Taste of Hungary

1^st day

Arrival. Transfer to the hotel.
Free time.
Transfer to the evening cruise on the Danube

Danube Legend
An opportunity to witness as the legends of Budapest come alive during a boat cruise of an hour. A program in 30 languages plus a film about the most famous monuments of the city. One drink is included in the price: a glass of champagne and a choice of beer, wine and soft drinks.

2^nd day

Breakfast in the Hotel.
Then 4 hours Budapest sightseeing (Bus and walking tour) No entry tickets in the program
Free afternoon

Budapest is the capital of Hungary, a city with an unrivalled combination of natural beauty, architectural and historical heritage, culture, gastronomy and spa.
Budapest is a true metropolis, offering tourists from all over the world countless sightseeing options. The Danube River crossing the historic city centre gives the ninth most populous city in the European Union its own unique atmosphere.

Optional: Night bathing
No other capital city in the world has as many thermal baths as Budapest. First the Romans and later the Turks used baths built on thermal springs here, and even today, going to baths is a part of the particular Budapest lifestyle. Everyone in Budapest has his or her favourite baths: some prefer the elegant Gellért, while others swear by the Rudas, known for its Turkish pools. The Veli Bej and the Dandár, with their family-oriented atmosphere, are perfect for long conversations. The always busy Széchenyi and Lukács baths never stop all day long, while at night they host huge parties with special lighting effects and contemporary circus performances.

Rudas Medicinal Bath and Swimming Pool
Night above the city
every Friday and Saturday
from 22.00 to 03.00
What do we offer?
Turkish bath
Swimming pool
Wellness department
Coctail bar at the rooftop

3^rd day

Breakfast in the Hotel.
Excursion to the Danube Bend. Duration of the excursion max 8 hours

The program includes prices for the following services:

entry ticket to the Bazilika in Esztergom and Visegrad Castle,
lunch at the Renaissance Restaurant

First we visit the Basilica in Esztergom, then the Visegrád Castle. Afterwards, we will have lunch at the Renaissance Restaurant, where we will enjoy the restaurant's famous menu.
Then we continue to Szentendre , the charming town which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country, the closest to the capital.
Optional: wine tasting program at the Szentendre Wine Museum.

Esztergom
Esztergom, the first capital of Hungary, the cradle of the Hungarian state and the Hungarian church, is located in the western gateway of the Danube bend, in the embrace of the Pilis and Visegrád Hills. Founded in 973, the main sights of the city are the 100−metre-high main cathedral (Esztergom Basilica) and the royal castle on Castle Hill. The museums and exhibitions in these buildings tell the story of many important periods of Hungarian history, as well as the history of the Hungarian Roman Catholic Church in the main cathedral.

Visegrád
Visegrád is a popular destination for domestic and international tourism, located in one of the country's most visited resorts, at the bend of the Danube. The papal nuncio called Visegrad (known since 1002) «Earthly paradise», admiring the beauty of the place and the splendor of the castle of King Mathias. Today the castle serves as a venue for knights' tournaments.
The view from the windows of the citadel is magnificent. And in Solomon's Tower on the banks of the Danube from 1462 to 1474, the Wallachian leader Vlad Tepes, nicknamed Dracula, was imprisoned.

Szentendre
At the end of the 17th century, Serbs who fled the Turkish invasion settled on the right bank of the Danube. They gradually rebuilt the settlement in their own style, in a baroque Mediterranean style, and erected 6 orthodox churches, more than in the whole of Hungary.
Later, most of the Serbs returned to their homeland, leaving behind a unique town with narrow streets, colorful Baroque facades and tiled roofs. In the 20s of the 20th century, Szentendre was graced by artists, turning it into the artistic capital of Hungary. Here, in its many galleries and museums, you can see works by former and current inhabitants of the colony.
In Szentendre there is a National Wine Museum. The Museum was opened in 1993, the nearly 650−square meter cellar system of antique atmosphere assures gentle climate throughout the year giving space for the museum, the tasting street and the wine shop.
The museum introduces the development of the Hungarian grapes and wine culture. Experts outline the characteristics of the Hungarian wine-growing regions in different languages.

4^th day

Breakfast in the Hotel.
Lake Balaton excursion. Duration of the excursion max 8 hours

The programme includes prices for the following services:

entry ticket to the Tihany Abbey
Lunch in Balatonfüred restaurant ( 3 course menu with 1 soft drink and 1 coffee )

During this excursion we visit the Tihany peninsula with Tihany Abbey and the spa town of Balatonfured.

Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe, is a dominant feature of Hungary's hydrography. Its easily warmed, shallow waters make it ideal for swimming and sports, its fauna is extremely rich and its landscape of diverse volcanic cones is unique in many ways.

Balaton has a strongly elongated shape from southwest to northeast. The southern shore is mostly flat; there are several shallow bays on the north and one large peninsula, Tihany. The tip of the peninsula is separated from the opposite shore by only 1.2 kilometres, the narrowest point on Lake Balaton.

The Tihany peninsula is a jewel in the middle of the Hungarian sea. The most famous attractions are Tihany Abbey and the ancient lavender grove, the legendary Echo Hill.
The surface of the volcanic peninsula is dotted with limestone cones formed by geysers. Thanks to its special climate and two drainless lakes, the peninsula is home to many rare species of flora and fauna, so it was declared a nature reserve in 1952 — the first in Hungary. Not only the beauty of the landscape, but also the magical atmosphere and historical monuments of the village make Tihany attractive to tourists

Balatonfüred is a small town surrounded by hills on the north shore of Lake Balaton. The geographical landscape is the first thing that catches your eye: the gentle mountains in the north and the lake in the south, which for centuries has exuded a majestic Pannonian serenity. It is an ancient settlement, inhabited since Roman times, where relics of the past can be found at every turn. Ancient quarters, ancient buildings, churches, charming vineyards, parks and old trees are all messages for modern man.

5^th day

Breakfast in the hotel.
Excursion to the town of Eger with wine tasting. Duration of the excursion max 9 hours

The program includes prices for the following services:

entry ticket to the Eger Castle
wine tasting( 4 types ) and one-dish meal ( goulash ) at Valley of the Beauties

The town of Eger is the seat of Heves County. With a history stretching back over 1000 years, the town is rightly famous for its artistic and historical treasures, thermal baths and is an important educational and cultural centre. Here you'll find Hungary's second-largest basilica, the neo-classical Eger Cathedral, whose organ is the largest in the country.Eger Castle included into the National Heritage List, and played an important role in the fight against the Turks. As the centre of the wine-growing region of Eger, it is also renowned for its wine-making culture. The best place to taste the famous wines (Oxtail, Muskotai and Eger Maiden) is in the centuries-old cellars in the Valley of the Beauties, carved out of tuff.

Optional: visit Egerszalok the Hungarian Pamukkale
( The main attraction of Egersalok is the thermal spring that pours its deep waters in the south of the village, covering the entire hill with a salt armour. )

6^th day

breakfast in the hotel.
Free time, or optional excursions

Optional excursions 1:
Excursion on the Győr-Pannonhalma route. Duration of the excursion max 9 hours
The program includes prices for the following services:

entry ticket to the Benedictine Abbey
Lunch in restaurant ( 3 course menu with 1 soft drink and 1 coffee )

First stop in Győr.
Győr, Hungary's second most architecturally rich city, received the European Award for the Protection of Monuments for the successful renovation of its historical centre.
Then a short transfer to Pannonhalma.

The Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma, located south-east of Győr, is one of the oldest monasteries in Hungary and the second largest Catholic abbey in the world. The abbey was built in 996, the year when the first monks arrived in Pannonhalma at the request of Prince Géza. Almost immediately it became the main centre of monastic life in Hungary and is still active today. With 360,000 volumes, Pannonhalma's library is one of the largest monastery collections in the world. Its archive contains the first monument of writing in Hungarian, the Charter of the Benedictine Abbey of Tihany.
Optional : wine tasting in the Abbeys wine cellar ( 5 types )

Optional excursions 2:
Excursion to Gödöllö, Empress Sissy's Palace and the Lazar Brothers' Park
Duration of the excursion max 7 hours. We recommend booking this programme for the weekend.

The programme includes prices for the following services:

entry ticket to the Palace
riding programme and lunch at the Lazar Park

The town of Gödöllö is located 30 km north-east of Budapest. The most notable landmark of the former royal resort is the Baroque castle, known as Grassalkovic Castle after its builder. The Hungarian state bought it in 1867 and gave Franz Joseph I and Queen Elisabeth I the right to use the building and the park as a coronation gift. Gödöllö is still the centre of the cult of Queen Elisabeth ( Sisi ) in Hungary.

The Lazar Brothers Park is the venue for many prestigious events each year. The Lazar Brothers are world champions in the sport of driving — the equestrian sport for dressage horses.
In addition to the horse show, popular attractions include the Lazareum and the zoo.

Program:
Upon arrival at the park, guests are greeted with pálinka and freshly baked Hungarian buns. If guests don't want pálinka, they are offered juice and mineral water. Then starts the horse show.
The program for the performance lasts approximately 30 minutes:

demonstration of the martial arts of nomadic of the horsemen throwing a javelin;
competition of herders: setting up and laying the horses, cracking the whip
game with guests, i.e. knocking down bottles with a whip with a ring
bullock cart;
a fun show with a trained donkey;
a steppe team of five horses

The performance is followed by lunch in Csarda and then you can see the local Hungarian pets (poodles, racca sheep, grey cattle, mangalitza, etc…) in the village yard, visit the Lazareum where you can learn about the history of carriage making, the development of Hungarian equestrian sports, see medals, prizes and racing cars of the Lazare family with an exhibition and exciting films (in 9 languages).

7^th day

Transfer with guide Budapest hotel – airport

Make a request!