Deba

We are going on a tour of eastern europe and are breaking away on our own at the end of a 5 day stay in Budapest. We are thinking of renting a car to tour around other parts of Hungary. Any suggestions? Is renting a car a good idea?

Rod

I think your idea is great! You might pick several cities and their surrounding areas, and should especially consider Eger and Heviz, but not only those.

Note that not all rental cars come with an automatic transmission, so if you need one, be sure to ask.

julies

Eger is nice night. We spent a night in Toaky and weren't impressed. We enjoyed Estergom. For something totally different (if you are adventuresome and don't need deluxe everything)drive into Romania and go to Transylvania. It is a beautiful country that suffered horribly under communism and Ceausescu's rule. We have also visited the Czech Rebuplic, Poland, Hungary & Slovakia. Romania is our favorite.

lindilindi

Consider the following:
Sopron
Holloko
Debrecen
Pecs
Szeged
Szentendre
Koszeg

The nice thing is that being a relatively small country, everything is pretty close. I definitely wouldn't go to another country unless you want to waste a lot of valuable time driving. There's plenty to see in Hungary.

ben_haines_london

There is plenty of advice on net.

Tourist board: http://www.hungarytourism.hu/angol2/index.
Art, architecture, food, cultural experiences, hiking and other matters. http://www.centraleurope.com/country/country.php3
http://www.internetto.hu/light/guide/index.html
Concerts: http://www.bmc.hu/concerts_index_en.htm
In Your Pocket guide for Budapest: http://www.inyourpocket.com
Links: http://goeasteurope.about.com/travel.../msubmenu3.htm
?Browse websites?, at foot of http://hu.orientation.com/en/home.html
http://www.travel-library.com/europe/hungary/
A London newspaper keeps some entertaining pieces online. Please select from: http://travel.independent.co.uk/europe/eastern/.

I prefer Kesthely to Heviz, so can suggest three places to stay
Parisian Court Pension, H-8360, Kesthely, Kastely u. 5. Beside castle. Tel/Fax 36 83/ 311 202. 1 July 2003 to 31 August double 9900 forint or 27 pounds. http://www.hotels.hu/parizsi-udvar
Veszprem pension. Diana Panzio, Famiolia Herner H-8200 Veszprem, Jozsef A. u. 22. Tel/Fax (36) 88 427-897
Hotel Senator, Eger

[email protected]

joegri

Deba: You don't indicate whether you have to go back to Budapest or not. Let's assume you do to catch your flight home.
Hungary is small and easy to get around, but you don't want to be criss-crossing the country. Driving in Hungary is easy. The roads are good, well marked and drivers are courteous.
With five days, you can see a lot. I am going to suggest three different directions from Budapest.
Going to Eger (the Northeast), stop at Holloku on the way. A half day is plenty to see the castle ruins, wander the old village and, most importantly, take in the arts and crafts displays and works in progress. Holloku is not a destination site, but it is pretty much on the way and worth a visit.
Eger would be your base and would take a couple of days to see everything; the castle, the cathedral, the museums, the shopping, the activities on the square, etc.
A day trip to Tokay is worthwhile. It isn't spectacular, but it is a pleasant sleepy village with a great wine center and excellent wine tasting available (very professionally done).
Another day trip could be to Sarospatak to see a fine castle, wander the old village, take in the museums, perhaps have a picnic lunch in the fine central park, etc.
Another day trip if you have any interest in caves, would be Aggtelek about fifty miles from Eger. The Baradla Caves are among the most spectacular in Europe.
With a return to Budapest, this would take up your five days.
If you went Northwest, I would do the Danube Bend, Szentendre, Visegard, Esztergom, and head dirctly to Sopron to use as my base to see the area. Day trips would be to the Pannonhalma Abbey (fantastic), to Fertod to see the Palace and to the wonderful little walled village of Koszeg. With your return trip, this would use your five days.
If you went South, I would go to the village of Tihany on Lake Balaton, to Keszthely to take in this resort city with beaches and a wonderful palace to visit (the most beautiful hand carved library I have ever seen) and down to my favorite smal city in Hungary, Pecs. With five days and a return trip, you could do this comfortably.
I suggested base locations to stay, because it appears that is what most people on this board prefer. If it were me, I would stay at locations in route which would require some moving about (I hate to backtrack). E.g., I would stay in Eger two nights and Tokay two nights and take day trips from each of these locations.
Going West, I would stay at Szentendre one night, Sopron two nights, Koszeg one night, returning on the fifth day.
Going South, I would stay at Tihany one night (visting the ceramics works at Veszprem), Kesthely one night, Pecs two nights night and return on the fifth day.
These are very cursory plans and would require more research for you to determine what you like and want to see. If you do searches on the mentioned places in the search window above, you will get much more information on each place. Good luck. You are going to love Hungary.

Deba

Thanks everybody. We were thinking Lake Balaton, Pecs, Szeged, Eger and back to Budapest for the last night. Is that too much territory?

joegri

Deba: We are the "move on" type in order to see as much as we can, but I think your plan is a little too aggressive. I would drop Szeged in order to have enough time at Lake Balaton, Pecs and Eger. Even at that you are pushing it unles you just want to walk the village centers.

JC01

If you are visiting in the summer, driving in the heat even with an airconditioned car can be a bit unpleasant.. So try and make smaller frequent journeys or travel in the morning.. Also, driving in Budapest can be alittle interesting. I find it more agressive than e.g. in London.. but depends what you are used to..

Deba

I sure appreciate all this information. Maybe our eyes are bigger than our tummies trying to go to so many places. If you all had to choose just one of these itineraries what would it be?

Also can you pass along your suggestions for guesthouses or hotels.

ben_haines_london

You can avoid driving in Budapest or across Hungary if you settle in two towns, For the east I agree that you choose Eger. It is a little to the north, but charming of itself, and possessed of a model hotel, the Senator House. For the West Sopron and Koszeg are both beautiful, but Koszeg is rather small, and both places are out on the frontier, so you would spend much time driving. I hink you want somewhere more central to the whole west. Heviz is probably best choice, full of hotels because it is an old spa town. I am afraid I have no choice of hotel in Heviz.
I am using chiefly joegri s list. I find Tokay dull. The towns of the Danube bend, Esztergom and Szentendre, are good enough, but not worth the driving. The result is this. It is still crowded, so you should cut out a few towns ? hard to do when they are all so good.
Heviz, Keszthely, Tihany, Pecs, Sopron, Nagycenk, Fertod St Michael, Veszprem, Pannholmia, Pecs
Eger, Sarospatak, Debrecen, Szeged

[email protected]

joegri

Deba: Sorry for the delay on my response. I don't get back here every day.
Ben-Haines is the acknowledged expert on this part of the World. Still, one man's castle is another man's hovel. Ben refers to Tokay as boring. Clearly, it is not a "destinatin" location. It is very well located as a base for visits to Sarospatak and the Aggtelec Caves. We did both in a day and had time to take in the very well done wine tasting at the Center on the main square. They offer a personalizes tasting of seven wines down in their caves with a very knowledgeable steward. They do much more than just dessert wines these days.If you are not into wine, than make your base at Sarospatak and still have easy access to the Aggletec Caves.
The drive through the Danube Bend was, for us, very enjoyable. We liked Szentndre. It is a bit touristy, but once you do the main square with its rows of shopping stalls, you can wander the village and especially the riverside area.
Koszeg is small, but one of the most delightful walle medieval villages you will ever see. Beside the small castle, the old church, walking the vilage along the walls and wandering the village to see some of the 16th Century buildings, take in the wine coop (there is that wine again) down in the cave-like depths and sample the wines drom the ancient stone cisterns the from which the wine is laddled.
Esztergom is in route and, again, not a "destination" site. Still, the massive cathedral at the top of the hill is worth seeing and the adjacent castle is in resotration. We walked down to the lower level and wandered the old town. Not spectacular, but enjoyable.
Now, having said all this, with the time you have, I would do the Lake Balaton trip taking you to Pecs (and dropping Szeged only because of time constraints) as described in my previous response. Watch out for the Storks. They are atop every pole and you don't want to be below when they decide to... well you get my drift. Again, have a great trip.

Deba

We're still planning. I've found what sounds like a delightful bed and breakfast about 40 km. south of Balaton called Lehner Major guesthouse. On the way from budapest to there, we want to see Pannonholma and Tihany. Next night go down to Pecs? We've also found a Castle Hotel out in the middle of the Great Plain to use as a base for one or two nights and then up to Budapest via Eger. What are we missing? have we got this right?

cmt

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...68&start=0

Ella

I will be in Hungary next month and am looking for an interesting destination one to two hours drive from Budapest. I will be heading into Romania the next day, so I'm looking for something east or south east. I've already been to Eger (thank you Ben Haines for suggesting Senator Haus as a place to stay- it was great). I am curious about the puszta region, perhaps to see a horse show, but I have no desire to be on a tourbus to see it. Is there a good place with a small village inn and a horse show? I will have a car, so transportation is not an issue.

granny

We're planning a similar trip in April, with a break away for several days at the end. When are you going? Hope you will post a trip report.

Clifton

Ella,
We're doing nearly the same route, also next month. Heading across NE Hungary and into Romania. I got some interesting answers and comments on Eastern Hungary on this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34507882

Hope you find the advice there as promising as we have.

Ella

Any more ideas for eastern or southeastern Hungary?

Ella

Has anyone ever gone to the Hortobagy region or to Bugacs or Lijomizse to see one of the horse shows?