Visegrád was first mentioned in 1009 as a county town and the chief town of an archdeaconry. After the destructive Mongol invasion of Europe in 1242, the town was rebuilt in a slightly different location to the south. King Charles I of Hungary made Visegrád, his hometown, the royal seat of Hungary in 1325.
In 1335, Charles hosted at Visegrád a two-month congress with the Bohemian king, John of Luxembourg, and the Polish king, Casimir III. It was crucial in creating a peace between the three kingdoms and securing an alliance between Poland and Hungary against Habsburg Austria. Another congress followed in 1338.
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary, moved the royal seat to Buda between 1405-1408. King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary used Visegrád as a country residence.
Visegrád lost importance after the partition of the Kingdom of Hungary following the Battle of Mohács in 1526.
In 1991, the leading politicians of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland met here to form a periodical forum between these countries, the Visegrád group, with an intentional allusion to the meeting centuries earlier in 1335.
Visegrád was granted town privileges in 2000
