Travel and Tourism in Hungary

Budapest's Thermal Baths: The City of Spas

Budapest's status as the City of Spas rests on a geological foundation. The city sits astride a major geological fault line where the Buda Hills meet the Pannonian Basin, and along this fault, thermal water heated by geothermal energy rises through the Earth's crust in more than 125 springs. The water temperature varies from spring to spring, ranging from around 21 degrees Celsius to as high as 78 degrees Celsius, and the mineral content of the water — typically rich in calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, sulfate, and other minerals — has long been held to have therapeutic properties for a range of conditions including arthritis, rheumatic diseases, and skin conditions.

The Romans were the first to build bath complexes above the Budapest springs, and the ruins of Roman baths have been found throughout the Obuda district. But it was the Ottoman occupation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that truly established Budapest as a bath city. The Ottoman administrators, following the tradition of hammam construction that was central to Islamic culture, built a series of magnificent bath houses above the thermal springs. Several of these Ottoman baths are still in operation today, and the experience of bathing in a sixteenth-century Ottoman structure, under a domed ceiling pierced by star-shaped skylights, surrounded by the sound of water and the gentle light filtering through the age-darkened stone, is one of the most extraordinary that Budapest provides.

The Szechenyi Baths are the largest thermal bath complex in Europe and one of the most recognizable images of Budapest. Built in the neo-baroque style between 1909 and 1913, with additional sections added in 1927, the Szechenyi complex fills a large portion of the City Park and includes both indoor thermal pools and the famous outdoor pools where, during the summer months, the tradition of chess-playing in the thermal water — elderly men perched on floating chessboards, moving pieces across the board while immersed to their chests in warm mineralized water — has become one of the most photographed scenes in the entire city. The Szechenyi Baths are open year-round, and the experience of bathing in the outdoor pools in winter, when steam rises from the warm water into the cold air and snowflakes settle on the surface of the pool, is one of the more surreal and memorable that Budapest offers.

The Gellert Baths, situated within the grand Gellert Hotel on the Buda side of the Danube at the foot of Gellert Hill, represent the finest example of art nouveau spa architecture in Europe. Built between 1912 and 1918, the Gellert Baths are a monument to the architectural ambitions of the late Habsburg period, with their mosaic-tiled pools, their Roman-columned main hall, their stained glass, and their elaborate decoration. The main indoor pool, with its colonnade of neo-baroque pillars and its vaulted glass ceiling, is one of the most beautiful interior spaces in Budapest. The outdoor wave pool, one of the first in the world when it was built, adds a note of playfulness to the grandeur.

The Rudas Baths are the most atmospheric of Budapest's thermal facilities for visitors seeking an authentic connection to the Ottoman heritage of the city. The main pool of the Rudas, built in the 1550s under the supervision of the Ottoman pasha Sokollu Mustafa, is a perfectly preserved example of Ottoman hammam architecture, an octagonal domed pool illuminated by star-shaped skylights in the ceiling, with five smaller pools around its perimeter, each at a slightly different temperature. This central pool has been in almost continuous operation for nearly five centuries, and the experience of floating in its warm mineral water while the light filters down through the ancient dome is one of genuine historical depth and physical pleasure. The Rudas also has a more modern rooftop pool that offers extraordinary nighttime views over the Danube and the Parliament Building.

The Király Baths, in the Buda district, are the oldest of the surviving Ottoman baths in Budapest, having been built in 1565 and remaining largely in their original form. The Király Baths were built within the city walls of Ottoman Buda specifically so that soldiers could access the baths without leaving the safety of the fortifications. The main pool, covered by a great domed ceiling with star-shaped windows, is smaller and more intimate than the other Budapest baths and preserves an atmosphere of genuine antiquity. The Király Baths are perhaps the most authentically historical of all the Budapest bath facilities, a place where one can genuinely feel the connection to the four and a half centuries of bathing culture that has taken place in these waters.

Eger: The Romantic City of the North

Eger is one of the most beloved destinations in Hungary, a compact, baroque-dominated city set in a valley in the Northern Hungarian Hills approximately 130 kilometers northeast of Budapest. The city's combination of historical grandeur, wine culture, and architectural beauty makes it the most romantic small city in the country, and the ease with which it can be visited as a day trip or short overnight from Budapest ensures a steady stream of visitors throughout the spring, summer, and autumn.

The old town of Eger is a delight of baroque architecture. The Archbishop's Palace, the Lyceum — one of the finest baroque buildings in Hungary, housing a famous camera obscura in its tower — the great Minorite Church on Dobó Square, and the Cathedral of Eger together give the city center a coherence and splendor that would be notable in any European country. Dobó István Square, the main square of the city named for the hero of the great siege, is one of the most atmospheric public spaces in Hungary.

Eger Castle, perched on a volcanic rock above the city center, is the site of the Siege of Eger in 1552, which has become the most celebrated episode of military heroism in the entire Hungarian national tradition. When Suleiman the Magnificent's Ottoman forces attempted the subjugation of the entire Kingdom of Hungary in the sixteenth century, they expected the fortress of Eger to fall easily. The garrison of the castle numbered approximately 2,000 soldiers under the command of Captain István Dobó, facing an Ottoman army estimated at between 35,000 and 80,000 men. The siege began in September 1552 and lasted thirty-three days. The defenders, inspired by Dobó's extraordinary leadership, held the fortress against repeated attacks. According to the legend immortalized in the novel Egri Csillagok (Stars of Eger) by Géza Gárdonyi, the women of Eger joined the defense, throwing boiling water, hot soup, and the now-legendary story of pouring red wine on the attackers, staining their beards red and frightening them into believing they had encountered a race of demons. The Ottomans withdrew in defeat, and the Siege of Eger became the defining symbol of Hungarian resistance against overwhelming odds.

The castle today houses a museum that tells the story of the siege in detail, and the underground passages beneath the fortress, carved by the defenders to allow movement within the walls during the siege, can be explored on guided tours. The view from the castle ramparts over the city and the surrounding hills is among the finest in northern Hungary.

The wine culture of Eger is centered on the Valley of Beautiful Women, known in Hungarian as Szépasszony-völgy, a hollow on the edge of the city lined with more than thirty wine cellars that have been carved into the volcanic rock over centuries. The atmosphere of the Valley of Beautiful Women in the evening, when the cellars are lit by candlelight and the sounds of music and conversation float through the warm air, is one of the most convivial and authentic that Hungarian wine culture offers. Visitors move from cellar to cellar, sampling local wines from barrels and bottles, eating simple Hungarian food, and experiencing a tradition of wine hospitality that has existed in this valley for hundreds of years.

The most famous wine associated with Eger is Egri Bikavér, translated as Bull's Blood of Eger. This robust red wine, made primarily from the Kékfrankos grape blended with other varieties, takes its evocative name from the legend of the Siege of Eger: when the Hungarian defenders emerged from the siege with red wine staining their beards and clothing, the retreating Ottomans allegedly believed that the Hungarians drank bull's blood for strength. Whether or not this legend has any historical basis, it gave the wine a name that has resonated for centuries and made Egri Bikavér one of the most internationally recognized Hungarian wines.

Pécs: The City of Art and Culture

Pécs, situated in the southwestern corner of Hungary near the Croatian border, is one of the most culturally layered cities in the country. Few Hungarian cities outside Budapest can match the density of historical monuments, artistic institutions, and UNESCO-recognized heritage that Pécs has accumulated across more than two millennia of continuous settlement. The city's designation as European Capital of Culture in 2010 reflected a reality that locals had long understood: Pécs is a city of exceptional cultural richness, one that rewards leisurely exploration with a succession of remarkable discoveries at every turn.

The Roman heritage of Pécs is more visible and more extensively preserved than in almost any other Hungarian city. The Romans knew the city as Sopianae, and it served as the capital of the province of Valeria in the later Roman period. The most extraordinary survivors of this Roman past are the early Christian burial chambers that were discovered beneath the modern city, dating primarily from the fourth century CE. These underground funerary complexes, built to house the remains of the growing Christian community of Sopianae, are decorated with some of the oldest and finest examples of early Christian painted art in all of Central Europe. Biblical scenes from both the Old and New Testaments are rendered in vivid colors on the walls and ceilings of the burial chambers: the story of Jonah and the whale, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Daniel in the lions' den, and the figure of Christ as the Good Shepherd all appear in these subterranean rooms, painted by artists working in the fourth century with a confidence and expressiveness that speak to the maturity of the Christian artistic tradition in this Roman provincial city. The Early Christian Necropolis of Pécs was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.

The visible evidence of these burial chambers is concentrated in the Cella Septichora area near the cathedral, where a visitors' center built beneath the ground allows access to the preserved chambers and explains their historical and artistic context with great clarity. The experience of descending below the modern city into these intimate, painted underground spaces is one of the most affecting archaeological encounters available anywhere in Hungary.

The most striking monument of the Ottoman period in Pécs is the Mosque of Pasha Gazi Kassim, which stands in the center of Széchenyi Square, the main square of the city. Built in the 1540s on the foundations of a medieval Catholic church, using stone from the demolished church in its construction, the mosque is the largest surviving Ottoman mosque in Hungary and one of the finest examples of Ottoman religious architecture in the country. After the Ottoman withdrawal from Hungary in the late seventeenth century, the mosque was converted back to Catholic use, and today it functions simultaneously as a Catholic church and as a monument to the Ottoman heritage of the city. The interior preserves both the architectural character of a mosque — including the mihrab indicating the direction of Mecca — and the furnishings of a Catholic church, a juxtaposition that is unique in Hungary and that makes the building one of the most thought-provoking religious spaces in Central Europe. The exterior of the building, with its great rounded dome and the remains of its minaret (reduced to a stump after the reconquest), is one of the most photographed images of Pécs.

The Zsolnay Porcelain Factory, founded in Pécs in 1853 by Miklós Zsolnay and developed into an internationally celebrated ceramics manufacturer under his son Vilmos, is one of the great institutions of Hungarian artistic and industrial heritage. The Zsolnay factory is best known for two innovations that transformed late nineteenth-century architecture and decorative arts: the development of eosin glazing, which produces a distinctive metallic iridescence on ceramic surfaces, and the development of pyrogranite, a frost-resistant ceramic material that proved ideal for architectural decoration and was used extensively on the exterior of some of the most celebrated buildings of the Budapest golden age, including the roof tiles of the Hungarian Parliament Building and the Market Hall. The Zsolnay Quarter, developed in the historic factory complex on the edge of the Pécs city center, now houses museums, galleries, workshops, and cultural spaces, and the Zsolnay Museum within the complex provides a comprehensive introduction to the history and artistry of this remarkable institution.

Pécs is also home to the University of Pécs, one of the oldest universities in Central Europe, founded in 1367 by King Louis I of Hungary. While the medieval university did not survive without interruption, the modern institution continues a tradition of higher learning in Pécs that stretches back more than six and a half centuries, and the university community gives the city a lively, youthful character that complements its historical grandeur.

Sopron: Hungary's Most Medieval City

Sopron, at the western tip of Hungary near the Austrian border, is widely regarded as the most completely preserved medieval city in the country. While other Hungarian cities were rebuilt, damaged, or destroyed by wars, sieges, fires, and the upheavals of the Ottoman period and the two world wars, Sopron's position close to the Austrian border somewhat shielded it from the worst destruction, and its historic center emerged into the modern period with a remarkable degree of architectural integrity intact.

The city's medieval origins are immediately apparent in the old town, which retains its ancient street plan, its Gothic and baroque churches, its Renaissance and medieval courtyard palaces, and the distinctive crooked lanes and intimate squares that give it a character quite unlike any other Hungarian city. F? tér, the main square of the old town, is lined with baroque and Renaissance buildings of exceptional quality, and the Church of Saint Goat (Kecske-templom), the Benedictine church that occupies one corner of the square, preserves Gothic elements of the fourteenth century.

The Firewatch Tower, the symbol of Sopron, rises above the old town from a circular base that dates to the Roman period. The tower's lower sections incorporate Roman walls, and its upper portions, rebuilt in the baroque period, provide a viewpoint from which the entire city and the surrounding landscape can be surveyed. The inscription on the tower's gate — Faithful to the Fatherland — recalls the plebiscite of 1921 in which the citizens of Sopron voted to remain part of Hungary rather than join Austria, a decision that earned the city the honorific title of the Most Loyal Town.

The Vine Street of Sopron, known in Hungarian as Bécsi kapu tér and its surrounding lanes, is lined with beautifully preserved medieval and Renaissance buildings that speak to the city's long history as a prosperous trading and wine-producing center. The surrounding region produces some of Hungary's most respected white wines, with Kékfrankos, Traminer, and Riesling among the most notable varieties.

The Esterházy Palace, known as the Versailles of Hungary, lies a short distance from Sopron at Fert?d. Built in the mid-eighteenth century by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy as a monument to his wealth and taste, the palace is one of the most magnificent baroque buildings in Hungary and one of the most important in Central Europe. It was here, as Kapellmeister to the Esterházy family, that the composer Joseph Haydn spent much of his career, composing at Fert?d some of the most influential music of the eighteenth century. The connection between the palace and Haydn gives Fert?d a musical heritage that adds a further dimension to the architectural splendor of the building.

The Ferto/Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape, shared with neighboring Austria, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001. This transnational designation recognizes the unique cultural landscape around the shallow Lake Ferto (known in German as Neusiedlersee), one of the largest steppe lakes in Europe, which has shaped human settlement and land use patterns in this border region for thousands of years.

The Eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Hungary

Hungary's eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites represent an extraordinary concentration of cultural, natural, and historical significance for a country of approximately 93,000 square kilometers. Together they encompass the grandeur of Budapest, the tranquility of a traditional Palóc village, the darkness of a cave world, the continuity of a thousand-year-old monastery, the vastness of the Puszta, the antiquity of Roman Christian art, the cultural landscape of a great lake shared with a neighbor, and the history of wine classification. Each is worth a dedicated visit, and collectively they provide a map of everything that makes Hungary exceptional.

The Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue in Budapest, designated in 1987 and extended in 2002, is the largest and most visited UNESCO site in Hungary. It encompasses the panorama of the Danube from the Chain Bridge to the Parliament Building, the entire Buda Castle district with its royal palace, the Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion, and the length of Andrássy Avenue from the center of Pest to Heroes' Square. No single description can do justice to the sheer quantity and quality of the heritage contained within this designation.

The Village of Holloko, inscribed in 1987, preserves the most completely authentic example of traditional Hungarian village architecture and folk culture, the Palóc vernacular buildings and Easter traditions described in an earlier section of this article.

The Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst, inscribed in 1995 and extended in 2000 and 2008, protect the transnational cave system of which the Baradla Cave is the Hungarian centrepiece, one of the longest and most spectacular stalactite cave systems in Europe.

The Pannonhalma Archabbey and its Natural Environment, inscribed in 1996, recognizes the Benedictine monastery founded in 996 CE as a property of outstanding universal value for its thousand-year history of Christian monasticism, education, and cultural preservation.

The Hortobágy National Park — the Puszta, inscribed in 1999, protects the largest natural grassland in Central Europe and the traditional pastoral culture of the csikos, the grey cattle, the Racka sheep, and the Mangalica pig that have been part of the Puszta landscape for centuries.

The Early Christian Necropolis of Pécs (Sopianae), inscribed in 2000, preserves the fourth-century painted burial chambers of the Roman city of Sopianae, among the finest and earliest examples of Christian funerary art in Central Europe.

The Ferto/Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape, inscribed in 2001 as a transnational property shared with Austria, protects the remarkable steppe lake and its surrounding cultural landscape, which has shaped human settlement patterns on both sides of the Hungarian-Austrian border for millennia.

The Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape, inscribed in 2002, recognizes the extraordinary viticultural heritage of the Tokaj hills, including the world's first wine classification system and the tradition of Tokaji Aszú production that has made this region famous across Europe since the seventeenth century.