Day trips

This two-day trip guides you to two World Heritage sites, and two wine regions. Starting from the conference hotel, first stop is the quaint village of Hollókő, the first Unesco-listed site in Hungary, famous for its preserved folk art. After this you’ll spend several hours in Eger, some 100 kms due East from Budapest: the castle here is famous for a battle in 1552 when local townsfolk withstood the siege of a much stronger Ottoman army.  Too bad that two years later they managed to capture the town, and remained for well over a century. The town was rebuilt in the early 18th century in baroque style, and this is what you can see today.      After a lunch and some wine tasting the tour continues on a winding forest road to Lillafüred, a purpose-built luxury mountain resort from the 1920’s, complete with a beautiful lake and even a small waterfall. The next morning you’ll get to take a swim in a nearby cave spa, spending the rest of the day in Hungary’s most famous wine region, Tokaj.  You’ll be back in the conference hotel between 7 and 8 pm.  Click on the image for more details.

This trip costs 229€ + VAT if applicable.  20€ discount if you stay in a double room.

This is the easiest day trip from Budapest, taking you to three historical towns along the river, upstream from Budapest.   The trip starts in Esztergom, the country’s religious centre, with a matching cathedral. Next is Visegrád with a medieval castle perched on top of the hill where the Danube changes its eastward course to a southward one.  This is the spot of the original Visegrád treaty that lended its name after the fall of communism to a regional cooperation.  Below, close to the river are the remains of a renaissance palace of King Matthias from the 15th century – reportedly wine used to flow here from marble spouts. The last stop is Szentendre (pictured), the closest one of the three. The town owns much of its character to several waves of Serbian immigrants who arrived mostly in the 17th century. Nowadays it’s a touristy town with many souvenir shops, but it’s possible to get off the beaten track in the narrow alleyways, catching a glimpse of the river over red-tiled rooftops.       The last stop is   Click on the image for more details.  This trip costs 69€ + VAT if applicable.

On this day trip the bus covers about 100 kms on motorway before reaching Central Europe’s largest lake. After another half an hour you reach Balatonfüred, which literally means ‘bathing (place) at Balaton’. In fact, this core areas of the town date back to the 1830’s, when rich people of the day started building villas here.  From here you’ll take a boat to Tihany (see photo), a pocket-sized town with an important place in the country’s cultural history.  At the basement of the abbey you’ll get to see the first few words ever written down in Hungarian – dating all the way back to 1055.    After lunch there’s still time for some wine tasting or a visit to Veszprém, another medieval town on the way back – this still depends on what the tour company has to say.   Detailed info to be published soon.    This trip costs 69€ + VAT if applicable.