Events outside but near Budapest

It is not by chance that Szentendre is one of the most well-known settlements in Budapest’s agglomeration. This settlement, inhabited since the Roman times, is a town with a cosy atmosphere. The sources of its atmosphere are the Danube, the rolling downtown and the Baroque settlement built on the slopes in the network of stairs, squares and cobbled streets.

Having acquired significance in the 17th and 18th centuries based on the work of its Serbian and Dalmatian population, Szentendre found new paths in the early 20th century as a town discovered by artists. The Ferenczys, Czóbel, Kmetty are major trail-blazing names in the history of modern Hungarian art, founding Szentendre’s still powerful cultural traditions. Their memory is preserved by eponymous museums in the vicinity of Szentendre’s main square.

But before arriving at Szentendre’s town centre, it is worth spending an hour in one of Hungary’s most interesting public transportation museums, the Urban Public Transport Museum of Szentendre. It offers time travel by tram, omnibus, bus, HÉV/suburban train and train. It is great fun for the entire family to visit this informative and interactive exhibition. And you can even find cool gifts in the souvenir shop.

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After having lunch, coffee or ice cream in the town centre, it is worth visiting the Open-Air Museum of Ethnography of Szentendre, or, to use a shorter name, the Skanzen. This Swedish word is the name of an island in Stockholm, the correct spelling being Skansen, pronounced as ’Scahn-sen’. The good old ethnographers studied one of Europe’s first collections of this type to take it as a basis for designing and constructing Hungary’s first open-air ethnography museums. It offers a tour of nearly the entire country in one place, showcasing folk architecture and folk costumes, which you can learn about while taking a good walk in the fresh air. From Szentendre, you can return to Budapest by boat along the small branch of the Danube called in Hungarian “Kis-Dunaág.”