Where to Stay in Eger, Heves megye

What is Eger known for?

A hilltop fortress that once turned back a great Ottoman army rises over the baroque town, a slender Turkish minaret stands nearby, and the cellars of the valley pour the deep red wine called Bull's Blood. Thermal springs warm the baths. Castle and wine mark the town.

What are the main landmarks in Eger?

Eger Castle crowns the hill above the town. The old fortress, famous for the great siege of 1552, looks down over the baroque streets, the emblem of Eger, from its rock. A Turkish minaret rises nearby.

The slender minaret, the northernmost the Turks ever built, stands in the town, while the vast Eger Basilica and the Dobó István Castle Museum draw the crowds.

What is the history of Eger?

Eger made its name in a famous siege. In 1552 a small garrison in the hilltop castle held out against a huge Ottoman army and drove it off, a victory that became a legend of Hungarian courage told ever since. The Turks came back later.

They took the town at last and held it for near a hundred years, leaving behind a tall stone minaret that still marks the skyline. Baroque builders remade the freed town. After the Turks were driven out, bishops and nobles rebuilt Eger in fine baroque style, raising churches, a great basilica, and a college with an astronomer's tower.

Wine made the valleys rich. The vineyards around the town grew the deep red Bull's Blood and other wines, and cellars were cut into the soft rock of the hills. The old castle still guards the town.

Eger keeps its fortress and its wine below the Bükk.

Where is Eger?

Eger lies at the foot of the Bükk mountains in northern Hungary. The town sits in a green valley where the wooded hills meet the plain, on a small river among vineyards and orchards, north of the great Hungarian lowland. Wooded hills rise close behind.

The vineyards climb the slopes around.

What is the climate of Eger?

Four clear seasons cross this wine valley, none of them extreme. Warm, sunny summers ripen the grapes on the hills, and the winters turn cold and snowy in the valley, with rain spread through the year. The Bükk shelters the town from the north.

Long sunny autumns bring the harvest.

How do you get to Eger?

Eger lies in the hills of northern Hungary. A rail line and roads run to it from Budapest across the plain and up into the Bükk, and the town sits off the road to the northeast. Buses reach the wine villages around.

Most arrive by road from Budapest.