We stumbled upon Margaret Island somewhat accidentally while we were in Budapest. We took a boat ride and it was one of the stops, so we decided to hop off and check it out. It turned out to be a great afternoon. Margaret Island is located in the middle of the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary. You can take a boat there, cross Margaret Bridge, or take a bus to get there. It’s a great oasis in the middle of the city to get away from everything and take in some nature (okay.. technically in the middle of the river!). The island originally had nunneries, churches and cloisters dating from the 12th century. Now, it’s open to the public for everyone to enjoy- and we definitely enjoyed it ourselves!
Once we got off the boat, we saw a giant BUDAPEST sign. Naturally, we stopped for some photos with the sign. We walked around the area where the boat dropped of us off and where Margaret Bridge ends. It was pretty crowded, which was to be expected. There were lots of people hanging out and just relaxing, enjoying the beautiful scenery and musical fountain.
Budapest sign on Margaret Island
Seriously, how could we not take jumping photos?!
What is a musical fountain you ask!? There’s certain times of day when music plays, and a light show is coordinated with the fountain. We’ve come across two musical fountains in our travels, and we still haven’t seen it in action! This is a small silly thing that I look for now.
Musical Fountain on the hour, regular fountain when you miss the show
We saw that you could rent pedal bikes, and right away Albert decided we should try it. We rented one and rode around the island, stopping to take in the views and of course stopping for some refreshing orange juice. It was a little hard to get used to pedaling and steering the bike at first, but eventually we got the hang of it. Albert took over as the driver for the day, so it was nice having a chauffeur for a few hours ;). As we got further into the island, there weren’t many people. There were other people on bikes and pedal bikes, joggers, and families picnicking. We explored the island as much as possible on the pedal bike, but we couldn’t get everywhere because we had to stay on the marked trails with the pedal bike – we didn’t want to do any off-roading! After we leisurely went around the island, we returned the pedal bike and decided to rent regular bikes. We rode bikes around for an hour and got to explore a little more. We were able to see more inside the island since we were able to access more with the bikes on smaller paths. We came across multiple gardens and even a small waterfall. There is even a water park, a small zoo, and a look out tower you can climb to the top. The island has so much to offer, and it was so nice just getting a glimpse into everything from the bike.
He drives, he delivers drinks.. what else could you want in life!?
A small garden with a waterfall in the background!
Bike riding through the gardens
We ended up spending a few hours on Margaret Island and walked over Margaret Bridge to get back to the city. If we anticipated spending as much time on the island as we did, we definitely would have brought a picnic lunch so we could enjoy the nature there more after working up such an appetite! All in all, exploring Margaret Island turned out to be a great and unexpected afternoon!