DANUBE 2 : FROM BUDAPEST TO THE SOUTHERN BORDER OF HUNGARY - 2009	price from 440 €
Hungary - Leisure cycling - 8 days

This tour is an ideal and lighter addition to the Vienna – Budapest sector or can be done separately. However, the distance to cover is shorter than that of the latter so allows more time to stop for a snack or simply to admire the environment. You will first drive all way long the Csepel Island, leave it to take the cycling trail on the dam of the left bank, then after driving through the Mohács Island you reach the southermost point of the tour. From there you drive North on the right bank all through the forest in a beautiful National Park. You take a train back to Budapest.

Program

Day 1 Budapest The Capital of Hungary is famous for its location – the Danube is an important part of the city and hills are beautiful on the Buda side. The 2000 year old Budapest is well known for its spas, parks, cafes, architecure and culture.

Day 2 Budapest to Szalkszentmárton You will use the suburb train to leave Budapest in order to avoid the morning downtown traffic. You get off the train where you wish and start the bike tour. You drive the quiet roads of Csepel Island (its Northern end is part of Budapest), accross villages with Serbian, Bunyevatz and German minorities. In Ráckeve you may want to visit the Savoy Castle, the medevial Serbian orthodox church and the Catholic church, the latter famous for its unusual painted walls. Leaving the Island on a small bridge you end up and sleep in the village of Szalkszentmárton. Max. 70 kms, depending on desired train trip length.

Day 3 Szalkszentmárton to Kalocsa All the time your itinerary is along the dam of the left bank, mostly paved and partly unpaved, next to Hungarian Calvinist villages (except for Dunaegyháza, which is Slovakian and Lutheran). Kalocsa, a seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop is known as one of the two towns producing the famous Hungarian paprika (chili powder), used in most Hungarian dishes. 55 kms

Day 4 Kalocsa to Baja Again on the dam bike trail, you reach Baja, center of a region with a mixed population of Hungarians, Serbians, Croats, Germans, Bunyevatzs and Shokatz. Baja is a charming town of students, islands and rivers. Two Catholic and two Orthodox churches worth of visiting. Baja has its own peculiar way of cooking the fish soup, do not leave without tasting it. A nice dinner in one of the many restaurants on the banks of the Sugovica river (next to the beautiful Main Square) is highly recommended. 50 kms

Day 5 Baja to Mohács Drive accross the quiet Mohács Island then take the ferry to the town of Mohács on the right bank. Mohács again is located in the middle of a German-Shokatz-Bunyevatz-Serbian population. Visit its churches and the memorial at the nearby battlefield where some 25,000 Hungarian warriors were buried in 1526. The borders of both Croatia and Serbia are just a dozen of kms away. 40 kms.

Day 6 Mohács to Szekszárd This day’s tour takes you accross the Gemenc National Park with its rich flora and fauna and the closed branches of the Danube. You end up at Szekszárd, which produces maybe the best of Hungarian wine. 40 kms

Day 7 Train trip back to Budapest Yuo go back to Budapest by train, and enjy the visit of the city. You may eventually try to relax in the famous thermal baths : a good treat after such a bike tour !

Day 8 Budapest End of the journey after breakfast.