving skating enthusiasts since 1870 as one of Europe's largest and oldest outdoor artificial ice rinks, it is a spot where people glide while sipping hot tea or mulled wine—one of Budapest's most popular programmes during the cold months.