Hungary's rural castles and palaces offer historical tourism

The Visit Hungary tourism office is encouraging travelers to explore the country's rural landscapes by visiting its architecturally significant and historically important castles and palaces. Many of these sites, which served as locations for decisive battles and cultural intersections for centuries, have undergone renovations to improve accessibility.

Key sites include the Festetics Palace in Keszthely, Hungary's third-largest palace. This baroque residence features 101 rooms and a private aristocratic library containing 86,000 volumes, set within a 42-hectare garden. The Esterházy Palace in Fertőd, often called the ‘Hungarian Versailles,’ contains 126 rooms and a gallery of 650 paintings; it was also the home of composer Joseph Haydn for over twenty years.

Other notable locations include the Nádasdy Mansion in Nádasdladány, which blends neo-Gothic, historicist, and Tudor styles and features a prominent hall of ancestral portraits. The mansion's gardens and interiors have also served as filming locations for television series such as ‘Underworld’ and ‘The Borgias’.