It is not safe after dark due to the dark road leading up to it. Plenty of good lighting at the top, making for spectacular views, but no lighting at all to get up there. It is fine in light spring or summer evenings, but is not recommended in dark autumn or winter evenings.

it's permanently closed with no plans yet to reopen and I can not get a straight answer as to why. Locals say various things about the reason but the cultural ministry just says permanently closed. The focus seems to be more on the castle district renovations presently which is a huge project so I assume funding is simply not there though the sidewalk shops at the citadela have all sorts of weird explanations about the citidela closure. if you just want a panoramic view from high it might be worth the climb but there's really nothing there at present in my opinion worth the effort. If you're looking for the bunker at the citadela that's closed and the military museum is much better anyway or the police museum. Years ago the laborintus was bigger and that closed but is smaller upon the reopening and no plans to make that what it use to be. Also use to be catacombs under the bombed out church up by the castle area (chuch where only the bell tower remains), but the tower has been closed and so have the catacombs. Perhaps someday in the future these will be opened again but all my inquires go unanswered as to if there are any plans for these once awesome tour sites. Flea market by hero's square is also gone for good and just a big lot now where everything is dug up for some building project.

My understanding is that the citadella is closed by the government and I asked a number of the people that work near it why and I got a couple of different stories about the closing. First I was told it was closed because of security issues and potential terrorism since it was minimally staffed. That could be real since now you see soldiers with machine guns patrolling many tourist areas like vaci utca and the parliment etc. Second I was told by someone else that like the castle it is slated for complete refurbishment which sort of doesn't make sense since the bunker was not in ruin nor the citadella last time I was in it some years back Third I was also told by someone else that the bunker is a negative aspect of Hungarian history but again I don't buy that line as it is simply history and things like the military museum in the castle area have plenty war time artifacts which are not being hid away. So I leave it up to you to decide where the truth is. If you walk as I did it is a very very long up hill walk and sure it has a nice view but if you are elderly or slightly disabled best to spend for a cab or take a bus or tour . Frankly though there are other views like the the churches that allow access to outside the dome. Sadly a number of homeless seem to be camping in the park area around the citadella and using the paths for an outdoor toilet and some areas garbage strewn about so unless you're really inclined to go just for the view I would say there are countless other things to see of better value instead,