3-4 nights after Budapest and before Graz (Austria)

I'd do the 5 nights in Budapest, a really lovely city with many things to see and experience. Lots of good food at moderate cost.

I was very underwhelmed by the Lake Balaton area, but I was traveling by public transportation and I know you'll have a car. I'll just say it's on my short list of European places I regret having spent time going to. I'm quite negative about the place for anyone who's not spending many, many weeks in Hungary.

I liked Pecs a lot. It's the home of the Zsolnay ceramic company responsible for a lot of the decorative elements on the exterior of Hungarian buildings. In that same part of Hungary (since you'll have a car--not so easy by rail and bus) are Szeged and Kecskemet, which are also very attractive. Now, I'm a big fan of decorative arts and Art Nouveau architecture, which definitely affects my love of Pecs, Szeged and Kecskemet. Others may be able to give you more measured opinions.

Sopron is a pretty town, but in that part of Hungary I'd definitely opt for Gyor instead. I found it equally pretty, and it has two major advantages:

• A whole bunch of attractive, small museums (most art-related) right in the historic center.
• Proximity to Pannonhalma Abbey.

You'll want to choose Sopron instead if anyone in your family has a dental problem. You know how some small cities are full of tourist-junk shops? Sopron doesn't have those. It has dentists--lots of dentists! I think half of Austria goes there for lower-cost dental work. This is not a knock on Sopron at all; it's a very attractive place; it just has a quirk.

Acraven is always very good in her judgment. I like it because it tempers my sort on the fringe outlook.

I had suggested on your previous post, since you were coming from Kosice that you stop in Lillafüred/Miskolc and now that I know that you are interested in Aggtelek I am more of the opinion you will get something good out of a night or two in Lillafüred. Look up the train and the caves…

Szeged and Kecskemet and Pecs make for a nice trip. But two nights at most probably (but maybe you used a night in Lillafüred so you only have a night to use. Graz might be where that gets spent.

Balaton other than Tihany https://youtu.be/Jwhd8vO0ZO4?si=f2l2Mbfx4GUSUIuQ is really about playing on the beach or staying in a wellness spa. But you can combine Kecskemet, Szekszárd and Székesfehérvár https://youtu.be/KccUZ4qGt38?si=8Gb2EfldbRdb-Kfq with Tihany (ride the ferry) to Szombathely https://youtu.be/ySIBfZRgVw8?si=Ud6vbfV9blI4JCrD and that would be an interesting trip that points you to Graz.

Do Szentendre to Visegrad to Esztergom then Lake Tata https://youtu.be/f0Mpne2YTfo?si=g92Lau2PTUBXpSxp then Komarom https://youtu.be/QAcPzi8BW7A?si=U8SjgM06jeetteqs , Gyor/Pannonhalma https://youtu.be/NbH6u0J-Xos?si=LCuXb-tzDi51LlUq / https://youtu.be/kBYsexwEbPc?si=5X0f9OHS16BcbjA and either back to Budapest as a one or two night exploration or on to Graz afterwards.

Cant do much more than throw out random ideas, cause don’t know much about what you like or budget or date ..
If you do the lake Tata trip, there is a famous restaurant on the old lake.

Thanks alot to both of you !
ACraven:
We are not much into decorative arts (not at all in fact !). Arts museums is also something that we dont plan our travles around. If there's a not to miss once in a lifetime art museum we will take the time to go there, but not much more.

We will read about Gyor vs Sopron, maybe we can do both. We will have for sure some choices to make. Nice info about dentists in Sopron, is not something we need but that's nice to know that kind of infomation !

Mr.É

As always, a lot of usefull ideas. We will take a good look at all your ideas. The more we look about Balaton the less we are interested. We will be there in the heart of summer (Our trip is from july 1 to august 6), which will mean a lot of people running to the beaches. We are not much into beaches from the start so maybe we could skip Balaton and not losing much. We will really have to decide if we explore northern part of Hungary (Gyor and else) our southern.

We like history (worls wars, medieval and roman era), good food, craft beer, naturals wonders. In our travel we like to mix small villages, big cities and remote natural wonders.

About budget...we we try to keep it at 400 euros per day or less some days could be over this but not for 35 days.

As always, a lot of useful ideas. We will take a good look at all your
ideas. The more we look about Balaton the less we are interested.

I will be at the lake in 20 August most likely, but to do beach stuff. But for your taste, other than Tihany there really isnt much there. Too late for your plans, but this is the place to be in Europe on 20 August and the days leading up to it.

We like history (world wars, medieval and roman era), good food, craft
beer, naturals wonders. In our travel we like to mix small villages,
big cities and remote natural wonders.

Then you want to take a fairly deep Holocaust tour in Budapest and visit the House of Terror (horrible name, good museum on fascism / communism in an old KGB headquarters building) https://www.terrorhaza.hu/hu/ . You will want to keep a sharp eye for the bullet holes around town. Do the Hospital in the Rock tour https://www.sziklakorhaz.eu/ . The city also has a retro museum which is a way to see communist Budapest https://bpretro.com/en?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzvC9BhADEiwAEhtlNz76NX8HvaJ8JlxxO5pDYGzOnmAjQuR-AorzdW1xH7ZLvz6pDEXrMRoCloUQAvD_BwE Maybe the Memento Park https://www.mementopark.hu/ . Another idea https://budacastlebudapest.com/buda-castle-ww2-tour-with-underground-cave-visit/ While not war related so much, but still very much a fun thing is the open air train museum. https://vasuttortenetipark.hu/en/home/ You will see one steam engine all painted up with the commie russian star. Its an American made engine. LOL, but was indeed used by the commies. You guys might like the big sort of “national “ cemetery with all the crypts and gothic goinig on https://youtu.be/YmFKOp2oakA?si=wo6PuIi7SekxOC6n Here is a little more poop on a few war sites:: https://www.lensofjen.org/the-must-visit-wwii-sites-of-budapest/ We do have some Roman ruins up river but ….. ehhhh not really much to see.

You will be here for the summer festival so look on line in March for a schedule.

Budapest Summer Festival On Margaret Island. Runs mid May until the end of August with concerts (classical to rock) almost every night.

There is usually one or two beer festivals in the summer. I will watch for them. Craft beer bard are fairly common. If you want to see something being made the Unicum factory is really good.

Which way to go out of Budapest? You really cant go wrong. The fortress at Komarom sort of works into the WWII theme and was one of the Soviets largest stock piles in the Warsaw pact up until shortly before it all collapsed. I would do Szentendre to Visegrad to Esztergom then Lake Tata, Komarom, Gyor/Pannonhalma Archabbey then Szombathely and on to Graz.

Once again...many thanks !

I think that we will do exactly as you would do after Budapest. We will have to figure where to sleep, and how many nights for that '' Szentendre to Visegrad to Esztergom then Lake Tata, Komarom, Gyor/Pannonhalma Archabbey then Szombathely and on to Graz.''