City Woodland Park, Budapest Városliget

Close to East Station lies the Budapest "Sports Town" with the Népstadion (People's Stadium) as its centre. This arena, built in 1953 to the plans of K. Dávid, covers an area of 17,500sqm/20,900sqyds. Its stands can accommodate more than 70,000 spectators, and there are plans to increase the capacity to 100,000 seats.Around the stadium are other sporting facilities: the Kisstadion (Small Stadium; 1962; capacity 15,000) which has already served as a stage for many show-business artistes; the Millenáris Cycle Race-track (1896), the Nemzeti Sportcsarnok (National Sports Hall; 1940), Játékcsarnok (Games Hall), the Testnevelési és Sportmúzeum (Museum of Physical Culture and Sport), the Olimpiai Csarnok (Olympia Hall), the Körcsarnok (Circular Hall) and the ultra-modern Budapest Sportcsarnok (Sports Hall; 1981; 12,500 seats), which shortly after its completion was in 1983 the venue of the World Gymnastic Championship. Along both sides of Ifjúság útja (Youth Street) stand sculptures in praise of sport.

Széchenyi baths (Széchenyi-fürdo) in the northern part of Városliget comprises an open-air bath and a covered bath in Neo-Baroque style with steam and normal baths; it is one of the largest buildings of its kind in Europe. The warm water (over 70°C (158°F) comes from a spring discovered in the previous century. The baths are visited by up to two million people a year.

The Budapest Zoological-Botanical Garden is situated in the north-west part of Városliget. It was laid out privately in 1866 and later handed over to the city. In 1911/12 enclosures and animal houses were designed to resemble natural habitats whilst also reflecting the very latest in modern architecture; the mosque-like elephant house and the aviary designed by Károly Kós are well worth seeing. Among the attractions are the birds of prey enclosure, the rock-garden, the polar bear and sea-lion pool, the children's zoo, the monkey-house, the caves for lions and bears, and the Africa house.Along the paths interested visitors can study the flora of temperate latitudes, while tropical plants can be found in the architecturally interesting palm house as well as in the aquariums and terrariums for creatures from hot countries.

On returning from the stadium to the city center the visitor will pass East Station (Keleti pályaudvar). A main terminus, the station was completed in 1884 to the plans of J. Feketeházy and G. Rochlitz and has been renovated several times since. The main façade, in Neo-Renaissance style, is adorned with two statues of James Watt and George Stephenson. Murals by Károly Lotz and Mór Than embellish the prestigious station concourse.In the square outside the station stands a memorial by A. Szécsi (1898) in honor of the former Trade and Transport Minister Gábor Baross.

The Kerepesi Cemetery (Kerepesi temeto; Pantheon Cemetery) just south of East Station is one of the largest in Budapest. Since the 1950s it has been a cemetery of honor in which notable people are buried. The Munkásmozgalmi Pantheon (Pantheon of the Workers' Movement) is a monumental building by József Körner, with artistic details by Zoltán Kiss. The mausoleums of Lajos Kossuth, Lajos Batthyány and Ferenc Deák have places of honor; they were designed by Gerstl and Stróbl, Schickedanz and Gerstner respectively.

The new building of the Civic Circus, opened in 1971, is situated on the eastern edge of the zoo area, opposite the Széchenyi Baths; it is one of the most popular institutions of its kind in Europe. All the well-known circuses of the world have performed and still perform here.

Every year thousands of visitors come to this pleasure park in the northern corner of the Városliget. It has a giant wheel, a big dipper, an enchanted castle, roundabouts and much more.

Railway locomotive models unique in Europe, old cars, motorcycle, trams, and models of ships show the development of transportation in Hungary.