Get your bearings
Right in the heart of Europe, Hungary and its capital
Budapest are split in two by the
River Danube. The verdant north-east is home to wine towns like baroque
Eger and tranquil
Tokaj, and you might spot wild boar or red deer in its forested hills. To the south the vast and fertile
Great Plain takes in the steppes of the Hortobágy national park – the biggest area of natural grassland in Europe.
Szeged is a miniature version of Budapest, with grand imperial buildings but on a more manageable scale. To the west of the Danube,
Lake Balaton’s cheery resorts make up for Hungary’s lack of coast.
Urban culture
A holiday in Hungary might start in cultural epicentre
Budapest. Lap up classical music at the Art Nouveau Ferenc Liszt Music Academy, or get down on the A38 Ship floating nightclub.
Pécs, European City of Culture 2010, retains Ottoman traces with a former mosque the centrepiece of its town square.
Debrecen has shed its provincial image with its cutting-edge modem art museum, while the
táncház movement is keeping Hungarian folk dancing very much alive and kicking.
Lakes, rivers and spas
Hungary may be landlocked, but Hungarians still have
Lake Balaton, Central Europe’s largest lake, where Budapesters head to cool down.
Hévíz, the world’s second largest thermal lake, is just 6km away. Before the Danube hits Budapest, it snakes through the scenic
Danube Bend and past
the hilltop castle at
Visegrád. The capital itself is a hotbed of thermal baths, from gorgeous Art Nouveau to atmospheric Ottoman.
Magyar taste sensations
Rántott hús, cutlets of meat deep fried in breadcrumbs, are as ubiquitous as winter-warming
gulyás (goulash) soup. Szeged is famed for
szalámi and for piquant, paprika-infused fish soup, washed down with spicy red
Kadarka wine. The fatty but flavoursome native
mangalica pig is the meat of the moment but
game is always abundant. Hungarian
libamáj (foie gras) is highly sought by the French. Wash it down with the sumptuously sweet wine
Tokaji Aszú. Pálinka fruit brandy can kick-start any evening.
History’s architectural stamp
Hungary has been blessed and pummelled by history, and a Hungary hotel can be part of the magical melting pot of architectural styles. Engagingly eclectic
Budapest is enhanced by dreamy Art Nouveau from Lechner, the Hungarian Gaudí.
Eger preserves its pure baroque beauty after being
completely rebuilt in the wake of its entanglement with the Turks in 1687. Haydn was once resident conductor at the resplendent rococo ‘Hungarian Versailles’ –
Esterházy Palace – in
Fertőd.
