Great Playground soon to open in Budapest’s City Park

Images of the Great Playground in Budapest’s City Park have at last been revealed. Due to open on 26 October, this family-friendly attraction will feature more than 50 things to climb, swing on and slide down. Some can take the weight of parents too, while all is centrepieced by a striped balloon, inspired by a Habsburg-era painting in the National Gallery.

Integral to the controversial reconfiguration of Budapest’s revered City Park, the Great Playground will soon be open to the public.

A three-dimensional climbing net, a smart slide that measures your speed, integrated swings, rides adapted for children with learning difficulties, even mesh structures for boisterous parents – all in all, some 50 attractions await.

The showcase element of the playground will be the three-storey climbing structure inspired by the balloon in the 1882 painting by Pál Szinyei Merse, Léghajó (‘Airship’) that hangs in the National Gallery.

In total, six slides, ten swings and carousels, four rotating rides, three sandboxes, seven spring-loaded rides, two custom-designed high-rope climbs, ten trampolines and a long, winding water feature with sluice gates and water toys, will be unveiled on 26 October.

The entire section will be fenced off and accessed via five security gates. Disabled-friendly toilets and a nappy change will also be on hand.