Product Description

INTRODUCTION

Visitors who refer to Hungary as a Balkan country risk getting a lecture on how this small, landlocked nation of just over ten million people differs from "all those Slavs". Hungary was likened by the poet Ady to a "river ferry, continually travelling between East and West, with always the sensation of not going anywhere but of being on the way back from the other bank"; and its people identify strongly with the West while at the same time displaying a fierce pride in themselves as Magyars – a race that transplanted itself from Central Asia into the heart of Europe.

Any contradiction between nationalism and cosmopolitanism is resolved by what the Scottish expatriate Charlie Coutts called the Hungarian "genius for not taking things to their logical conclusion". Having embarked on reforming state socialism long before Gorbachev, Hungary made the transition to multi-party democracy without a shot being fired, while the removal of the iron curtain along its border set in motion the events leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The end of Communism has hastened the spread of glossy western capitalism, and on arrival in Budapest your first impressions will be of a fast-developing and prosperous nation. However, there is another side to post-Communist Hungary, and beyond the capital and Lake Balaton living standards have fallen sharply amongst many people, for whom the transition to democracy has brought very mixed blessings indeed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1242259 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

About the Author
Charles Hebbert has lived in and around Hungary off and on for seventeen years, researching his PhD before working as a journalist in Budapest. Dan Richardson is one of Rough Guides longest-established authors, and the author or co-author of Rough Guides to Egypt, St Petersburg, Moscow and Bulgaria.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
WHERE TO GO

The capital, Budapest, dominates the country in every sense – administratively, commercially and culturally. Divided into two distinct parts by the River Danube – the historical Buda district on the elevated west bank, and the grittier but more dynamic Pest district on the eastern side – the city boasts a welter of fine museums and churches, coffee houses, Turkish baths and Roman ruins, as well as some splendid architecture and a diversity of entertainment unmatched in any of the cities of the former Eastern bloc.

The most obvious attraction after Budapest is the magnificent Danube Bend, one of the most spectacular stretches of this immense river. Sweeping its way north out of the capital, the river passes through the delightful town of Szentendre on the west bank – a popular day trip from the capital – before moving serenely on through historic Visegrád and up to Esztergom, the centre of Hungarian Catholicism. Southwest of Budapest, Lake Balaton, with its string of brash resorts, styles itself as the "Nation’s Playground," but also contains Europe’s largest thermal bath at Héviz, and some splendid wine regions, notably around the Badacsony Hills and Balatonboglár on the southern shore.

Encircling Balaton and encompassing the area west of the Danube, Transdanubia has the country’s most varied topography, from the flat, rather monotonous landscape of the northern Kisalföld to the verdant, forested Orség in the southwest. The region also claims some of the country’s finest towns and cities, most notably Sopron with its atmospheric Belváros (Inner town), and the vibrant city of Pécs, notable for its superb museums and Islamic architecture. Further south, the vineyards around Villány and Siklós – Hungary’s first wine road – yield some of the country’s finest wines.

The mildly hilly mountain ranges of the Northern Uplands, spreading eastwards from Budapest, offer Hungary’s best opportunities for leisurely pursuits, including hiking, cycling and even skiing. The region is also home to the country’s most fantastic natural wonder, the Aggtelek caves, whilst the more sparsely populated northwestern region, the Zemplén range, will appeal to castle enthusiasts and those seeking to get off the beaten track. The Uplands are also famed for their wine centres, the most renowned being Eger – an enchanting town in its own right, showcasing some marvellous Baroque architecture – and Tokaj.

The area south of the Uplands is dominated by the vast, flat swathe of land known as the Great Plain, bisected in two by Hungary’s other great river, the Tisza. Covering almost fifty percent of the country, the Plain doesn’t have the clear-cut attractions of other regions, but it can be a rewarding place to visit. Szeged, close to the Serbian border, is the area’s most appealing centre, with some delightful architecture and perhaps the country’s most beautiful synagogue. Further east, its rival city Debrecen serves as the jumping-off point for the archaic Erdohát region and the mirage-haunted Hortobágy puszta, home to a fantastic array of wildlife.

WHEN TO GO

Most visitors come in the summer, when nine or ten hours of sunshine can be relied on most days, sometimes interspersed with short, violent storms. The humidity that causes these is really only uncomfortable in Budapest, where the crowds don’t help; elsewhere the climate is agreeable. Budapest, with its spring and autumn festivals, sights and culinary delights, is a standing invitation to come out of season. But other parts of Hungary have little to offer during the winter, and the weather doesn’t become appealing until late spring. May, warm but showery, is the time to see the Danube Bend, Tihany or Sopron before everyone else arrives; June is hotter and drier, a pattern reinforced throughout July, August and September. There’s little variation in temperatures across the country: the Great Plain is drier, and the highlands are wetter, during summer, but that’s about as far as climatic changes go. The number of tourists varies more – popular areas such as Szentendre and Tihany can be mobbed in summer, but rural areas receive few visitors, even during the high season.

Customer Reviews

Practical Combination of Advice, Knowledge and Girth
The Rough Guide Hungary is a complete paper guide: both practical as well as good in in-depth knowledge. Arriving in Hungary by plane as I did in the Summer of 2000, you feel you have arrived in a country where a completely strange, vigourous and stimulating language is spoken and little else except goodwill. This book has the capacity to guide you into this really foreign country, offering you several possibilities in the above situation, varying from the safe: 'take a cab but fix the price beforehand', to the more adventurous: 'take bus # 93 (red) to the metro terminal and continue your journey to Budapest by taking the blue metro line to the centre of town'. Whatever your choice, I found this is all excellent advice with no mistakes. The guide continues in this reliable way both in the capital and in the country side, but does more as it also describes Hungary's history and culture in its own words, not copying textbooks. Boxes with extra, spicy information are included.

Because this guide is so good on history, contemporary politics and culture, it doesn't cover every village in Hungary, as other guides in the same category and written for the same public do. This one maintains an enjoyable balance between tourist information, background knowledge and girth. Although its electronic variant as seen on Internet is weaker than its direct competitor, the paper variant is second to none, even superior.

Great Resource - Especially on Budapest
This guide is most enthusiastically recommended as a great source of information on what most travellers would need to know to plan and enjoy their vacation in Hungary no matter what region they wish to visit. I bought this guide at the last minute and read it on the airplane. The first sixty pages include a wealth of information about "basics" related to traveling in Hungary, specifically by train. bus or auto (rental car). It also provides valuable information about hotels, money exchange, and important events happening within Budapest. There are many excellent website references for travel from different countries, for tours wihin Hungary, and other useful information.

In Oct. 2007, I used the information from this guide to navigate through Budapest. The most useful features for me were the descriptions of how the metro (underground rail system) functioned and also how the bus lines run in the city. It is not very hard to navigate the metro once a person understands which lines, the yellow, the red and the blue run in what direction. It is also useful for those who do not speak Hungarian to know the words for "entrance" and "exit" which are included in the book. Since all three lines for the metro intersect at Deák Tér, it is a good focal point from which to plan one's visit to "must see" destinations. Page 72 is outstanding in how it lines up the names of the stops for the metro and page 73 describes useful bus, trolley and tram main stops for popular destinations. The eating, drinking and dining sections are also highly informative. There are many useful websites and most importantly descriptions of festivals and activities: highlights include, the Castle district, tours of the Hungarian Parliament, Turkish baths, various museums, including: Museum of Fine Arts (some original oil paintings by Corot, Chagall, Cezanne, Manet and Toulouse-Latrec; also the Spanish collection includes seven El Greco's and five Goyas) , Kodaly Museum, Ferenc Liszt Museum, Museum of Ethnography (the permanent exhibit on Hungarian folk culture is worth viewing) visits to well known coffee and pastry shops, shopping districts, and Universities. The maps provide easy nagivation ... what you need *most* is time and money ;-) I have only touched on the areas which interest me, there is much much more ...

Primarily I visited the Dunantuli region of Hungary (area West of the Danube). I can attest this guide provides what the tourist needs to know to visit historical regions and castles. I had the good fortune to visit at one time or another: the Lake Balaton regions of Keszthely, Badacsony, Siófok, and Tihany; Pannonnalma Abbey, Köszeg (castle), Sárvár (castle), Szombathely, Sümeg (castle), Csesznek (castle), Zirc (famous church), Székesfehérvár (castle and many wonderful churches) and the famous porcelain making town of Herend. All these locations were described in this guide. However, keep in mind, the guide *did* heavily emphasize Budapest and its magnificent history, culture, and places of interest along with modern activites. It left some of the regional history and culture short changed, despite the fact there are numerous areas loaded with things to do and see. The end of the book has a very excellent summary of Hungarian history and politics, culture and famous foods. Erika Borsos [pepper flower"

Typical Rough Guide quality, but what a country!
This book is typical of all Rough Guides: It a nice chunk of a book with the best balance between pragmatic information and cultural/historical contexts of all travel guides. Dedicated Rough Guides fans already know that you don't buy these books for their glossy photography. You buy them for density of information.

Three things that stand out about this one are:

1) In additional to a 100-page treatment of the capital, the catalog offers unusually dense coverage of the lovely attractions beyond Budapest. If you leave the country without excursions to Sopron, Tihany and Eger, you've missed the essence of Hungary.

2) The bibliography (you know, the "literature" section) is perhaps a bit thin, and some of the entries there really belong to Romania rather than Hungary.

3) This book is now in its 6th edition, with a 7th on the way. The authors are familiar with the country. The information is up-to-date and sound.

To committed Rough Guide readers: You know what to expect. You won't be disappointed.

To new Rough Guide readers: Come on over if you like words more than images. We prefer to leave the photography to others.