Budapest's covered market halls were built in the 1890-s during the city development boom to replace the existing open-air markets. They are a part of daily life in Budapest, and at least one is worth visiting, as this is where you can get a taste of excellent Hungarian homemade food (the deep-fried pastry lángos is the locals' favourite), or to just look around, listen to the strange singsong of the Hungarian language, and do some shopping for presents. Central Market Hall

One of the most beautiful buildings in Budapest is the Central Market Hall, situated on the Pest side on Fővám tér. According to its main architect, Samu Petz "a beautiful building must be both harmonious and useful" - and he came very close to perfection with this piece of work.

The ventilation caps and chimney pots of the roof are made of Zsolnay pyrogranite. Like most Budapest markets, it's constructed of wrought iron and glass. Upon stepping into the building, where selling started in February 1897, its sheer size and train station-like interior are amazing, but what really catches the eye is the number of people constantly moving around from stall to stall, to buy fresh goods, directly from the producer.

The first floor of the market has mainly foodstuffs on offer, and the second floor has traditional Hungarian folk art items and other typical products of Hungarian origin on sale. In the basement, a huge modern supermarket was opened in the 1990-s. Other market halls in Budapest (piac means market):

Klauzál téri piac - 1072 Budapest, Klauzál tér 11. Hold utcai piac - 1054 Budapest, Hold utca 13. Hunyadi téri piac - 1067 Budapest, Hunyadi tér 4. Rákóczi téri piac - 1087 Rákóczi tér 7-9.