Hungary trip ideas?

[Rob]

Husband and I are planning 10 days in Hungary. I have a friend who lives in Budapest on the Pest side, but I think we will stay in a hotel when we are there. Probably 4-5 days in Budapest, then I'd like to go elsewhere. Just getting started on research.

1. What time of year should I go? I am torn between November after the Christmas market opens and earlier in the year when it is warmer.
2. Where else should I go besides Budapest? Probably time for just 1 direction. East to Eger and Tokaj? We like wine. Or West to Lake Balaton/Gyor? I am guessing that these trips would be more fun in warmer weather.
3. Travel -- rent a car or trains?
4. Hotels - any recommendations anywhere are welcome since I am just getting up and running.

 

[acraven]

Add more time if you can. There are lots of interesting places in Hungary.

I'm not a wine person so did not make Eger a top priority. I did travel a good bit in other directions. My priorities--aside from the WW II and Cold War sites concentrated in Budapest--were pretty architecture (I especially like Art Nouveau and Art Deco), art museums and 20th century glass/ceramics.

As of last summer there were many major Budapest museums closed either for building repair or for relocation. Check the official websites of the museums you're interested in to find out their current status. I still had enough to keep me busy in Budapest for about a week. I skipped the Parliament Building out of irritation at being expected to pay twice as much as an EU citizen, but it is a very popular sight. I believe you need to buy tickets early if you want an English-language tour.

I liked Gyor a great deal. The historic center is pretty and there are lots of small museums to pop into. The Pannonhalma Abbey is supposed to be wonderful, but I was unlucky there. It was a weekend day and it turned out the abbey was closed for multiple hours due to religious ceremonies. A weekday might be safer.

The city of Pecs is very handsome. The old Zsolnay ceramics complex has been redeveloped as a cultural center, but I thought by far the best thing out there was the ceramics museum. There's another, not-quite-as-good ceramics museum in the center of town.

I also liked Kecskemet and Szeged. If you get as far as Szeged you can take a public bus across the border into Serbia. Subotica has some interesting early 20th century architecture. However, this would chew up more time than you are likely to have.

I spent a couple of nights in Balatonfured, making a day-trip by bus to Tihany. I think Tihany is considered the prettiest town on the lake. For a 10-day trip I wouldn't include Lake Balaton; I was underwhelmed. I think splashing around in the lake is a rather large part of its appeal, and I was not interested in doing that. If I want to spend time in the water I can do that in the US. In addition, I suspect the area around Lake Balaton may be pretty dead until late spring; check with your friend on that.

Three Danube towns north of Budapest are popular day-trips: Szentendre, Esztergom and Visegrad. After reading guidebooks I prioritized them in that order. In the end, I only had time for Szentendre. Lots of small art museums, so I enjoyed it. It tends to be very touristy. I believe it's especially popular on weekends; it's possible a bunch of stuff would be closed if you went on Monday, and I don't know what it's like in the winter or early spring.

I have cryptic notes I put together for use during my trip. PM me if you'd like them emailed to you. They are very focused on my particular interests, but there are some restaurant suggestions compiled from online comments by a couple of Americans who spend a lot of time in Budapest. You probably don't need restaurant ideas for Budapest, though, since you have a local friend.

 

[Erin]

Budapest is my favorite city - I hope you love it as much as I do! The city itself is so beautiful, it turns out I love Hungarian food, I felt like there were so many things to do there, it's super affordable, and the people were so friendly.

In terms of time of year, I went once in early October and once in June and I found that October was just on the edge of comfortable for touring around, so I would recommend early fall or late spring, but I don't like to be cold, so that's me personally.

The only day trip I did was to Eger, but I really liked it. We did a wine tasting at Bikavér Borház, where we got to sample 6 different wines, including Bull's Blood, which is local to the Eger region. It's just off of Little Dobo Square (not to be confused with Dobo Square, the main tourist area, although Little Dobo Square is not far away).

I can't give advice on other locations, but Eger was easily accessible by train and once we got there, everything was walkable. The public transportation in Budapest is also excellent. Also, our experience was that it was much cheaper to buy the train tickets at the station than online at raileurope.com.

 

[MsZem]

I've only been to Budapest itself, for 2014 Euros - so obviously during the winter. We got lucky with the weather, which allowed me to explore a bit of the city and go skating in the huge outdoor rink (that was so much fun that a group of us went twice). But going in winter is more of a risk than during a warmer time of year, especially if you're planning on doing daytrips.

 

[acraven]

RailEurope is not a good source of train tickets. It doesn't sell tickets on all trains (particularly not the less expensive ones), and I think it adds on significant service fees. Folks who buy more rail tickets in advance than I do recommend loco2.com and trainline.eu instead for those who don't want to (or cannot) buy directly from the appropriate rail company. For more than any human being needs to know about European trains, go to seat61.com.

I think Hungary has what is called a "continental climate", which means it gets fairly cold in the winter and fairly hot in the summer. Finding the sweet spot is a real challenge. I arrived on May 1, and several days that first week or in the 80s (F). It was nearly two months later before I felt that hot again. I believe that was somewhat unusual; I was afraid it might still be a bit cool in early May. I did get rained on several times in Hungary, including a deluge accompanied by hail in Budapest.

This is my go-to source for day-by-day historical temperatures: timeanddate.com

That website has at least ten year's worth of actual stats, which I find a great deal more useful than monthly average high and low temperatures, which are often based on dates extending back well before climate change was so pronounced. Timeanddate.com is one of the first sources I check when I start planning a trip. I spend a lot of time walking around outdoors, and it's not something I enjoy doing in chilly, wet weather.

 

[Rob]

Add more time if you can. There are lots of interesting places in Hungary.

I probably can't add time this time, but the cool thing is that my friend is retired there, and would like to house swap occasionally. She was born there, but she and I worked together here in DC. So she'd come back to the DC area for a couple of months and use my house, and we would go to Hungary for a couple of months. Use it as a base to travel around Eastern Europe. After I retire of course - probably in 18 months to 2 years. This trip would be to check it out.

 

[acraven]

What a great opportunity! I've read that Budapest has a lot of budget-airline flights all over Europe.

 

[Vagabond]

I haven't been to Budapest since 1981. I think it may have changed a bit.

The best advice I can give is:

1. Enjoy the pastries.
2. Watch out for the hot peppers!

 

[Deleted member 1204]

Budapest is awesome and I liked Lake Balaton. Personally, I would go when the weather is warmer.

 

[snoopy]

I was in Budapest in June and found the weather perfect for travel. There is a war museum in Budapest that I recommend - it’s small and won’t take long (and cost a dollar to get in when I was there). It’s not something I’ve seen elsewhere as it is a museum on weapons through the years.

 

[once_upon]

We were in Budapest in August for 2 days, the end of a river cruise. We came in at night and the lights were amazing, don't know if there is a city cruise but it would be beautiful at night. We stayed in the pest part of the city. Our favorite part was just walking the neighborhoods.

Have fun!

 

[acraven]

There are definitely nighttime cruises on the Danube, though I haven't taken one. A ride on Tram 2, which runs along the Danube, might also be nice at night.

 

[Deleted member 1204]

I generally loathe sightseeing river cruises but I did one in Budapest and loved it. The lights were incredible and, for some reason, there were fireworks at the end.