Margaret Island

Margitsziget is a two and a half kilometre island in the Danube between Margaret and Arpad bridges, closed to private cars, and it functions as the shared garden of a city that otherwise has little green in its centre: lawns, plane avenues, a rose garden, a small zoo and a Japanese garden, with a rubberised running track of about five and a third kilometres that circles the whole island and is busy from early morning. Its name comes from Margaret, daughter of Bela IV, who was sent to a Dominican convent here in the thirteenth century and whose ruined cloister still stands, alongside the remains of a Franciscan church and a Premonstratensian chapel. A musical fountain plays at the southern end and thermal water feeds the Palatinus pools.

History

The present island was formed at the end of the 19th century by joining three smaller ones, the Painter, Bath and Rabbit islands, to control the Danube. The Knights of St. John settled here in the 12th century, and nunneries, churches and cloisters dominated it until the 16th century, among them the 13th-century Franciscan and Dominican churches and convent whose ruins remain; the monks and nuns fled during the Ottoman wars, in the 18th century it became a retreat of the palatines, and in 1908 it was declared a public garden (Wikipedia, Margaret Island).

What's there

• The Dominican convent ruins - the cloister where Margaret was sent as a child.
• The running track around the island - a rubberised loop of over five kilometres.
• The musical fountain - the water and light display at the southern end.
• The rose garden and plane avenues - the planted centre of the island.

When to go

April to September for the gardens and the pools; the island is bleak in winter. Half a day. Weekends are crowded, weekday mornings quiet. The fountain runs on a set schedule.

Good to know

It is a city park, not a wilderness, and it is packed on summer weekends. The zoo is small and dated. Food on the island is limited and overpriced. The northern end is much quieter than the southern.

Nearby

Margaret Bridge leads to both banks; the Parliament stands downstream.

Key facts