Budapest's best-preserved garden suburb, built 1908-1925 for state employees, with 'gingerbread' houses, shutters and wild vine round a square designed by Károly Kós. Bus 99 from Blaha Lujza tér, or bus 194 from metro M3 Határ út, stops at Kós Károly tér (BKK timetable). Almost no visitors come out here; this is how a Budapest neighbourhood looked when it was planned as a village inside the city. No overlap with the existing routes.
Best time: A dry daytime, any season; late afternoon light on the gates is best
The route, stop by stop
- 1Zrumeczky Gate (west gate of the main square)
Dezső Zrumeczky's gate on Hungária út, built of rough stone, logs and beams with a triangular timber gateway over the road and pedestrian passages through the stone wings; the most recognisable building of the estate. 10 min.
- 2Kós Károly tér
The main square at the centre of the spider-web street plan drawn by chief engineer Ottmár Győri, laid out by Károly Kós in a Transylvanian-flavoured style. Each prize-winning architect could design at most two houses, so you see a sequence of different house types (48 in the whole estate). Wekerletelep was built from 1908 by the state for state employees, inspired by finance minister Sándor Wekerle; 1,007 houses with 4,412 flats were finished by 1925, and the estate has been a protected heritage area since 2011. One house on the square was the 'Mátyás király tér' of the TV soap 'Barátok közt'. 30 min.
- 3Kós Gate (east gate)
The eastern gate building on Hungária út, also designed by Kós. 5 min.
- 4Wekerle Workers' St Joseph Church
Béla Heintz's church of 1930 closes the square; its tower shows where the centre of the estate is from far away. 10 min outside. Then wander any side street: 70% of the houses are single-storey, with shutters and wild vine.
More walks in Budapest
- Castle Hill loop: funicular to Vienna Gate
- Danube promenade, Pest side: Parliament to the Great Market Hall
- Andrássy Avenue to Heroes' Square and City Park
- Jewish Quarter: three synagogues
- Gellért Hill climb: Cave Church to the Citadella and Rudas
- Margaret Island loop
- Palotanegyed: the aristocrats' Palace Quarter behind the National Museum
- Óbuda: baroque square, synagogue, Roman arena and Kiscell
- Felhévíz: rose hill, Gül Baba's tomb and the Ottoman baths
- Buda Hills: Normafa to János-hegy and down by chairlift
- Lipótváros Art Nouveau: Bedő House to Lechner's Postal Savings Bank