Looking for an overnight excursion from Budapest

A number of options depending on your ability to deal with heat (as Budapest can be warm in August) and what the kids want to do.

1. Pecs, about a 3 hour train ride southwest of town. Roman ruins, ancient mosques, great town square, great cathedral, shopping and pedestrian zones. Dryer climate.
2. Eger, the wine town northeast of Budapest about 2 hours on the train. Fortress on a hill, minaret, great town square, wine, shopping, wine cellars. A little higher altitude so maybe a bit cooler.
3. Lillafüred, a little more challenging, but …. You take a train to Miskolc (about 2.5 hours), then a tram across town to a great old castle, then the Forest Railway to Lillafüred where there are caves a great old palace hotel, nature, etc. A little higher elevation so maybe a bit cooler.
4. Lake Balaton, I prefer Tihany. Great town with craft shops, food, stunning views of the lake, ancient abbey with crypts, etc. About 2 hours on the train to Balatonfüred then a taxi about 15 minutes to Tihany. Warm.
5. Vienna, about 2.5 hours by train. Warm
6. Gyor and the Archabbey & winery at Pannonhalma. About 1.5 hours by train. Warm

Since there are four of you to prorate out the cost, you might spring for a private driver for the trip back to Budapest. That way you can make some stops and see a little more. Check with this guy for prices: http://silverwings.hu/

Oh, and don't forget to take the kids to the Budapest Zoo. Pretty impressive.

Thanks James! These look great! We're going to start researching!
-Betsy

Saw your other post. Hope I was some help. Banská Štiavnica isn't a bad day trip out of Budapest if you have a car or a driver. But hit both Banska towns if you do it. Also, for the kids you might look into some circus tickets in Budapest. http://www.fnc.hu/eng/ I just got tickets for last performance.

James, any thoughts on Tata as an excursion from Budapest. Because of its location it probably would work more as a day trip idea, but it looks like a nice place for an overnight stay as well.

I've only been to Tata once as a day trip with the fort at Komárom www.erod.hu

The "castle" was interesting and the lake very pretty but the high point for me was the fort. I have friends that go fishing at Tata and one of these days we may join them. Have no idea about hotels. Sorry, not much help.

Good ideas James, especially Eger. I would throw in Esztergom but that's more of a day trip than an overnight trip.

In addition to the beautiful Budapest Zoo, for kids there's also the Children's Railway up in the hills above Buda. It is run by children: they operate everything but the locomotives:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyermekvas%C3%BAt, http://www.gyermekvasut.hu/