5 Best Sights in Győr, Hungary

Perched divinely above the countryside on a hilltop roughly 20 km (12½ miles) southeast of Győr, this giant 1,000-year-old Benedictine abbey still gleams like a gift from heaven. During the Middle Ages it was an important ecclesiastical center, the location of Hungary’s first school, and perhaps the first place the Holy Scriptures were read on Hungarian soil. It’s still a working monastery and school; 60 monks and 320 students live here.

Come by car from Győr (or by bus 7030 from south of the center) to explore the abbey. You can go around yourself—just pick up an audio guide at reception—or join one of the frequent English-language guided tours. While the abbey's architecture is predominantly baroque, the main basilica is in the early Gothic style, while the 180-foot-high bell tower is distinctly neoclassical. Don't miss the incredibly decorative Porta Speciosa (ornate entrance) or the spectacular library with its more than 300,000 volumes, including some priceless medieval documents like the 11th-century deed to the abbey of Tihany. A short uphill walk from the abbey takes you to the Millennium Monument, erected in 1896 to mark the Magyars' settlement of the Carpathian Basin 1,000 years earlier.

This historic palace, with its decorative entranceway just off the northwest corner of Széchenyi tér, was once owned by the famous Esterházy family. Today it's part of the Rómer Flóris Művészeti és Történeti Múzeum (Rómer Flóris Museum of Art and History) and home to its Radnai Collection. This includes everything from József Rippl-Rónai’s resplendent Still Life with Mask to József Egry’s light-pervaded Lake Balaton landscapes, alongside many other outstanding examples of 20th-century Hungarian painting, sculpture, and graphic art.

Buy a single entry ticket (1,500 HUF) rather than a combined ticket (3,500 HUF) as even if you visit every exhibit, the savings are negligible.

This small but eye-catching drinking fountain, created by local glass artist László Hefter in 2012, depicts a turquoise soda bottle spurting water into a small tiled pool. A glance at any drinks menu in Hungary reveals an obsession with soda water, and this fountain commemorates its inventor (or, at least, the man who first mass produced it), Ányos Jedlik. The bottle itself weighs a toe-crushing 365 kilograms (804 pounds), one for each day of the year.

This charming neighborhood, which lies at the confluence of the three rivers, is the ancient heart of Győr. With its maze of fences and wonderfully curved gates surrounding baroque-style homes, it's a lovely area to simply stroll around, but two buildings in particular are worth a closer look. The first is the Püspökvár (Bishop’s Palace), the longtime residence of the Győr bishops. With sections that date right back to the 13th century—though it was built on the walls of an even-older Roman fort—the palace is now open as an exhibition space and lookout tower (entry costs 1,500 HUF). The second is the Székesegyház (Cathedral) with its heady mix of Romanesque, Gothic, and baroque features. Step inside to see the bishop’s throne, which was a gift from Empress Maria Theresa; the frame of a painting depicting the Blessed Virgin and infant Jesus, which is considered a rococo masterpiece; and the 15th-century bust of St. László in his namesake chapel, which is an excellent example of medieval Hungarian goldsmithery.

Győr's main square, ringed by historic buildings, hotels, restaurants, and bars, is the life and soul of the town. It's the setting for most of the city's major cultural events, including the famous “Baroque Marriage,” a traditional August ceremony where baroque music is played and participants dress up in ornate wedding outfits and perform. While in the square, check out the attractive, twin-turreted Loyolai Szent Ignác bencés templom (Benedictine Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola) and the nearby Mária-oszlop (Mary's Column), built in 1686 to commemorate the recapturing of the city from the Turks. It depicts the Virgin wearing the Hungarian crown and holding the infant Jesus in her arms.