the bridges
The bridges on the route
The Chain, Margit and Erzsébet bridges: who built them, when they opened and what to watch for from the deck.
Reserve your table on the river ↗The bridges at a glance
| Bridge | Opened | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Chain Bridge | 1849 | 375 m |
| Margit Bridge | 1876 | 607.6 m |
| Erzsébet Bridge | 1964 (current) | 378.6 m |
| Liberty Bridge | 1896 | 333.6 m |
Three bridges, three eras
The candlelit cruise passes beneath the Chain, Margit and Erzsébet bridges, and each belongs to a different period. The Chain Bridge is the oldest, from the 1840s. The Margit Bridge dates from the 1870s, and the Erzsébet Bridge was rebuilt in the 1960s. Seen from the water they make a short lesson in how Budapest crossed its river, one span at a time, with the Buda hills behind each of them.
Why Budapest has so many crossings
Until 1873 the three towns of Buda, Pest and Óbuda were separate, and only the Danube lay between them. The Chain Bridge came first and joined Buda and Pest. Later bridges linked the growing city and Margaret Island, which lies between the Margit and Árpád bridges and is about 2.5 kilometres long. From the water you read the city's growth as a sequence of crossings.
The Chain Bridge
The Széchenyi Chain Bridge opened on 20 November 1849 and was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary. The English engineer William Tierney Clark designed it, following an initiative by Count István Széchenyi. It is 375 metres long, with a main span of 202 metres, and the stone lions at its abutments by János Marschalkó were installed in 1852. Retreating German forces blew it up in January 1945, and it reopened in 1949. After renovation, traffic returned in August 2023.
The Margit Bridge
The Margit Bridge opened on 30 April 1876 and was designed by the French engineer Ernest Goüin. It is 607.6 metres long, and it does not run straight: its two arms enclose an angle of 165 degrees at the junction toward Margaret Island. In November 1944 an explosion destroyed part of the bridge, and much of the original steel was later raised from the river and reused. A renovation ran from 2009 and finished in 2011.
The Erzsébet Bridge
The first Erzsébet Bridge was built between 1897 and 1903 and named after Elisabeth of Bavaria, the empress of Austria-Hungary who was assassinated in 1898. Retreating German forces destroyed it in 1945. The bridge you pass beneath now is a simplified rebuild on the same site, built between 1961 and 1964 and inaugurated on 21 November 1964. It is a suspension bridge 378.6 metres long, with a longest span of 290 metres.
A fourth bridge on some cruises
Depending on where a cruise turns, you may also pass the Liberty Bridge, which opened in 1896 in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph. It was first called the Franz Joseph Bridge, and János Feketeházy designed it. It is 333.6 metres long, built in an Art Nouveau style with mythological sculptures and the national coat of arms, and it copies the outline of a chain bridge though it is structurally a cantilever truss.
The lions on the Chain Bridge
At each end of the Chain Bridge a pair of stone lions guards the abutments. János Marschalkó carved them, and they were installed in 1852, three years after the bridge opened. A popular story says the lions have no tongues, but the tongues are simply not visible from the ground. It is a good detail to look for as the commentary reaches the first bridge.
What to watch for from the deck
The windows retract, so take photographs between courses and not in the middle of the main, and look ahead along the river as the boat approaches each bridge, since its outline shows well before you pass under it. Decorative lighting on the bridges is set by the city and can change without notice, so if a bridge is dark on your night, look for its outline against the sky.
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