Connecting the Danube bank with Castle Hill, the Funicular (Sikló) was first put into service in 1870. Back then, it carried clerks and public officials up to do a day’s work in Buda Castle. Destroyed during the war, it wasn’t restored until 1986, when it was given a vintage appearance and soon admitted to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites as a distinctive element of the Danube embankment. It runs on a steep, 95-metre slope, elevating 50 metres along its way. Although the Funicular is operated by the Budapest Transport Corporation, ordinary public-transport tickets and passes are not valid and you’ll have to join the inevitable queue to buy a single (1,200 HUF) or return (1,800 HUF). The two cars, Margit and Gellért, are connected as counterweights: while one runs uphill, the other comes down.
