-  Conferences & Meetings
-  Events & Incentives
-  Congress Management

Budapest, also called the 'Paris of the East' and 'Queen of the Danube', is more than just a capital. It was and is a gateway between the West and Asia having influences from both western and eastern cultures. Hungarians are passionate people who love the arts and have a rich heritage when it comes to food and wine. The city is also famous for itdsmany bath houses, a pastime that began during the Roman occupation.

The city consists of two parts seperated by the River Danube. The 'Buda' part is the hilly side where you will find the castle and picturesque streets. The 'Pest' (pronounced 'Pesht') side has wide set boulevards and the world famous Parliament Building. For the event planner the city is very well equipped for all kinds of functions and there are many fine venues for conferences and meetings. Budapest itself and the surrounding countryside offer many interesting activities for incentives.



Country: Hungary
County: Pest
Language: GHungarian
Area: 525,16 km²
Population: 1.695.000
Time zone: CET, summer CEST
Currency: Hungarian Forint




Budapest's recorded history begins with the Roman town of Aquincum, founded around 89 AD on the site of an earlier Celtic settlement near what was to become 'Óbuda'. Until the end of the 4th century Obuda was the capital of the province of Lower Pannonia. Today's 'Pest' side of the city became the site of 'Contra Aquincum' (or 'Trans Aquincum') a small sentry point.

The word Pest (or 'Peshta') is thought to originate from the Bolgar language (thought to be a Turkish language, not related to modern Bulgarian, which is a Slavic language) because at the time of the reign of the Bulgarian Khan Krum (approximately 796 to 814) the town was under Bulgar control. The area then became a homeland for the Avars and some Slavic tribes.

Around the year 900 AD the area where modern day Budapest stands was inhabited by the Magyars of Central Asia, the cultural and linguistic ancestors of today's ethnic Hungarians. It was these peoples who later officially founded the Kingdom of Hungary, already a place of some significance. Pest recovered rapidly from its destruction by Mongol invaders in 1241 but it was Buda that became the Hungarian capital in 1361.

The Ottoman Empire's conquest of most of Hungary in the 16th century interrupted the cities' growth: Buda and Pest fell to the invaders in 1541.Buda remained the seat of a Turkish pasha, Pest was largely derelict by the time of its recapture in 1686 by Austria's Habsburg rulers who since 1526 had been Kings of Hungary despite losing control of most of the country.

It was Pest, a bustling commercial town that enjoyed faster growth in the 18th and 19th centuries and contributed to the overwhelming majority of the cities' combined growth in the 19th century. The population of Pest grew twenty-fold in the following century to 600,000. The fusion of Buda, Obuda and Pest under a single administration, finally took effect in 1867. The total population of the unified capital grew nearly sevenfold between 1840 and 1900 to 730,000.

During the 20th century most population growth occurred in the suburbs with Újpest more than doubling in size between 1890 and 1910 and Kispest more than quintupling between 1900 and 1920 as much of the country's industry came to be concentrated in the city. Hungary's human losses during World War I and the subsequent loss of more than two thirds of the former kingdom's territory in 1920 dealt only a temporary blow,. Budapest was left as the capital of a smaller but now sovereign state. By 1930 the city proper contained a million inhabitants, with a further 400,000 in the suburbs.

Towards the end of World War II, in 1944, Budapest was partly destroyed by British and American air raids. The following siege lasted from December 24 1944 to February 13 1945 and major damage was caused by the attacking Soviet and defending German and Hungarian troops. All bridges were disrupted by the Germans. More than 38,000 civilians lost their lives during the fighting. Between 20% and 40% of Greater Budapest's 250,000 Jewish inhabitants died due to Nazi genocide during 1944 and early 1945. Despite this, Budapest today has the highest number of Jewish citizens of any European city.

On January 1 1950 the area of Budapest was significantly expanded as new districts were formed from neighbouring cities and towns. Despite the severe damage during the Soviet siege in 1944, the city recovered in the 1950s and 1960s becoming, to some extent, a showcase for the more pragmatic policies pursued by the country's communist government (1947to 1989). Since the 1980s the capital has shared with the country as a whole in increased emigration together with natural population decrease.