Side trip in Hungary, will it work?
 

We're leaving next week for a trip to central/eastern Europe. After Poland and the Czech Republic,we will have 4 nights in Budapest, mid April, and then will have 6 extra nights to tour in Hungary. We will have 3 additional nights in Budapest before we fly home.

I know this is really late, but we keep changing our itinerary and now we have decided to spend our extra days in Hungary and save Bulgaria and Slovakia for another trip, hopefully.

My husband said he would drive, but since we're both seniors, I think that would be too stressful. I'm the navigator and don't know any Hungarian and I still want to be on speaking terms at the end of this trip. Has any seniors driven there and can comment on it? I'm all for taking trains and buses.

So, is this side trip doable?
Train to Eger, take Ben Haines suggestions and get the Senator House for 3 nights

Bus to Heviz, 1 night, need suggestion for small pension within walking distance of the lake.

Bus/train? to Sopron, could use suggestion for small pension, B & B, close to old town. Maybe take side trip to Koszeg. Then back to Budapest.

What do you think?

I'm topping in hopes that Mr. Ben Haines will see this.

Hi Granny,

Eger is a good idea and an easy 100 minutes train trip from Budapest.Check for trains here
http://www.elvira.hu/elvira.dll?language=2
For accomodation please check here:
http://www.hevestour.hu/index2.html It also has an english page with all the hotels in Eger with pictures. (Szenator location cannot be beaten and the food is good as well)

Regarding Sopron and Koszeg:
I would definately suggest coming here for 2 nights 1 spent in Koszeg at hotel Portre (www.portre.com) being a very reasonable still really nice hotelish pension.
in Sopron go to Jegverem 2 minutes from the old town, but still affordable with the best kitchen in town! check it:http://www.jegverem.hu/english.htm

I hope this helps. The weather gets better from Tuesday...
Tamás

Tamas, thanks so much for your reply. We were considering Hotel Senator for Eger. That hotel in Sopron looks like a fun place and we are really interested.

Couldn't get the website for Hotel Porte in Koseg. Have any other suggestion for that town?

How about a small place (pension) around Lake Balaton where we can walk to the lake? Is Heviz the best town for relaxing and taking in the sights and enjoying the view of the lake?

Any other town you think might be of interest in those areas?

Would you start with Eger and work down or from Sopron and go north?

You have been very helpful and thanks again.

If you want me to see something please feel welcome to tell me by e mail that you have a question to interest me on Fodors forum. That way you are pretty sure I shall see the question.

Your plan will work well. I add just a few frills.

From Eger to Heviz I think trains, not a bus, as it is a long way.
Eger by bus or taxi about 0815, 17 kilometers, Fuzesabony 0845, restaurant car to Budapest Keleti 1007 to 1015, no catering, Keszthely 1347, bus 15 minutes up to Heviz.

Bus from Heviz about four hours to Sopron. There is a pause half way for bathroom and coffee. You see the centres of many small country towns.

Excursion from Sopron to Koszeg. You might like another bus excursion, to the palace and museum of old farming in Nagycenk, and on to the Eszterhazy summer palace at Fertod St Michael, full of sunshine and of memories of Haydn.

[email protected]

Hi Granny,

I agree everything the Ben suggesting regarding the area around Sopron. Maybe you should consider Gyõr (I live here:) It has beautiful barroque old town. Might worth a stop.
Please try again Portre as it is working on my computer and it is really a good deal (9000 per night with breakfast this 45 Usd)www.portre.com and click on the key to enter.
You should start from eger and go to Lake Balaton. Heviz is really nice, but it is not really Balaton. If you would like to see the Balaton area I would suggest Szigliget
Some suggestions regarding the accomodation http://www.szigliget.hu/turistaknak/szallashelyek/ I know it is in hungarian, but if you need help let me know.
Regarding Heviz I do not know any accomodation, but it is full with small pension so do not worry about that.
Tamás

Thank you Mr. Ben Haines for your information. I think we will drop a day from Budapest to go to Koszeg. We still have to work on the train scheduling, etc. to see if we can fit it all in.

Tamas, don't know why I couldn't get that Portre website yesterday, but I did today and it looks like another great place. Thanks. Both Gyor and Szigliget look worth a visit. If we decided to stay in Szigliget, is there fast bus service from there to Sopron?

There are so many choices and so few days.

Hi, Bill & Carol!

May you have a safe and fun trip...and it looks like you've gotten some good post-tour advice. Good luck. I'll be in touch before departure.

Your friends in Missouri...Bill & Lee

Hello Granny,

We drove through through Hungary to Budapest via Lake Balaton last June and had no problems. We too are both seniors. We drove in from Austria and departed Hungary for Slovakia and then into Poland.

I do all the navigating and I find that most road signs in all the European countries are quite easy to understand. Of course you need an excellent map.

It does sound as if you have very good train travel advice from others who have travelled a lot in Hungary.

Have a lovely and safe trip.

If you need a backup hotel in Eger, and stairs are not a problem, I can also recommend the Offi Haz. It's on the same little square as the Senator House and is a very cozy little 5 room place with the nicest couple running it. The rooms are 2 flights up though.

If nothing else, try the restaurant (etterem) on the main floor. The goose medallions are great with the local Bikaver aka Bull's Blood wine.

I meant to post an address with information on the hotel.

http://hungary.egerhotels.com/hoteloffihouse.php

The Senator House information is also on that website.

Hi Granny,

http://www.menetrendek.hu/cgi-bin/menetrend/html.cgi
This the website for the Bus company. unfortunately it is in hungarian only, ut really simple to use, Quick guide:
Honnan: please write here where would you start from
Hova: what is the destination
Mikor: date and then keresés and there you go. eg. for Szigliget and Sopron I have found 9 versions to travel.
However, if you could rent a car, do that as it would give you much easier, faster access to Hungary. the cities are well signposted and apart from Budapest it would not mean any problem to you. you could see much more and with a good roadplanner (www.viamichelin.com) you can plan everything in advance.
Szigliget is a small hidden treasure with beautiful old houses a nice castle on top of a hill facing Balaton and the other side some nice wineyards. If you can visit it for peaceful, real Balaton feeling.
Koszeg is one of our other favourite with small but incredibly beautiful centre with some good eating options and wine.
If you are here and need some help you can call meand I will try to help.
Tamás
30 9292387

We went back and forth over driving or taking the train. We decided to go by train this time.

So I've made reservations at Sopron at the Jegverem Inn for the first three nights. We have one night open. May go to Koszeg for either that night or a day trip. Then train back to Budapest and train up to Eger at the Senator Hotel and then back to Budapest and the Kalmar B&B for two nights.

I know this sounds like a lot of doubling back to Budapest, but we just couldn't figure out the bus schedule and if we would spend too much time on the bus. We do have that free day inbetween Sopron and Eger, so if we can take a bus or train to somewhere on Lake Balaton and stay the night, we will.

Thanks to all who gave me information and your good wishes. We have been lucky to always enjoy ourselves, even when things don't turn out as promised. Why spend all this money and not have a good time!

Tamas, we're taking your recommendation for Sopron and if we stay at Koszeg, we'll try for the place you said there. It sounds like fun. Thank you for your telephone number. Who knows, you might hear from us.

Mr. Ben Haines, thank you for your time and help.

Granny,
have fun and if you can do not miss Köszeg it is an ideal day trip from Sopron (around 60 kms)
Try the food at the Jegverem as well as I often travel there just for the food.
i hope you will find Eger as charming as I do.
To be honest, Balaton looks out of the way this time, but you could spend a day in Gyõr as it is halfway between Sopron and Budapest.
In Gyõr you could try Aranyszarvas:
http://www.aranyszarvas-gyor.hu/ Fantastic location on a small island.I would also recommend to visit is Pannonhalma abbey over 1000 years old and they do have English tours. Part of the world heritage 20km from Gyõr.
http://www.osb.hu/en A fascinating location...
Any help, you have the phone number.
Let us know how did all go.
Good Trip!
Tamás

Hi granny: We too are senior citizens and have driven all over Poland, The Czech Republic and Hungary. My wife is also the navigator, although we go over the day's trip at breakfast and review again at our picnic lunch. I usually line the route on the map and it is her job to help look for the roads we want to take and keep me on route. In the British Isles, she has the added responsibility of "thumbing" me to the right as I drive so I stay in my lane.
While I speak some Hungarian, we have never really found the inability to speak the local language a problem. It is amazing how much communication can take place with grunts, groans and body-language. Except in the more remote locations of these countries, we have almost always been able to find someone who could speak a little English and we do try to know at least the basics of the Country we are visiting.
The itinerary you have proposed is very doable including the side trips. The Senator House is very nice as are the owners who are very helpful. Three days might be one too many unless you have a side trip in mind ( think Sarospatak for the fine Castle and some unusual architecture or Tokaj for wine tasting if that interests you).
Sopron is delightful and Koszeg is our favorite small, medieval walled village in Hungary. We were not that happy with the Hotel we stayed in at Sopron, The Palatinus, but the small, corner hotel across from the ancient little church in Koszweg was great. It is called the Szalloda Az Araky Strucchz; large rooms, old world decor, a nice breakfast and (we had the corner room) great views of the square and the church.
The Eszterhazy summer palace at Fertod is very worthwhile and we found the Pannohaima (sp?) Monastary (near Sopron)to be pretty amazing.
With apologies to Tamas, we did not care that much for Gyor. The outskirts are pretty industrial and the old town is very small. They have some nice parks though.
The road that runs adjacent to Lake Balaton is loaded with small Inns, B&B's and rooms for rent in private houses. The later are very inexpensive. We had a very simple room with a great patio overlooking the Lake and the farm country "outback".
We preferred Tihany and Keszthely on the lake for the sights. Tihany can be touristy, but when you tire of the shops and cafes (charming, even with all the people), go up onto the hillside for wonderful views of the Lake, picnic areas, an ancient church where a Hungarian King and his Queen are buried and some really quaint old homes, many with thatched roofs.
At Keszthely, a resort town, the Festetic Palace is very interesting, but the hand carved, oak library is the most beautiful we have seen in all of our travels in Europe. It was done by a famous Hungarian Craftsman whose name escapes me, is two stories high, but open in the center, fully stocked with ancient books and just a marvel.
I know this is short notice, but one person has mentioned the amount of backtracking to include Lake Balaton or Sopron/Koszeg. If this concerns you, you might consider going on to Pecs from Lake Balaton , rather than heading North to Sopron. Pecs is a fantastic little city.
Whatever you decide, you are going to a great area (Poland and the Czech Republic included) and your going to have a spectacular time. Have a great trip.

Without repeating too much of other wonderful posts of great advice, we did a western end of Hungary trip as the last leg of an Vienna, Wachau trip in the fall of 2003. We stayed at the Portre Hotel in Koszeg right on the square. It was fine. What a beautiful village. There are other small hotels that appeared charming as well. Nearby we did a day trip to Szombathy to see the well preserved stretch of Roman road. The huge square, old buildings, churches and the wonderful museum of Roman and local Hungarian history was facinating to us. Also as stated before do not miss the monestary of Pannonhalma. We have seen a few and this one was special. The Esterhazy palace at Fertod was under going a massive renovation at that time so it certainly is worth seeing. Also we had the fortune of staying at a small castle hotel near Sopron in Nagycenk that included the Istavan Szchenyi museum next door, less than 50 us per night, a steal. He was the Ben Franklin of Hungary. Our hotel in Sopron was unique for the character of the owner and its location and view. The room was, let's just say, tiny, very tiny. I would not recommend it to others but WE would stay there again.

Well this is strange. I posted a reply but it didn't show up on the forum, but it did under my name. Anyhow, thanks Hardwater and Joegri for your tips. I'm making a copy of all this to take along. We leave in a couple days and can't wait!