Cycling tours in Hungary - Nature and culture in South Hungary

NATURE AND CULTURE IN SOUTH HUNGARY

If you take this wonderful cycling tour for lovers of history, culture and nature, wines and gourmet experiences, you will ride along the southern side of Lake Balaton, with fascinating views of the lake. You will cycle through some of the most unspoilt and hidden areas of South Hungary, and watch rare birds and the rich wildlife of the forests in a wonderful National Park along the River Dráva and Danube. You will visit Early Christian Crypts, which belong to the World Heritage, the 12th century Cathedral, a Turkish mosque, the Zsolnay Porcelain Museum, or exhibitions of great Hungarian painters, Victor Vasarely, or Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka, and many interesting sights in Pécs, one of the most beautiful capitals of the Hungarian culture. You will stay in wonderfully located very nice small castles and hotels, and taste excellent wines in one of the most famous cellars of the historic Villány wine-region.

TOUR ITINERARY:

“I have many lovely memories of Hungary – the places, countryside but most of all the people. Your love of your country and willingness to share that with us really made the trip – you are special. I felt very privilege to be part of this tour as we saw the plush side of the country with the beautiful buildings and art work but we also saw how the people in the country live. I think a lot of tourists only see the cities and not the rest. Thank you so much for sharing Hungary with us and I hope to return. Best wishes”
Mabel - Australia 

DAY 1: ARRIVAL IN BUDAPEST

Your hotel is situated right at the woods on the top of the Buda Hills. Its wonderful and quiet environment, lovely swimming pool, sauna, fittness or massage possibilities well represent the character of this holiday, and will bring you quickly into holiday mood. In the evening you will meet us at the reception, have a welcome drink, information about the tour, and dinner in the cosy restaurant of the hotel.  

DAY 2: CYCLING ALONG LAKE BALATON

After a bus transfer, we have an easy cycling through nice villages along the southrern shore of Lake Balaton, the most famous holiday resort of Hungary, and the biggest lake of Middle Europe. Owing to its pleasant and clear water, swimming, sailig, windsurfing, fishing are rather popular sports here. We will enjoy breath-taking scenery of the lake and the hills of the northern side, and we will stop at a nice beach for a lunch break, where you can have a refreshing swim in the lake. Tonight we stay in a nice Hunting Lodge with a horse breading farm at a peaceful place near the lake and a mysterious marshland and nature reserve, a significant home of birds. (cycling appr. 44 kms / 28 miles)

DAY 3: THE UNKNOWN SOMOGY AND ZSELIC

We will stop in a small village which is very famous for its folk-art hand-embroidery. Then we will bicycle in the rural countryside among the Somogy Hills, have a lunch at a nice small lake, and cycle through beautiful woods in the Zselic Nature Reserve, which is very rich of deer and wild-boar, and where the starlight is most beautiful throughout Europe. We will stay here at a lovely Country Club in a rather hidden place. This is a small paradise on Earth, where you can enjoy the antique atmosphere of an old Mansion, the wonderful view of the surrounding park with century-old trees and an award winning Golf Course, a small thermal pool, the peacefulness of the nature, and their delicious specialities. (cycling appr. 54 kms / 34 miles)

DAY 4: CYCLING AT THE RIVER DRÁVA

We have a short busride and get through Szigetvár, where Captain Miklós Zrínyi and the heroic Hungarians, defending the castle, stopped the Turks in 1566, and saved the Habsburg Empire from a Turkish occupation. Even Cardinal Richelieu mentioned: “The question if the half moon or the cross was ruling Europe for centuries, it was decided in Szigetvár by a miracle.” We cycle through sleeping villages in a very untouched area near the Dráva, which is the clearest river of Hungary, and famous for its beautiful backwater forests and very rich birdlife. We stop for a swim and a lunch at a charming little Thermal Bath, and cycling a bit further in the Danube-Dráva National Park. We get to Pécs, where we stay at a very nice hotel in the Mecsek Mountains, with a nice swimming pool and a panoramic view. (cycling appr. 63 kms / 39 miles)

DAY 5: PÉCS, THE CAPITAL OF CULTURE, AND VILLÁNY, THE VILLAGE OF RED WINE

We will have a rather busy rest day, as this beautiful town offers so many sights to see... We will visit the most famous ones: the wonderful 12th-century Cathedral, the Early Christian Crypts which are parts of the World Heritage, a Turkish mosque, and the Zsolnay Museum. (Zsolnay is the 2nd most famous porcelain factory of Hungary, where many beautiful roofs of famous buildings, such as Church Mathias in Budapest, were also made.) We can also visit the exhibitions of outstanding Hungarian painters, Vasarely or Csontváry, and there are numberless other sights too. It is also worth collecting some energy in a Café, before we get through Harkány, the most frequented spa in South Hungary, and arrive at a very beautiful small hotel in Villány, the centre of the most popular red wine region of Hungary. The charming wine cellars everywhere make the atmosphere really lovely here, and the Sub-Mediterranean climate on the limestone slopes provides some of the finest red wines of the country. Laboratory tests of clinics certify that the wines here are specially good for your health, so of course we will taste some wine with a gourmet dinner in an old cellar of a very kind family, which is one of the best wine makers of Hungary.  

DAY 7: IN THE GEMENC FOREST

After a short busride we arrive at one of the largest floodplain forests of Europe, the Gemenc Game Reserve. This is a paradise for lovers of nature, and well-known for its outstanding red deer and wild boar population. We will take the small forest train to get deeper into the woods, where colorful willow, ash and elm trees, white or yellow water lilies on the small arms of the Danube make the landscape really picturesque. This is an ideal habitat for many birds: night herons, purple and grey herons, black storks, great white egrets, greylag geese, ducks, cormorants, even bitterns nest here, and beavers, otters, turtles and bats can also be found. We will stop at a look-out tower to admire the beautiful scenery and the wildlife, and we can visit exhibitions about the local forestry, apiculture, fishing and ethnography. After having a delicious lunch, we leave this lovely area for Budapest, where you can have a nice rest on the terrace or in the swimming pool of the hotel, where we will have our farewell dinner.

DAY 8: NO MORE CYCLING (UNFORTUNATELY)

You can still enjoy the friendly atmosphere of the hotel in the morning, and we hope you will get home safely, with nice memories for a lifetime.