Spies, Resistance and the Last Days of Budapest with Adam LeBor | A 4 Night Tour | 16 April 2027
Budapest in the early 1940s was a cosmopolitan capital alive with intrigue: an Axis ally that also offered a temporary refuge for Allied prisoners of war, Polish exiles and Jewish refugees, and a city in which diplomats, agents, smugglers and resistance figures operated in the shadows. This new tour explores that complex and compelling history in the company of author and former foreign correspondent Adam LeBor. Drawing on the people, places and newly uncovered testimony that animate his acclaimed book The Last Days of Budapest: Spies, Nazis, Rescuers and Resistance, 1940–1945, Adam will reveal how the city moved from uneasy sanctuary to German occupation, persecution and siege. The programme also includes an evening tasting of Hungarian wines with local expert Tom Howells who co-founded the Budapest Wine Society in 1993.
The Hotel
Our base is the four-star superiorPrestige Hotel Budapest, an elegant 85-room property occupying a beautifullyrestored 19th-century town palace in the heart of Pest. Opened as a hotel in2015, it combines historic character with contemporary comforts and classicallyfurnished bedrooms. Just a stone's throw from the Danube and 300 metres fromthe Chain Bridge, it is within easy walking distance of St Stephen’s Basilicaand the historic centre. The hotel is also home to the MichelinGuide-recommended Costes Downtown restaurant, where breakfast is served.
Day 1 – London to Budapest
We fly from London to Budapest and transfer to the Prestige Hotel. This evening Adam LeBor introduces the tour and sets the scene: Hungary’s ambiguous place in wartime Europe, the gathering intelligence networks of the late 1930s and Budapest’s emergence as the “Casablanca of Central Europe”. A welcome dinner follows at a local restaurant.
Day 2 – A City of Spies
Our first full day follows the hidden geography of wartime espionage through central Pest. Adam brings to life the hotels, cafés, embassies and private apartments where Allied, German, Soviet and neutral agents exchanged intelligence, spread disinformation and negotiated behind the scenes. We explore the diplomatic quarter and Andrássy Avenue discussing the agents, aristocrats, journalists and double-dealers who inhabited Budapest’s clandestine world. We see the riverside Andrássy Palace, centre of a clandestine rescue operation, discussing the agents, aristocrats, journalists and double-dealers who inhabited Budapest’s clandestine world. After an independent lunch, we continue with a visit to the House of Terror, at the former headquarters of the Arrow Cross and later the communist secret police, to consider the machinery of political repression and the legacy of two successive totalitarian regimes. The evening is at leisure, but there will be an optional performance at the Hungarian State Opera for those who wish to attend.
Day 3 – Occupation, Rescue and Resistance
Today is devoted to the German occupation of March 1944 and the individuals who resisted. In the Jewish Quarter we examine the system of Yellow Star houses, the wartime ghetto and the activities of underground groups, forged-document networks and rescuers. Visits include the Dohány Street Synagogue complex and significant memorial sites connected with Raoul Wallenberg and other neutral diplomats. We conclude beside the Danube at the moving Shoes memorial, remembering the victims murdered by members of the Arrow Cross. This evening we gather for a private tasting of Hungarian wines with Tom Howells, who will introduce distinctive grape varieties and regions including Tokaj, Eger and Villány.
Day 4 – Siege and Survival
Crossing to Buda, we trace the final devastating phase of the war. Beneath Castle Hill, the Hospital in the Rock served as an emergency medical facility during the Second World War and the siege of Budapest. A guided visit reveals the underground wards, operating spaces and stories of medical staff who worked in extreme conditions. We then walk through the Castle District to examine the siege lines, the attempted breakout and the destruction that transformed the capital during the winter of1944–45. Our final afternoon discussion with Adam considers survival, moral choice and the ways in which Budapest has remembered—and sometimes contested—its wartime past. A farewell dinner is included this evening.
Day 5 – Budapest to London
After breakfast there will be time for a final walk or independent visit, flight timings permitting. We transfer to the airport for the return flight to London.
