Hungary: Eleven Attractions and Natural Wonders

A river, a plain, and a language of its own

Hungary sits in the Carpathian Basin in Central Europe, landlocked, with a population of about 9.6 million. Its language, Hungarian, is unrelated to those of any of its neighbours, and its culture — from goulash to Bartók to a strong bath tradition inherited from Roman and Ottoman times — has a distinct flavour. The country is mostly flat: the Great Hungarian Plain (Alföld) covers the east and south, with low hills and the Danube bend in the north and Lake Balaton in the west.

The eleven below start in Budapest — where most of the interest is — and fan out to the wine regions, the lake, and the plain. Late spring and early autumn are ideal; Budapest is a year-round city, and the baths are wonderful in winter.

1. The Hungarian Parliament and Pest

The Parliament, a neo-Gothic pile of 691 rooms completed in 1902, is the third- largest parliament building in the world and holds the Hungarian crown jewels; guided tours run when the house is not sitting. Around it, flat Pest is the commercial half of the city — the grand Andrássy Avenue and the Opera House, the domed St Stephen's Basilica, the huge Central Market Hall, the Jewish Quarter with Europe's largest synagogue and its "ruin bars", and the sombre Shoes on the Danube memorial.

Pest is walkable and laid out on ring and radial boulevards; the metro Line 1 is itself a UNESCO monument.

2. Buda Castle Hill and Fisherman's Bastion

On the hilly Buda side, the medieval Castle District holds the sprawling Buda Castle (now the National Gallery and history museum), the Matthias Church with its tiled roof, and the Fisherman's Bastion — a whimsical white rampart of turrets giving the best free view over the river and Parliament. Below, the Buda hills have the Gellért Hill citadel and the Rudas and Gellért baths.

A funicular or a short walk climbs from the Chain Bridge; go at sunrise or dusk to beat the crowds.

3. The Chain Bridge and the Danube

The Széchenyi Chain Bridge, guarded by four stone lions, was the first permanent link between the two halves of the city and remains its symbol. The Danube here is the spine of a sightseeing walk or an evening cruise, passing the Parliament, Castle Hill, the Gellért Hill statue, and Margaret Island — a car-free park in midstream with gardens, a musical fountain, and a running track.

Evening river cruises, some with dinner, are a popular way to see the lit-up banks.

4. The thermal baths

Budapest sits on a network of hot springs and has bathed in them since Roman times, with a big boost from the Ottomans. The grand yellow Széchenyi Baths in City Park have 18 pools, some outdoors and warm enough to use in the snow, with men playing chess in the water; the Art Nouveau Gellért, the 16th-century Ottoman Rudas and Király, and the Lukács are the other classics.

Bring a swimsuit, flip-flops, and a towel (or rent them); the baths are open late.

5. Lake Balaton

Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe, is Hungary's summer playground — shallow, warm, and about 77 kilometres long. The south shore (Siófok) is the party side; the north shore is prettier, with the Tihany peninsula and its baroque abbey, the volcanic hills and wine of Badacsony, the reed-fringed Kis- Balaton nature area, and the thermal lake of Hévíz, one of the largest bathable warm lakes in the world.

Ferries cross the lake, and a cycle path rings the whole shore.

6. Eger

Eger, in the northern hills, is a compact baroque town famous for two things: the 1552 defence of its castle against a much larger Ottoman army, a founding national legend, and the red wine "Egri Bikavér" ("Bull's Blood"), tasted in the cellars of the Szépasszony-völgy ("Valley of the Beautiful Women") on the edge of town. It also has the tallest minaret in Europe outside Turkey, left from the later Ottoman occupation.

It is about two hours from Budapest and an easy overnight.

7. The Tokaj wine region

In the far northeast, the volcanic slopes around the town of Tokaj produce Tokaji Aszú — a golden, honeyed dessert wine made from grapes shrivelled by "noble rot", prized at European courts for centuries and protected as a UNESCO cultural landscape. Cellars carved deep into the rock, some dating to the Middle Ages, host tastings in Tokaj, Mád, and Tarcal.

It pairs with a visit to Eger for a wine-focused few days.

8. Pécs

Pécs, near the Croatian border, is Hungary's warmest, most Mediterranean-feeling city. It has an early-Christian burial complex from Roman "Sopianae" (a UNESCO site) with painted tombs, a former mosque that is now the parish church on the main square, a fine cathedral, the Zsolnay porcelain quarter, and a lively university scene.

It makes a good base for the Villány wine region and the Mecsek hills.

9. Hollókő

Hollókő, in the Cserhát hills about 90 minutes from Budapest, is a small, still-inhabited village of some 60 protected houses — whitewashed, timber-porched farm cottages around a wooden-towered church — kept as an example of rural life before the 20th century, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its Easter festival, with folk costume and egg-splashing customs, is the busiest time.

There is a ruined hilltop castle above the village and marked walks in the hills.

10. Hortobágy and the Great Plain

Hortobágy, east of the Tisza, is the classic Hungarian puszta — a vast, flat, salty grassland grazed by grey cattle, racka sheep with corkscrew horns, and water buffalo, and worked by csikós horse-herders who put on riding displays (including the famous "five-in-hand"). The park is a UNESCO site and a major stopover for cranes, with tens of thousands passing through in autumn.

Debrecen, Hungary's second city, is the regional base.

11. The Aggtelek caves

In the far north, on the Slovak border, the Aggtelek Karst holds hundreds of caves, jointly listed by UNESCO with the Slovak Karst next door. The show-piece Baradla Cave has a 25-kilometre system of huge stalactite halls (one used for concerts, for its acoustics), toured on walks from one to seven hours long.

It is a remote corner, usually combined with a trip to Tokaj or the Bükk hills.

Hungary is small and Budapest-centric: three or four days in the capital covers the essentials, with easy overnights or day trips to Eger, Lake Balaton, or the Danube Bend (Szentendre, Visegrád, Esztergom). A week lets you add Tokaj, Pécs, or the plain.