TravelTips24 : Europe : Central Europe : Hungary : Szeged

Szeged

Szeged - the city of sunshine is a town in southern Hungary.

Europe Prize 2006 (current)

In 2006, Szeged was awarded the prestigious Europe Prize.

"Created by PACE in 1955, the Europe Prize is the highest distinction that can be bestowed on a European town or local authority for its actions in the European domain. The prize consists of a trophy, a medal, a diploma and a scholarship to be spent on a study visit within Europe for young people from the winning town.

This university town, situated on the country’s southern border, neighbouring Romania and Serbia, is the main city in Csongrad County. It is twinned with eleven other European towns, including former winners of the Europe Prize, such as Darmstadt (Germany), and the Flag of Honour, such as Cambridge (United Kingdom), Odessa (Ukraine), Timisoara and Tirgu Mures (Romania).

European events of major importance have marked the city’s history: the festival of twinned towns, a new twinning arrangement with Pula (Croatia), the launch of the European campaign “Szeged is the gateway to Europe” and the recent commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the Great Flood which struck the town in 1879.

Szeged, which was already awarded the Flag of Honour in 2000 and the Plaque of Honour in 2002, is the first Hungarian town to receive this award."

Culture and History

Located in Central Europe, Szeged is the fourth biggest city in Hungary, lies on Hungary's south-eastern border, just south of the mouth of the Maros river on both banks of the river Tisza. It is about 171 km South of Budapest on the M5 highway. It is the lowest elevation city in the country and is known as the "City of Sunshine", because it has the highest number of sunny days throughout the year.

Szeged is the main city in Csongrád county and serves as a commercial and cultural center of the region.

Demographics

According to the 2002 data, the city's population was 163,699. 93.5% Hungarian, 0.7% Gypsy, 0.6% German, 0.5% Serb, 0.2% Romanian, 0.2% Slovak, 0.1% Croatian and 5.9% other.

History

Travel to Szeged & Visa Requirements

By Car

If you are flying to Hungary, you will most likely be arriving to the Ferihegy International Airport in Budapest and you will want to take the M5 highway South to Szeged. The M5 highway has just been completed (end of 2005) to reach Szeged, and it will take from about an hour and half to two hours to drive from the airport.
Note: you will need to get a get a sticker for your car in order to drive on the highway, which you can buy at any gas station (ask for "matrica").

Tours & Getting around Szeged

Szeged lies on the banks of Tisza river. The western side is generally referred to as "Szeged", while the newer eastern side is called "Új-szeged" ("New Szeged").

There are further parts of the city, which you can think of as districts (although they do not work as districts): Belváros (the center of the city, downtown), Alsóváros, Móraváros, Rókus, Újrókus, Fölsőváros, Tarján, Fodor-kert, Petőfi-telep, Makkosház, Baktó, Tápé, Újszeged, Odessza, Marostői kiskertek, Klebelsberg telep, Kecskés István telep, Iparváros, Béke-telep, Baktó.

Public transportation

For the size of the city, Szeged has a really good public transportation network. Within the city you can get around by cabs (taxi), trams (villamos), trolley buses (trolibusz) or autobus (autóbusz). If you wish to use these types of public transportation, you will need to find out about their routes, stops and schedules. During the work week, in the busy hours, within the city, most public transportation vehicles will leave every 10-15 minutes.

Schedules

• Schedule of buses within Szeged: [1]
• Schedule of buses leaving and arriving to Szeged: [2]
• Schedule of trolley buses and trams: [3]

Tickets

Ther's no difference in the tickets for the different types of transportation methods. You can usually purchase tickets from the driver, for which you will always have to get on the vehicle using the frontmost door. You can also purchase weekly and monthly passes as well as single-trip tickets from various kiosks and newspaper stands throughout the city. These passes will be valid for all 3 types of public transportation,so you can travel by trams, trolley buses and buses as well. There are also discounts offered to students and seniors.

• Local bus ticket and pass prices: [4]

Szeged attractions and sightseeing

• Kárász street - main street, downtown
• Tisza river
• Dóm square, and the Votive church

Szeged city tours

Baths, pools

Like some other Hungarian towns, Szeged also has thermal baths. The two best known are:

1. Anna fürdő [5] - it has just been renovated and offers an amazing experience, located downtown of the city. The bath has two sections, which offer various natural, thermal water based pools, spas, saunas.
   The younger (mainly 20-30s) crowd enjoys visiting the bath's Night Swimming events every Monday, Wednesday, Friday night between 9-12PM. The entry fees are half-priced for these events (currenlty about 900 Forints, or about 4-5 Euros).
2. Thermálfürdő [6] - is an older, indoor thermal bath located at the swimming pool complex on the Újszeged side of the city.

Other things to do

• You can catch a play at the Szegedi Nemzeti Színház [7] (Szeged National Theater) or in the summer months at the Open-Air Theater [8].
• You can enjoy the latest movies at the cinemas. The Szeged Plaza [9] shopping complex offers multiplex style movie experience[10], while downtown you can watch your favorites at one of the bigger screen cinemas.
• Gentleman's Club - there is one gentleman's club in town called Zsiráf. It is located on Furj Str. near the Greek restaurant.

Learn

Szeged is a very active city, partially because of its educational base. The University of Szeged [11] offers wide range of programs including Agricultural studies [12], Food Engineering, Arts, Economics and Business Administration, Health Sciences, Law, Medicine, Music, Pharmacy, Life Sciences and Education. Throughout the year students from all around Hungary and around the World come here to study.

The city also has a wide range of high school programs, most of which are highly specialized in areas such as humanities, sciences and engineering and more.

Szeged souvenirs & shopping

Szeged has two big-sized supermarkets, Tesco and Cora. Both are easy to reach. Cora has its own bus line and Tesco can be reached by Line 2 for example. In addition, there are many regular supermarkets, such as Plus, Lidl and others, throughout the city. Most of them belong to German supermarket chains. Buying everyday products (especially groceries) could be cheaper than in other European countries like France, Italy or Germany. Most electronic equipment like iPods and computers are, however, considerably more costly here.

Szeged Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

Szeged is famous for its local, traditional food.

The most famous of all is probably the Fisherman's soup (Halászlé), which is made from various freshwater fish using lots of paprika (this is not necessarily spicy, but you can definitely order it that way).

Szeged is also known for its good quality sausage and salami. Pick is Szeged's own brand, which is also exported to various countries around the world. Make sure that you try the famous "Pick salami". You can buy these products at most local grocery stores and smaller, family owned 24/7 stores.

If you are looking for international food, just check the local grocery stores. You shouldn't have too much problem finding anything from around the World. Even Americans can find their favorite Cream Cheese and Peanut Butter/Jelly if they look around...

Restaurants

The quality of the food varies by restaurants, but is good in general. Meats and cheese can be found at most places, and they are often breaded and fried. If you go to a standard restaurant, the portions will be generous and more than enough to feed an adult. There are a few restaurants (Gőry [13]), which serve extra large portions of food, which are almost impossible to eat all at once.

In the downtown (Tisza Lajos krt. 76.) there is also a vegetarian restaurant [14] serving traditional Indian and Hungarian dishes as well.

Fast Food

There are lots of fast food places in the city. The most popular ones are local pizza restaurants, which are all around town. Some of them, which are open until the morning hours, are popular gathering places for the late night crowd. Of course, the international fast food chains are also present (Burger King, McDonald's, etc.), they are popular mostly among younger people. Compared to the local fast food places, these chains offer smaller portions for higher prices.

• Burger King - at the Nagyaruhaz mall in the center of town.
• McDonald's - on the main walking street, Kárász street and in the Rókusi boulevard.

Fish

The traditional fisherman's restaurants are a great choice and the locals visit them regularly because of the wide selection of good quality food. There are three main fishmerman's restaurants in town.

1. Roosevelt Téri Halászcsárda [15] is close to downtown, right across from the Móra Ferenc Museum by the bridgehead of the "old bridge";
2. Kiskörössy Halászcsárda [16] is in the northeastern part of Szeged, on the bank of the Tisza River. This is an excellent choice in the warmer months, because you can enjoy your meal next to the river and quite often they will also have musicians perform traditional Hungarian folkmusic or Gypsy music for the guests. You'd probably want to catch a cab to get to this restaurant, and then use another cab to get back to your hotel.
3. Fehértói Halászcsárda [17] is outside the city, next to the old E5 highway going towards Budapest. You can ask a cab to drop you off here and they can also bring you back. This restaurant breeds its own fish and is known for its excellent fish soup. Their prices are reasonable as well.

Pastries, cookies

Hungary has very good home made style pastries and cookies. Szeged has a few bakeries around town that have excellent food selection. Ordering is quite simple, since most of the baked goods are displayed behind a glass window. They are usually freshly baked. Just point and pick what your eyes like and enjoy. Some of the more popular pastry shops around town:

• Hatos Rétes -
• Palánk -
• Virág Cukrászda -
• Z. Nagy Cukrászda -
• A Capella -

Szeged nightlife, bars, clubs & pubs

Coffee Shops

Coffee Shops have become very popular among students. There are quite a few in town, where the younger crowd likes to meet up to study and/or talk.

Clubs

Szeged is a University town and it has a very active night life throughout the school year. The high school and college crowd gets mixed up at most places, although some clubs try to target specific age groups with their events.

Most places have entrance fees, but offer discounts if you have a student ID. Regular fees are around 500-1000 Forints depending on the day of the week, the place and the event.

Parties are advertised to start early at night, but the crowd doesn't start to gather really until about midnight or 1AM (!!!) and usually party until the morning. This is true even on weekdays (for example Wednesday is a very big party night). Many times people meet at local pubs for a drink and talks before hitting these places.

1. GinTonic [18] - This is a club in the basement of the older Tisza Hotel in downtown Szeged. It has dance nights every Friday. It is located in the same block as Retro, but on the other side of the building. This is a highly popular party place among foreign students who study in the city. The entrance fee is about 800 Forints.
2. JATE Klub [19] - This is one of the popular university clubs that is open during the day as well as at night. There is a large bar section and several dance floors with different types of music. Concerts and other cultural events are also common here. If the evening appears to be slow, the crowd might go over to the SZOTE Klub (which is true vice-versa). The high school and college crowd blends really well in this place.
3. Retro [20] - this is a newer coffee house, that turns into a dance club at night. Dance nights are held on Fridays and Saturdays. The place usually attracts people who already graduated from college (mid 20s) and above. Their entrance fee is probably the highest in town, currently about 1000 Forints.
4. Sing-Sing [21] - this is one of the largest dance clubs in Southern Hungary. It is located right next to Szeged's main bus station and farmer's market. This club usually attracts the younger high-school crowd. It is well known for its semi-monhtly nude (both male and female) dance shows, concerts with invited guests and teen parties.
5. SZOTE Klub [22] - It is the same type of university club as JATE located by the Votive church, on the opposite side from the main library.

If you would like to get a sense of some of the parties, you can visit PartyPont.hu [23], which posts images of some of the parties in town.

Szeged cheap and luxurious hotels, youth hostels & lodging

You will have various choices to stay at while in Szeged. The city has some larger and more expensive hotels, but there are quite a few cheaper and comparable places where you can stay.

Budget

In Szeged, and in most other, bigger Hungarian cities you can find a cheap room in college dorms. Most places will let you pay cash and stay for a few days. There are a few of these around town and the best way to find one is probably to ask one of the younger, "student looking" locals.

• Familia Pension has a very easily accessible location, a couple of minutes walk from Dóm square (the Votive Church) and a few blocks from the main railroad station and the 500 years old Mátyás Church.
• Hotel Bella is situated in downtown Szeged, on 'Kossuth Lajos sugárút', within walking distance to the major sights, restaurants and bars.

Mid range

Upscale

The bigger hotels are usually closer to downtown. But remember, Szeged is not that big in size and you can probably walk or use public transportation to most places.

• Hotel Tisza [24] is an older, but renovated hotel in an excellent location right downtown;
• Hotel Royal [25] is another older, but upscale hotel in the heart of the city;
• Dóm Hotel [26] (recommended) is a newer and offers some extra convenient services;
• Novotel [27] is within walking distance from downtown. It was renovated recently and offers about the same quality service as the previous choices.
• Forrás Hotel [28] is located in Újszeged, on the Tisza River's opposite side from downtown. The hotel has an indoor thermal bath, which is open around the whole year.
• Romance Hotel [29] is situated just in the heart of Szeged, close to the main square, Széchenyi Square, the National Teather, City Hall, banks, and newly renovated Thermal Bath.

Get out

The night life in Szeged is very active throughout the whole year.

• In the summer you don't want to miss the famous "Open-Air Festival". It is called open-air, because the Dóm square is turned into a stage with seats. It usually starts around the beginning of July and ends sometime in August. The shows play for about a week and then they change. Tickets are not always easy to get, but you can always get them from scouts (of course at a higher price) before the show starts. You can find out more about this on the following sites: [30], [31], [32].

Safety

Szeged generally speaking is a pretty safe city. You can enjoy walks around the whole town even at late night hours. Most places and streets are well lit, so you won't have to worry about getting lost. Sometimes groups of younger people going home from late night parties could cause problems, but in general this is not an issue.

Other useful information

Internet, hotspots

Szeged has many free Wifi (hotspot) locations. The largest square downtown - the Széchenyi tér - offers free wireless access to anyone with a Wifi capable device (laptop, mobile phone, PDA, etc.). Other public, registered wifi locations can be found on the following page: [33]

This page was last edited at 17:22, on 18 August 2008 by Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. Based on work by Dombi, Denis Yurkin and kapas@fordham.edu, Wikitravel user(s) NickTheKayak, Szaboz and Episteme, Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel and others.

Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license

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