When to Go

Though it can be pretty wet in May and June, spring is just glorious in Hungary. The Hungarian summer is warm, sunny and unusually long, but the resorts are very crowded in late July and August. Like Paris and Rome, Budapest comes to a halt in August (called ‘the cucumber-growing season’ here because that’s about the only thing happening).

Autumn is beautiful, particularly in the hills around Budapest and in the Northern Uplands. November is one of the rainiest months of the year, however. Winter is cold, often bleak and museums and other tourist sights are often closed. Animal lovers might also want to skip this season: many of the women are draped in furry dead things throughout the winter.

Budapest

Budapest (pronounced /ˈbu:dʌˌpɛʃt/ (AE), also /ˈbju:-/ (BE) or /ˈbʊ-/; Hungarian IPA: [‘budɒpɛʃt]) is the capital. As the largest city of Hungary it serves as the country’s principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial and transportation centre.^[1] In 2007 Budapest had 1,696,128 inhabitants^[2] with an official agglomeration of 2,451,418 ^[2], down from a mid-1980s peak of 2.1 million. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube (Hungarians call it the Duna river) with the amalgamation on 17 November 1873 of right-bank (west) Buda and Óbuda (Old Buda) together with Pest on the left (east) bank.

Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement, was the direct ancestor of Budapest, becoming the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia. Magyars arrived in the territory around 900. Their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241-42^[3]. The re-established town became one of the global centres of Renaissance humanist culture in the 15th century. Following nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, development of the region entered a new age of prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Budapest became a global city after the 1873 unification^[4] of its three constituents. It also became the second capital of Austria-Hungary, a great power that dissolved in 1918. Budapest was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, Operation Panzerfaust in 1944, the Battle of Budapest of 1945, and the Revolution of 1956.

Widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world^[5][6], Budapest is considered an important Central European hub^[7] for business, culture and tourism. Its World Heritage Sites include the banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter, Andrássy Avenue and the Millennium Underground railway, the first on the European continent^[5][8]. Budapest attracts over 20 million visitors a year^[9], making it one of the top destinations in Europe. The city ranks 74th on Mercer Consulting‘s ‘World’s Top 100 Most Livable Cities’ list^[10].

Hungary

Hungary (Hungarian: Magyarország; IPA: [mɒɟɒrorsaːg]; listen (help·info)), officially in English the Republic of Hungary (Magyar Köztársaság listen (help·info), literally Magyar (Hungarian) Republic), is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU and a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian (also known as Magyar), which forms part of the Finno-Ugric family. It is one of the four official languages of the European Union that is not of Indo-European origin.

Following a Celtic (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (9 BC – c. 4th century) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late Ninth Century by the Magyar chieftain Árpád, whose great grandson István ascended to the throne with a crown sent from Rome in 1000. The Kingdom of Hungary existed with minor interruptions for more than 900 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centers of the Western world. It was succeeded by a Communist era (1947-1989) during which Hungary gained widespread international attention regarding the Revolution of 1956 and the seminal move of opening its border with Austria in 1989, thus accelerating the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. The present form of government is a parliamentary republic (since 1989). Hungary’s current goal is to become a developed country by IMF standards, having become already developed by most traditional measures, including GDP and HDI^[3] (world ranking 36th and rising). The country’s first ever term of EU presidency is due in 2011^[4].

Hungary was one of the 15 most popular tourist destinations in the world in the past decade^[5][6], with a capital regarded as one of the most beautiful in the world^[7][8]. Despite its relatively small size, the country is home to numerous World Heritage Sites, UNESCO Biosphere reserves, the second largest thermal lake in the world (Lake Hévíz), the largest lake in Central Europe (Lake Balaton), and the largest natural grassland in Europe (Hortobágy).