Great Plain
Staged it may be, but the 1½-hour puszta show at the 300-year-old Máta Stud Farm, 3km north of Hortobágy village, is a real slice of Hungary. You get to…
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Great Plain
Like the outback for Australians or the Wild West for Americans, the Nagyalföld (Great Plain) – also known as the puszta – holds a romantic appeal for Hungarians. Many of these notions come as much from the collective imagination as they do from history, but there’s no arguing the spellbinding potential of big-sky country. The Hortobágy region is where the myth of the lonely pásztor (shepherd), the wayside csárda (inn) and Gypsy violinists – kept alive in literature and art – was born. The horse and herding show at Hortobágy National Park recreates this pastoral tradition, while Bugac is one of the best places in Hungary to learn about life on the plain. The Great Plain is also home to cities of graceful architecture and history. Szeged is a centre of art and culture, Kecskemét is full of art nouveau gems and Debrecen is the 'Calvinist Rome’.
Attractions
Must-see attractions for your itinerary
Kecskemét
The sandy-pink, stepped-roof city hall (1895) was designed by Ödön Lechner. With a mixture of art nouveau/Secessionist and folkloric elements, Lechner…
Museum of Hungarian Naive Artists
Kecskemét
Arguably the city’s most interesting museum and one of the few of its kind in Europe, the Museum of Hungarian Naive Artists contains works with lots of…
Debrecen
North of the Great Church stands the Calvinist College, built in 1816 on the site of a theological college dating back to the mid-16th century. Downstairs…
Szeged
The recently renovated art nouveau New Synagogue, designed by Lipót Baumhorn in 1903, is the most beautiful Jewish house of worship in Hungary, if not the…
Kecskemét
Dating from 1902, the masterful art nouveau Ornamental Palace features multicoloured majolica tiles decorating its 'waving' walls. The palace contains the…
Debrecen
Built in 1822, the iconic Great Church accommodates 3000 people and is Hungary’s largest Protestant house of worship. The nave is rather austere apart…
Great Plain
Get up close with ailing feathered friends as they convalesce at the Bird Park & Clinic. Walk through the ‘hospital’ section of this sanctuary (including…
Guidebooks
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