4 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.

Just like Vajdahunyad Castle, the portal of this church is a replica. The original, located in the village of Ják, is Hungary’s best example of a Romanesque Church from the 12th century. Featuring a gorgeous facade filled with medieval gothic biblical motifs, statues, and stonework, the chapel is a working Catholic church with regular services, concerts, and the occasional lavish wedding.

A long-standing reminder of Ottoman rule in Hungary, this 40-meter-high minaret was originally built in the early 1600s as part of the larger Djami of Kethuda mosque. Today it stands all alone, capped with an obvious Christian cross. Meanwhile, the small platform once used for the Muslim call to prayer is instead crowded with tourists who have climbed the 97 spiral stairs to enjoy fine panoramic views of the city.

This medieval synagogue is now a religious museum complete with stunning stained-glass windows, a stone mikvah (a ritual bath for women), and old Torahs on display. Built around 1300, the synagogue endured several incarnations over the centuries, including a stint as a hospital (in the 1400s) and a residential building (in the 1700s); the existing facade dates from 1734. The synagogue was once at the heart of the city's Jewish ghetto, and a plaque honors the 1,640 Jews of Sopron—85% of the city's total population—who were murdered by the Nazis.