Hungary, a Visit into the Past on a Budget

A holiday in Europe that we could all afford was the goal! Friends and ourselves decided to join up and book a whole month in Hungary. We had read about Hungary’s history and some of the beautiful places to see and believed that our Canadian dollar would buy us good value in this emerging nation. Both families have a time share at Pacific Shores and membership in the wonderful RCI program so we managed to book one week in Hortobagy, 2 consecutive weeks in Lake Balaton and one week in Budapest. All accommodations were for six and we were a group of 5, David and I, Len and Bonnie, and their sister Sandra, each of us exchanging 2 weeks.

Mid-September found us landing at the Budapest airport. We were all a little nervous and excited as we did not know anyone in Hungary and none of us could speak the language. Everything started off well as our rented cars were all ready for us as arranged and off we bravely went. Driving was easy as we were on the right side of the road and the road maps that we had purchased at Chapters and BCAA were perfect, we had no trouble driving the excellent well marked roads to our first of three exchange places.

It was surprising to us that the land was so flat, it was just like driving through the prairies, with the sunflower stalks all just past their prime and waiting for harvest! There were kilometers and kilometers of flat farmlands. The soil is rich and fertile, making Hungary “the breadbasket of Europe”, as some Hungarians told us.

Our first week was spent at the Hortobagy Club Hotel #3476, situated in Hortobagy National Park. We had a house all to ourselves with two big bedrooms, living/dining room and kitchen with stove, frig, microwave, etc, all the mod cons. The Resort has a large paddock and horse stables as well as the most awe inspiring swimming pool I have ever swum in. The first night was made very exciting as we had the waiter at the resort order us “a typical Hungarian Meal” It was enormous! We had bottles of wine, Hungarian Goulash served in a large family sized bowl, then a huge platter of food- on a bed of fries and rice - there were 5 portions of 5 kinds of meat! And an apple strudel for dessert!

Hortobagy is situated closer to the Eastern side of Hungary. We used our Resort as a Hub and each day traveled to a different town. The towns were beautiful, the people made us feel welcome and we always felt safe. And there was no problem about language as the menus were usually in Hungarian, German and English

For our second and third week we traveled west for about 4 hours to the Club Dobogomajor Resort by the beautiful Lake Balaton. This area is famous for spas. A short walk from our resort, in the small town of Heviz, the second largest thermal lake in the world was open for tourists, year round.

This more western area of Hungary is hillier and the little mountaintops took your breath away with ancient castles crowning them. We spent a day wandering through the ruins of the castle at Szigliget experiencing history! We could not believe that we could pay the small admission fee and spend hours wandering freely in such a beautiful place overlooking Lake Balaton and its’ vineyards! Taking a picnic was a great idea.

Our last week was the highlight of our holiday. We stayed at Petnehaza Club Hotel #5332, a resort on the outskirts of Budapest. The best way to get there is to take the airport transport right to the door. Our first day was spent at the Hungaro Ring, as we are Formula One fans. The friendliness of the people was out of this world. The next few days had us experiencing one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We dropped off our rental car and enjoyed public transport, buying a pass for around $20, which entitled us to use of all buses, trams and underground systems for the week. We toured the gorgeous Parliament Buildings, Gellert Hill, overseeing the Danube, had a tour of the Opera House and even sat in Franz Joseph’s private Box! We had a wonderful boat ride on the Danube at night. It is impossible to tell all the beauties of this city we were privileged to see! We could easily have spent another week in this beautiful city.


Most of Hungary prefers you to pay in cash. This is really not too much of a problem as things are so reasonable and most towns had cash machines. Hungary is still using its florin but soon will be changing to the Euro. For those who love to shop there was great shopping. Embroidered linens were everywhere, no idea how they could keep them so clean and starched. For horse lovers it is fantastic, each of the places we stayed had the most beautiful horses and offered lessons in horsemanship. Hungarian horses play a big part in their history and they are very proud of them.

In the month that we spent in Hungary, traveling 4,500 kilometers we had only 3 days of rain. We traveled from mid September to Mid November, with little need of coats or sweaters. In the Hortobagy region we used insect spray for the mosquitoes, but otherwise there were no bugs. Everywhere we went we remarked how exceptionally clean the roadsides and town sites were, no garbage anywhere. To navigate to the most interesting areas of the cities was easy, there were always signs saying CENTRUM, and off we would go to the center of the town with its beautiful churches and town squares. We were so impressed with the signs of prosperity. I suppose the only thing we complained about was the lack of a washer and dryer. We could not find any and had to resort to hand washing which was unavoidable no matter how careful we were to keep clean!

The five of us were very glad that we had decided to use our trading power to go to a country we would never have even considered if we had not been in the RCI system. We have a lasting memory of such beautiful and historical things and a pride that we did it! Getting together with friends and sharing the trade weeks doubles your time and halves your expense. We certainly advise you to try it!

Karen & David Whitworth