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Northern Hungary

Forested hiking trails, superb wine regions, traditional folk culture and hilltop castle ruins beckon you to what are called the Northern Uplands. In a country as flat as a palacsinta (pancake), these foothills of the Carpathians soar above most of Hungary. After exploring Bükk National Park on foot, why not sample the spectacular red wines of Eger or the honey-sweet whites of Tokaj?

As reminders of far too many battles won and lost, ageing castles and evocative ruins punctuate the landscape. This is also a land where the Palóc people hold strong in traditional villages such as Hollókő. If you want to experience village life – steeped in folk culture, replete with horse-drawn carts, dirt roads and tiny wooden churches – the Bereg region in the northeast is the place to go.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Northern Hungary.

  • See

    Eger Castle

    Climb up cobbled Vár köz from Tinódi Sebestyén tér to reach the castle, erected in the 13th century after the Mongol invasion. Models, drawings and artefacts such as armour and Turkish uniforms in the Castle History Exhibition, on the 1st floor of the former Bishop’s Palace (1470), painlessly explain the castle's story. On the eastern side of the complex are foundations of the Gothic 12th-century St John’s Cathedral. Enter the castle casemates, hewn from solid rock, via the nearby Dark Gate.

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    Minorite Church of St Anthony of Padua

    On the southern side of Eger's main square stands this church, built in 1771 by Bohemian architect Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer and one of the most glorious baroque buildings in the world. The altarpiece of the Virgin Mary and St Anthony of Padua is by Johann Lukas Kracker, the Bohemian painter who also created the fire-and-brimstone ceiling fresco in the Lyceum library.

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    Hollókő Castle

    Hollókő Castle commands a striking view of the surrounding hills from 365m-high Stalk Hill (Szár-hegy). Climb to the top of the pentagonal keep to look out across fields and forested hills without a trace of human occupation. Exhibits inside focus on weaponry and heraldry. There's a rather bogus mock-up of a medieval banquet from the time of the castle's inception.

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    Eger Archbishop’s Palace

    This splendid 18th-century structure contains two very rich collections. On the ground floor is the Ecclesiastical Collection, with priceless vestments, church plate and liturgical objects. Don't miss the scale mode of the basilica from 1832. The 1st floor now houses the Eger Art Gallery, recently moved from the castle, with works by Canaletto and Ceruti, among others.

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    Palóc Museum

    If you’d like to learn more about the Palóc people, head for the town of Balassagyarmat and this purpose-built museum. The standing exhibit ‘From Cradle to Grave’ takes you through the important stages in the lives of the Palóc people, and includes pottery, superb carvings and mock-ups of a birth scene, a classroom and a wedding. But the Palóc women’s needlework – from the distinctive floral embroidery in blues and reds to the almost-microscopic white-on-white stitching – leaves everything else in the dust.

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    County Hall

    Kossuth Lajos utca boasts dozens of baroque and Eclectic gems, including the delightful County Hall, with a wrought-iron grid above the main door portraying (from the left) Faith, Hope and Charity by Henrik Fazola, a Rhinelander who settled in Eger in the mid-18th century. Walk down the passageway, and you’ll see more of his magnificent works – two baroque wrought-iron gates that have superseded the minaret as the symbol of Eger.

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    Magic Tower

    Attractions in the so-called Magic Tower above the Lyceum are spread over several floors and include an Astronomy Museum on the 6th floor of the east wing containing 18th-century astronomical equipment, a Magic Hall of interactive experimental devices, a planetarium with regularly scheduled shows and a panorama terrace. On the 9th floor is the astonishing camera obscura, the 'eye of Eger', designed in 1776 to spy on the city in real time and entertain townspeople. It still does.

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    Szatmárcseke Cemetery

    This famous cemetery in the village of Szatmárcseke has 1200 grave markers resembling up-ended prows that are unique in Hungary. Their notches and grooves represent a complicated language detailing marital status, social position and so on. It's a mystery as to how the tradition (still carried on today) began, but scholars generally agree it’s not Finno-Ugric (ancestral Hungarian).

  • See

    Kossuth Lajos Utca

    Kossuth Lajos utca is a fine and leafy street lined with such architectural gems as the former Orthodox synagogue, built in 1893, and the former neoclassical synagogue, dating from 1845. You’ll pass several outstanding baroque and Eclectic buildings along the way as well, including the county hall, with its fine wrought-iron work, and the rococo Provost’s Palace.