Riding the Children's Railway

A popular attraction, mainly with locals, is the Children's Railway, built in 1948 and now run by children under the supervision of adults. 

A girl selling tickets to ride the train

It runs through the forests found in the hills on the side of Buda. It provides a peaceful atmosphere away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The only sound is the rattling of the train along the track and the whistling of the birds sitting on the branches of the trees.

We started the trip at Szechenyi-hegy and stopped at Janos-hegy stop. We walked along a footpath towards Elizabeth Lookout Tower. 

Elizabeth Lookout Tower

Panting, we arrived at the top of the tower where a breathtaking view of the hills of Budapest greeted us. We looked around us breathing in the peace and quiet which is so rare to find in busy cities. It was as if the time was on hold and we could stay there forever...

But unfortunately we had to go back to the city so we decided to take the chairlift down to Zugliget from where we caught a bus to the centre of the city. Being afraid of heights I was not very keen on going up on the open chairlift with my feet dangling in the air. However, after a couple of minutes I soon started to enjoy the calmness of the ride, quite different from the noisy buses or trains, while spotting some beautiful houses scattered among the trees.

It's a great trip if you are spending a couple of days in Budapest and want to get away from the touristy areas. In fact, it's more popular with the locals, which may explain the reason why it was so difficult to communicate in English with the staff.

You can easily find the schedule of the Children's Railway here and the opening hours of the Zugliget Chairlift here so you can easily plan ahead. It takes only a couple of hours to do this trip, but if you have more time you can even picnic near Elizabeth Lookout Tower.