Contemporary Budapest Politics Tour

Go beyond the headlines and get to know Budapest today with a local scholar or journalist
From US$211 privately
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Tour Details
Duration
3 hours
Product Type
Tour
Venues
  • Parliament exterior
  • Freedom Square
Photos & Highlights
  • Budapest politics tour led by local political scientist
  • Weaves stories of life in contemporary Budapest
Select a date
Tour Description
Culturally and geographically, Hungary can be seen as a bridge between East and West. This unique tour explores the truths and historical context of the country’s contemporary situation. In the company of a political scientist guide, you will deconstruct how and what contemporary Hungarian politics—not only in a theoretical sense but also by looking at the politics of everyday life, like in education, religion, culture, art, architecture, and urban planning.

Budapest Politics Tour

During our time together, we'll peel back the layers of Hungarian identity and social hierarchy. This can include the differences between “western” and “eastern” European democracies, as well as notions of left and right, and the different meanings of concepts such as liberalism, conservatism, and nationalism. We’ll ask how international players such as US universities, NGOs, and personalities like Hungarian-born American investor and philanthropist George Soros have influenced political developments

The Way Forward

Our journey starts at the famous Chain Bridge, a structure that symbolizes urbanization and the birth of Budapest as a modern metropolis. (For a look at this area in a broader historical context, we recommend our Introductory Budapest Walking Tour.) Through buildings, squares, bridges, churches, ruins, and invented heroes, the city-wide traces of the intense 20th-century political battle will gradually become visible to us. Some monuments are protected by police, while others have been erected with questionable legality, and both circumstances beg the question, "why?" Taking cues from the cityscape around us, we’ll discuss how Hungary deals with its past and the disagreements that arise out of this process. 

Sites across Budapest will offer the chance to dig into what makes Hungary run. At the end of our time together, we’ll see Budapest as a fascinating fusion of traditional, modern and postmodern; a city constantly redefining itself as it seeks a secure sense of identity and place.

Where You'll Start
51 Reviews (4.92)

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This tour was time well spent. We were not completely unaware of historical and current events in Hungary, but still learned a lot.
The tour was excellent. Edina is very well informed.
Greta was a wonderful tour guide and teacher - very intelligent, and passionate about her work. She shared parts of history that enabled me to more clearly understand the fascinating evolution of Hungarian politics. Thank you, Greta!