Budapest for The Time Travellers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

The Art Nouveau jewel on the bridge, now a hotel; walk into the lobby to see the peacock gates, the stained glass and the wrought iron.

Sixty pairs of iron shoes mark where Jews were shot into the river in 1944-45; it is simple, and moving at dusk.

The old Óbuda inn that Krúdy wrote about, now a family-run place for bone marrow on toast and a proper goulash; booking is wise.

A cave system under Castle Hill used as cellar, bomb shelter and prison; entry is by a lamp-lit passage, so wear shoes for wet stone.

The turrets copy seven Magyar tribes, and the stone of the Matthias Church spire rises behind; the lower terraces are free when the ticket booth is shut.

A bright bistro below the castle, named for an actress; the daily lunch menu is good value and the cakes come from a local patisserie.

Inside the Royal Palace, with Hungarian painting from gothic altarpieces to Munkácsy; the dome gives another view of the Danube.

The largest synagogue in Europe, in Moorish style, with the Tree of Life memorial in the garden; closed on Saturdays, so Sunday is your day.

The former headquarters of both Arrow Cross and communist secret police, now an unsentimental museum of both regimes; allow two hours and leave time to walk.

A literary coffeehouse where the Nyugat poets and critics argued; order a coffee and a slice of Dobos torta and read a newspaper.

A guided hour under the neo-Gothic dome, past the Holy Crown of Hungary; tours are timed and capped, and EU passport holders pay about half.

The city's biggest church, a neoclassical dome finished in 1905; the panorama tower on top is worth the climb.

A coffeehouse that has served the same square since 1858, with wood panelling and a proper Dobos torta; a fine last stop before the airport.