42 Best Sights in 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.

Crowning the city's main square, Széchenyi tér, this delightful 16th-century Turkish mosque-turned-church is a Pécs landmark. Dating from the years of Turkish occupation (1543–1686) when it was known as the Mosque of Pasha Qasim, the building was converted into a Catholic church in 1702; a fact you might infer from the cross that surmounts the gilded crescent atop the dome. Despite the fierce religious war raging on its walls—Christian statuary and frescoes beneath Turkish arcades and mihrabs (prayer niches)—this church remains the largest and finest relic of Turkish architecture in Hungary. Look out in particular for the enormous painting above the gallery, showing the defeat of the Turks: while triumphalist, the defeated soldiers are depicted rather sympathetically.

The village of Csopak, just to the northeast of Balatonfüred, is at the heart of the region's wine-growing industry, and a number of local producers—from Jásdi to Szent Donát—now offer wine tastings on their properties. The best of the bunch is Petrányi, thanks to its large hillside terrace with sweeping views of the lake, its great selection of wines for tasting (mostly from their own vineyards, which spread out below), and its menu of delicious Hungarian and international dishes. Ask nicely and you might get a tour of the chapel-like cellar, complete with a hidden room once used to hide bottles from the taxman.

This bath on the riverbank boasts perhaps the most dramatically beautiful interior of all of Budapest's baths, with the original Turkish pool the star of the show. A high, domed roof admits pinpricks of bluish-green light into the dark, circular stone hall with its austere columns and arches. The central octagonal pool catches the light from the glass-tiled cupola and casts it around the surrounding six pools, capturing the feeling of an ancient Turkish hammam. The highly fluoridated waters here have been known for 1,000 years—and the baths themselves date back to the 16th century. The baths vary in temperature from 16 to 42 degrees Celsius, and you can also drink the water from three springs in the drinking hall (open Tuesday and Thursday only). The thermal part is open to men only on Monday and Wednesday, as well as the mornings of Thursday and Friday; to women only on Tuesday; and to both sexes on Thursday and Friday afternoons and all day weekends. Soak after-hours here on Friday and Saturday nights from 10 pm to 3 am.

Stately on the outside, spectacular on the inside, this ornate library is located in Wenckheim Palace, one of the most grand homes in the Palace District when built by a Hungarian aristocrat in the 1800s, and today the city's most beautiful reading rooms. The library moved in in 1931, after the city bought the neobaroque palace. Head straight to the fourth floor to wander the gilded palatial rooms; take a seat in the former Smoking Room with its carved wood panels and ceiling, ornate spiral staircase, and leather-bound books, or find a velvet chair from which to admire the chandeliers, high ceilings, and elegant finishes in the former Ballroom or the Lady of the House's Room. For bookworms, this is a working library and accessible to the public, so make time to peruse the shelves. Purchase a daily card to get access to some of the library databases and in-house resources or check out their calendar for upcoming public events. It's also just worth coming in to appreciate the setting and have a coffee and a cake at the library café. The library is named for Szabó Ervin, who helped develop the public library system in Budapest.

Looking for some tranquility after squeezing through the crowds in downtown Szentendre? The answer is this lush green island oasis, right across the river but surprisingly untouched and ripe for exploration. At the time of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in AD 896, the flat island—33 km (21 miles) long and up to 3.8 km (2.4 miles) wide—was used as pasture land. It subsequently became a key agricultural, ship-building, and fishing center that helped link the otherwise hilly Danube Bend with Buda to the south. Only after the end of the 120-year Turkish occupation of Hungary in the late 17th century did a loose-knit web of settlements develop, and from the mid-19th century on, resort districts began to spring up for city-weary Budapesters.

Most of Szentendre Island comprises nature preserves and bucolic countryside—this is a rich habitat and stopping-off point for waterfowl—but there are also four villages, from quaint Kisoroszi (with its gorgeous golden beach) on the island's northern tip, to the larger but lovely Szigetmonostor in the south. To get to the island from Szentendre, hop on a ferry from the docks, or cross the bridge at Tahitótfalu, 10 km (6 miles) north of town.

It may be a 30-minute walk (or 10-minute drive) from the center of town, but no trip to Eger is complete without a visit to the wonderful Szépasszony-völgy (literally "Valley of the Beautiful Woman"). Eger wine is renowned within and beyond Hungary, and this wine-growing area on the southwestern edge of Eger's city limits is the place to sample the best vintages. Literally hundreds of small wine cellars (some of them literally holes-in-the-wall) stand open and inviting in warm weather, and a few are open in winter, too. You may be given a tour of the cellar, and wines will be tapped from the barrel into your glass by the vintners themselves at the tiniest cost (but it's prudent to inquire politely how much it will cost before imbibing). Make sure you sample the area's best-known variety, Egri Bikavér (Bull's Blood of Eger), a full-bodied red wine, as well as other outstanding vintages like the delightful dry white Leányka, the dark red dessert wine Medoc Noir, and the sweeter white Muskotály.

Across Heroes’ Square from the Műcsarnok and built by the same team of Albert Schickedanz and Fülöp Herzog, the Museum of Fine Arts houses Hungary’s best art collection, rich in Flemish and Dutch old masters. With seven fine El Grecos and five beautiful Goyas as well as paintings by Velázquez and Murillo, the collection of Spanish old masters is probably the best outside Spain. The Italian school is represented by Bellini, Giorgione, Correggio, Tintoretto, Titian, and Caravaggio masterpieces and, above all, two superb Raphael paintings: the Esterházy Madonna and his immortal Portrait of a Youth, rescued after a world-famous art heist. Nineteenth-century French art includes works by Delacroix, Pissarro, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, Renoir, and Monet. There are also more than 100,000 drawings (including five by Rembrandt and three studies by Leonardo), and Egyptian and Greco-Roman exhibitions. The special exhibits are outstanding and frequent. Labels are in both Hungarian and English; there’s also an English-language booklet for sale about the permanent collection.

This symbol of Sopron’s endurance—and entranceway to the Inner Town—is 200 feet high, with foundations dating to the days of the Árpád dynasty (9th–13th centuries) and perhaps back to the Romans. The tower is remarkable for its uniquely harmonious blend of architectural styles: it has a Romanesque base rising to a circular balcony of Renaissance loggias topped by an octagonal clock tower that is itself capped by a brass baroque onion dome and belfry. The upper portions were rebuilt after most of the earlier Fire Tower was, ironically, destroyed by the Great Fire of 1676, started by students roasting chestnuts in a high wind (today a double-headed eagle weather vane helps to predict wind direction; it's said that if the eagles face north and south it's going to rain). On the inside of the gate, you'll find a depiction of "Hungaria" receiving the loyalty of Sopron's kneeling citizens. Climb the 200-step spiral staircase to the top of the tower for lovely views of the town and surrounding countryside. It's from here that tower watchmen warned of approaching enemies and tolled the alarm for fire or the death of a prominent citizen. And occasionally, musicians would serenade the townsfolk from here.

Beside the City Park’s lake stands Vajdahunyad Vár, a fantastic medley of Hungary’s historic and architectural past, starting with the Romanesque gateway of the cloister of Ják, in western Hungary. A Gothic castle whose Transylvanian turrets, Renaissance loggia, baroque portico, and Byzantine decorations are all guarded by a spooky bronze statue of the anonymous medieval “chronicler,” who was the first recorder of Hungarian history. Designed for the millennial celebration in 1896, the permanent structure was not completed until 1908. This hodgepodge houses the surprisingly interesting Mezogazdasági Múzeum (Agricultural Museum), which touts itself as Europe’s largest such museum and offers regular arts and crafts events for kids. Plan ahead for tickets to the Vajdahunyad Castle Summer Music Festival featuring some of Hungary's most popular musicians. If time permits, stroll around the castle to spot the Mermaid fountain and the bust of legendary Hollywood B-movie actor and Hungarian-American Béla Lugosi that was placed in an alcove along the southeast corner in 2003; its origins remain a mystery today.

The baroque southern wing of the Royal Palace is home to two of its greatest gems: the Vármúzeum (Castle Museum) and Szent István-terem (St. Stephen's Hall).

The former, which is part of the Budapesti Történeti Múzeum (Budapest History Museum), displays a fascinating permanent exhibit of modern Budapest history, from Buda's liberation from the Turks in 1686 through the 1970s. Viewing the vintage 19th- and 20th-century photos and videos of the castle, the Széchenyi Lánchíd, and other Budapest monuments—and seeing them as the backdrop to the horrors of World War II and the 1956 revolution—helps to put later sightseeing in context.

The latter is one of Budapest's most ornate rooms: an elegantly carved Romanesque masterpiece with a strong Hungarian flavor. You'll be given a tablet with an audiovisual guide to talk you through the history and features of the room, as well as surrounding exhibits like the replica of the Hungarian crown. As there's a lack of seating, you may find yourself skipping through some of the longer-winded commentaries.

Separate tickets are available for the two attractions, but a combined ticket is the best option. Guided tours are available for a small additional fee.

You can easily spend half a day exploring this sprawling complex, a city within a city that was opened in 2010 to mark Pécs's status as European Capital of Culture. Built on the site of the old Zsolnay porcelain factory, which was established by Miklós Zsolnay in the 19th century, the streets and squares are adorned with a host of colorful ceramic-tiled features, from industrial chimneys to charming pavilions. Many of the buildings are home to Zsolnay-related exhibits, including the Pink Exhibition, showcasing the factory's early rose-tinted output like the decorative Lotus series; the Golden Age Collection, a series of more than 600 pieces revealing Zsolnay's evolution towards the Art Nouveau style; and the Live Manufactory, where brand-new ceramic creations are molded, painted, and fired. The quarter also has a shopping street, some excellent cafés and restaurants, and even rental apartments. As well as Zsolnay exhibits, it's home to 1861 Kesztyűmanufaktúra, the factory, shop, and exhibition space of luxury glove brand Hamerli; the Bóbita Bábszínház (Bóbita Puppet Theater); and a Planetárium. Head to the cigar room of the Zsolnay Restaurant to see one of Zsolnay's most beautiful and innovative creations; a gorgeous black-and-gold fireplace.