Budapest, Balaton and then where?
 

Two of us are due to travel to Budapest in July, spend a few days there then pick up a car and spend another few days in Balatonfured. We then have 3-4 days spare before we need to return the car to Budapest - where do people recommend we spend those days in Hungary? And do people have any Baltonfured/North Balaon tips.

Much appreciated!

I would either check out the northwest (Györ, Szombathely) or go down to Pécs or Szeged. 3-4 days is ample time for getting there, visiting, then driving up to Budapest again.

Not sure what kind of tips you're looking for. I was on the Balaton years ago, but stayed with family.

We liked Eger. Nice looking town, good food and wine, friendly people. Stayed at the Romantik Hotel; nice staff.

Jon...don't miss Szentendre (St. Andrew), an arty, boutiquey town on the Danube, just half hour from Budapest...also further on is Ezstergom, a brilliantly designed resort which had its hay-day in the 119th century...this so-called Danube bend, which I feature in one chapter of one of my historical novels, is a lovely place to visit, after or before Balaton. Balaton in summer can be extremely crowded...the western side is a little less visited than the eastern coast. At any rate, have fun.
Stu T.

thanks for all those tips - looking forward to the holiday!

All the best

I spent a lovely 2 weeks in Hungary last year August. I attended a 5 day conference in Szeged. Szeged was nice, but 5 days were WAY too many. Then I travelled to Pecs. I think this was the highlight of the trip to me. Lovely little city, with a world heritage site, nice pedestrian streets, nice restaurants. We spent 3 night there, but really less than 2 days. Also made a day trip one day to the small wine towns nearby. 2-3 days Pecs is probably enough. Then we went to Budapest. Would second the suggestion for Szentendre and Estergom and another town in the Danube bend (forgot the name now), but has a castle high up overlooking the town. We spent a day on these three towns and it was lovely. Szentendre is easily doable by train from Budapest, but trying to link all three towns with public transport was complicated. Spent a day in Eger, and it was nice. You could also jsut spend more time in Budapest, there is lots to do.
I loved Hungary. I come from a poor exchange rate country and what I liked most about Hungary was that we could afford to 'splash' a bit - eat out, order drinks in restaurants, take a taxi, etc. things we could not do in other European cities.

We just returned from Hungary and confirm all statements made above. Although on a tour, we had plenty of free time to explore. The dollar still has strength, and we had no problems with language because young people we encountered liked to practice their English.

thank you all for the fantastic advice!