Include Hungary in your Balkan Tour

When visiting Hungary, we recommend you stay overnight in Budapest. In fact, 2 nights will be better.

Budapest

Budapest combine the story of three cities – Obuda, Buda and Pest. Here you can spend a day, two, five or a week and won’t get bored. There is basically everything, historical landmarks, nights life, activities, shopping etc. Because of its location and big international airport Budapest is the perfect place to start or end a Balkan tour

Things to do in Budapest

• Go to the Buda Castle with the hill funicular
• Don’t miss the Parliament building, the third largest worldwide.
• Visit the Fisherman’s Bastion
• Visit the Ecseri Flea Market and the Central Market hall
• Enjoy the nightlife
• Have a walk in Margaret island
• Take a short, but interesting walk at Danube Promenade
• Visit the House of Terror
• See the Invisible Exhibition which aims to give visitors the chance to experience what life is like for people who are completely blind.
• Relax in one of the grandest spas in the city – the Gellert Bath and Spa centre or the Széchenyi Thermal Baths
• Don’t miss the Szimpla Kert
• Take a boat ride on Danube
• Try the traditional Langosh

Aggtelek National Park

• The park on the border with Slovakia, founded in 1985, included by UNESCO.
• The Peace Cave is hosting a sanatorium for asthma treatment.

The park is divided into zones. Zone A is for wildlife only; Zones B and C are for visitors. In Zone B, you can follow the marked trails. Cave Baradla has been excavated to establish vestiges over 7,000 years old. Other caves open for visitors are Imre Vass, Béke, Rákóczi. The acoustics of Baradla is used for concerts.

Balaton Lake – the Hungarian Riviera

• Lake Balaton, the largest one in Central Europe, is Hungary’s main water attraction.

The main resorts are Balatonfüred, Siófok, and Keszthely. The lanes that surround the lake are great for cycling. The south shore offers to attend the Balaton Sound music festival.

Dark tourism

• Dark history related sites are linked to Nazi ruling, the 1956 uprising against communism, and socialist times.
• Landmarks include the House of Terror, the Holocaust Memorial Center and the Memento Park.
• Must also include the old Jewish neighborhood and the Shoe Monument near the Parliament commemorating Jews shooting.
• The House of Terror is dedicated to victims who perished during the 1956 uprising.
• The Holocaust Center offers an exhibition themed on Hungarian Jews fate in the Holocaust.

• Paprika Festival of Kalocsa

When: September

Where: Kalocsa, Bács-Kiskun county, Hungary

• Easter Festival of Hollókő

When: Easter Weekend

Where: Hollókő, Hungary

• Festival of Folk Arts

When: August

Where: Buda Castle, Budapest, Hungary

• Summerfest International Folklore Festival

When: August

Where: Ráckeve, Tököl; Százhalombatta, Pest County, Hungary

• Lavender Festival of Tihany

When: June 2017

Where: Tihany, Lake Balaton, Hungary

• Busó Walking of Mohács /Busójárás

• Wine Weeks of Badacsony

• Romantic Age of Reforms Festival

Cultural

• Budapest, the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue
• Early Christian Necropolis of Pécs (Sopianae)
• Fertö / Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape
• Hortobágy National Park – the Puszta
• Millenary Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma and its Natural Environment
• Old Village of Hollókő and its Surroundings
• Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape

Natural

• Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst

Hungarian Intangible Cultural Heritage

• Falconry, a living human heritage
• Safeguarding of the folk music heritage by the Kodály concept
• Folk art of the Matyó, embroidery of a traditional community
• Táncház method: a Hungarian model for the transmission of intangible cultural heritage
• Busó festivities at Mohács: masked end-of-winter carnival custom