Visit Hungary

Hungary  (officially the Republic of Hungary) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Pannonian Basinand it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The capital and largest city is Budapest. Hungary is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, theVisegrad Group, and is a Schengen state. On 1 January 2011, Hungary became the seat for the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The official language is Hungarian, which is part of the Finno-Ugric family and is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.

Hungary is one of the thirty most popular tourist destinations of the world, attracting 8.6 million tourists per year (2007).The country is home to the largest thermal water cave system and the second largest thermal lake in the world (Lake Heviz), the largest lake in Central Europe (Lake Balaton), and the largest natural grasslands in Europe (Hortobagy).

Hungary lies between latitudes 45? and 49? N, and longitudes 16? and 23? E.

Slightly more than one half of Hungary's landscape consists of flat to rolling plains of the Pannonian Basin: the most important plain regions include the Little Hungarian Plain in the west, and the Great Hungarian Plain in the southeast. The highest elevation above sea level on the latter is only 183 metres (600 ft).

Transdanubia is a primarily hilly region with a terrain varied by low mountains. These include the very eastern stretch of the Alps, Alpokalja, in the west of the country, the Transdanubian Medium Mountains, in the central region of Transdanubia, and the Mecsek Mountains and Villany Mountains in the south. The highest point of the area is the Irott-kő in the Alps, at 882 metres (2,894 ft).

The highest mountains of the country are located in the Carpathians: these lie in the northern parts, in a wide band along the Slovakian border (highest point: the Kekes at 1,014 m/3,327 ft).

Hungary is divided in two by its main waterway, the Danube (Duna); other large rivers include theTisza and Drava, while Transdanubia contains Lake Balaton, a major body of water. The largest thermal lake in the world, Lake Heviz (Heviz Spa), is located in Hungary. The second largest lake in the Pannonian Basin is the artificial Lake Tisza (Tisza-to).

Phytogeographically, Hungary belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the WWF, the territory of Hungary belongs to the ecoregion of Pannonian mixed forests.

Hungary has 10 national parks, 145 minor nature reserves and 35 landscape protection areas.

Hungary has a continental climate, with hot summers with low overall humidity levels but frequent rainshowers and mildly cold snowy winters. Average annual temperature is 9.7 C(49.5 F). Average high temperature in the summer is 23 ?C (73.4 ?F) to 28 ?C (82 ?F) and average low temperature in the winter it is −3 ?C (26.6 ?F) to −7 ?C (19.4 ?F). The average yearly rainfall is approximately 600 mm (23.6 in). A small, southern region of the country near Pecs enjoys a reputation for a Mediterranean climate, but in reality it is only slightly warmer than the rest of the country and still receives snow during the winter.

Hungary is ranked sixth in an environmental protection index by GW/CAN.