3 Incredible Day Trips from Budapest

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is home to one of the most massive amalgamations of historic sites on the entire European continent.

Budapest is in the heart of Hungary, on the banks of the Danube River and has a lot to offer, including an incredibly impressive array of historic sites, beautiful scenery, and other tourist attractions.

You could spend a year in Budapest and still have more of the city to explore, but even if you’re visiting for a short period of time the rest of Hungary should not be ignored. Any adventurous tourist would be remiss if they didn’t venture outside Hungary’s capital city on a day trip or two.

You can easily reach any of these 3 incredible destinations by car, or by train.

Szentendre

A short hour’s train ride from Budapest, Szentendre is a small, charming riverside town. It has medieval, tight streets with houses painted in lovely pastels, and each street leads to either quaint squares or whitewashed churches. Its Serbian past can be found in the iron-clad Blagovstenska Church and the Serbian Orthodox Museum.

Szentendre has a plethora of art museums and studios scattered throughout in the many old villas and mills. It was a site of a thriving art colony in the 1920s. Check out the main square, Fo ter, is the city’s center to see the Merchant’s Cross. Its architecture and easy access from Budapest make it ideal to visit from Budapest. The restaurants and shops on the main square are a great way to take a short break from all the walking and the  sites..

Aggtelek National Park and the Baradla Cave

In the northern Aggtelek Karst region of Hungary, the park is part of the natural border with Slovakia. It is a two and a half hour drive from Budapest, but its wide offering of flora and fauna, as well as its network of paths, makes it well worth the venture. It is a protected UNESCO site and offers a wide array of above ground formations, and a unique underground network of tunnels in the Baradla Cave.

The Baradla cave is one of Europe’s largest stalactite caves, and its main tunnel is seven kilometers wide with several large passages formed through the many millennia it has existed. The cave was formed by rain and melting snow creeping its way through the cracks in the limestone. The bizarre shapes and structures were formed by years of erosion and reforming. The stones are in every color imaginable, and the stalactites have formed either weird pillars or hang like icicles overhead.

The Castle of Diosgyor

A few hours train ride north of Budapest, Diosgyor Castle was built in the style of Italian castles. It has a series of outer fortifications and four towers flanking its corners as well. The great Knights’ Hall and the castle chapel are two massive rooms that show off the old might of Hungary. Several of the towers and the Gothic decorations have been rebuilt to represent their original beauty.

The castle is on the outskirts of Miskolc, which itself is surrounded by wonderful nature reserves. The city offers an intricate network of thermal baths built into a cave, and the Bukk National parks offer an endless array for hiking ventures. It may be tough to keep this trip within a day.