Family time in Budapest: The Margaret Island (Margitsziget) for a full day of fun!

Walk with me to Margaret-Sziget (The Margaret Island) in Budapest

When you think of Budapest, you may instantly think about Sziget festival too. This festival is a very well organized festival held on one of the islands on the Danube river in Budapest. The island of freedom is the nickname of this festival, curious why? I recommend you to find the after movies of the last two years, these video clips bring me an instant smile and happy feeling every single time I watch and listen to them. And trust me, I have seen them many many times by now. Those videos were actually the main reason I got excited to move to Budapest.
Most people (we also did) thought that the Sziget festival (which means Island festival) was held on the Margaret Island, because of the Hungarian name: Margit Sziget. But when you learn the translation of Sziget, you understand this is a misconception. Sziget festival is actually held on another island, but that doesn't mean you have to leave the Margret Island for what it is, because this island equals a very relaxed and fun day out!

It's always busy there

And with always, I actually mean always! The first picture in this post gave a good example of how busy.. These people were gathered around the music fountain, that is actually really cool because it has a water show on the rhythm of the music that is playing. Check out this video I made of it a while ago. And even though there are always many people, I have never seen any situation with trouble there. The island has a certain feel of serenity, and people get there to have a fun day out and nobody is bothering one and another. Just happy faces! The picture above is the bridge from where you can enter the island. You get in tramline 4 or 6 to Jászai Mari Tér (which is the stop before the bridge where you see the McDonalds at the corner) but then you wait for one more stop. You are now in the middle of this bridge from where you can walk down to the island. You will see that you're on the right path to the island, as many people will be walking in that direction.

This is a picture of the main crossroad entering the island

First, you walk off the bridge and then you arrive at this big crossroad, where you can hop on a yellow "train" that drives around the island. The island is really big, so it's quite impossible to see everything in one day by foot. If you don't want to hop on one of these may be the family bikes are an option for you. (You can see them in the top picture on the right side)

For a more relaxed drive

You can also take one of these electric cars, which you can find at several spots on the island. I believe the costs of these are not very high but don't shoot me if I am wrong. I thought I've seen prices for 30 minutes about 6 euro. But if it is a bit more expensive and you can share costs, it's still not too expensive I think. We didn't try any of these options yet, only walked on the island by foot, and crossed it once with a bus.

View from the other side

Here you can see the view from the side of the fountain (the other side of the crossroad) and if you look closely, you see in the back the walking path from and to the bridge where you can enter the island. It's not only for walking though because the bus also crosses the island, but you aren't allowed to go there by car. This is for safety reasons because on the island many people are walking, but also you see many bikes, little electric cars and of course lots of children playing.

Option for children

If you aren't feeling like riding family bikes or walking, you can consider renting one of these funny children's bikes. They are there in many different colours, and this way the children can cross the island a few times, get tired and you don't have to spoil all your energy yourself!

Food and drinks

I can show you many things where you can eat or drink on the island, but I will save some things for future posts, as there is (even for us) still plenty to discover and see. While you enter the island you can grab some drinks, popcorn/snacks or ice cream at one of the mobile shops like shown above. But if you walk a bit further on the island you also have a few places where you can sit down and relax with view on the Danube river. Or you can sit elsewhere on the island, lots of choices! I will discuss more options in future posts, while I've tried some of the local places to enjoy a drink or some food.

What else can you do on the island?

Well, we found out a while ago that there even is a swimming pool (which you don't see until you take the bus across the island) so we will be going there somewhere in the near future. After we have visited this pool, I can more about this. The time we drove by they were still cleaning the pool, and there was no water in it yet. But if you walk all the way to the end you can also find a children's animal farm. Nothing big, but quite nice to have a look! We recently saw baby white storks on only 2 meters distance. For little children, this is a nice thing to see at least once. As almost every little child likes animals, right? I believe there's also a casino on it, but I haven't seen any events yet, quite curious if there will be poker tournaments though, would love to enter a live tournament once myself.
We read on the signs that there should be a light show too, maybe this is regular, maybe not. I have to look for more information first. And of course, you can just have a nice walk in the shade enjoying all the beautiful flowers and trees too. If you're lucky you may even spot a squirrel or two while walking through the park.

More Margret Island posts will follow, there's a lot to see, and a great place for families. Until next time!