A beautifully preserved baroque town, Eger has a relaxed, Mediterranean feel. Flanked by two of the Northern Uplands' splendid hill ranges and home to the celebrated Egri Bikavér (Eger Bull's Blood) wine, there's no doubt Eger is worth that long daytrip from Budapest.
There's something interesting around every corner in Eger and the centre is closed to traffic making it perfect to explore on foot. Heaps of Hungarians make the hike to Eger to pay homage to their ancestors who fended off the Turks for the first time during the 170 years of Turkish occupation.
Pécs is blessed with an illustrious past, a mild climate, superb museums and some of the finest Turkish monuments in the country. Lying equidistant from the Danube and the Dráva rivers in Southern Transdanubia, Pécs is certainly one of the most interesting cities in Hungary.
Music, opera, ballet, and Hungary's best leatherwork are some of the city's cultural gems. Its symbol is the Mosque Church, the largest building from the Turkish occupation still standing in Hungary. The square mosque, with an octagonal green copper dome, was built in the mid-16th century.
With its multifarious and often embittered history, incredible architecture and rich cultural heritage, Hungary's capital deserves its reputation as the 'Paris of Central Europe'. It has a complex identity, somewhere between Western luxury and simple traditions.
The city straddles a gentle curve in the Danube. It has broad avenues, leafy parks and elaborate bathhouses. It also has a turn-of-the-century feel to it, for it was then - during the industrial boom and the capital's heyday - that most of the city was built.