Tours in Hungary

Start in Budapest, because almost everyone does, and because it will make sense of the rest of the country. Walk down to the Danube in the evening and you will see why the city is really two places stitched together. Buda is on the hill side, Pest is flat and busy, and the Chain Bridge is where people stop mid-crossing to look back at the other half. Parliament sits along the Pest bank, and its reflection after dark is the picture everyone takes. Stand in front of St. Stephen's Basilica and you are in the middle of Pest's café and shopping streets, with the dome above you.

Winter is a good time to be here. Around the Basilica the square fills with lights, mulled wine and the smell of chimney cake, and the Danube promenade is calm enough to walk without a plan. It is also the easiest time to ask a local photographer to walk the same route with you. You end up with photographs of yourself in the places you came to see, taken by someone who knows where the light falls and which corner empties out first.

Beyond the capital, the country opens up. Castle Hill and the Buda side reward a slow climb, and the thermal baths are as much a daily habit as a sight, so go the way locals do. Out of the city, the Danube Bend has hill villages and river views, Lake Balaton is where Hungarians spend summer, and Eger and the Tokaj wine country are for cellars and long lunches. Pécs in the south has a different, more Mediterranean pace.

We sell one tour here for now, but Hungary is much bigger than one tour. If you want a guide for the baths, the wine cellars, a day in Eger or a walk through Parliament, ask. A local guide can usually shape something around it.