Birding Tours - Explore Hungary 2005

Hungary: Birds, Nature and Rural Life (7 days)

Home

Birdwatching

Hungarian Bird Areas

Birds in Hungary

Birding Tours

Guides

Gallery

Links

Contact Us

Budapest at night, Fertő, Hanság, Sárvár thermal bath, Tata, Gerecse, Hilltop wine-tasting, Kiskunság, Hortobágy, Budapest

During this 7-days (6 nights) tour we will admire the architecture of Hungary's capital Budapest and will visit two smaller towns also famous of their beauty: Sárvár and Tata. We will also spend few days and nights in rural environments in small villages both in West-Hungary and on the Great Plain. We will visit four National Parks (Ferto-Hanság, Duna-Ipoly, Kiskunság and Hortobágy) offering us the opportunity to see a great variety of habitats and birds. During birding we try to see the most characteristics birds of Hungary, the Great Bustard, Saker, Imperial Eagle, Great White Egret, White Stork as well as other species like woodpeckers. Hungary is famous about its spas, so we won't miss to try out a thermal bath during our tour. And of course we will taste prize-winning Hungarian wines and will enjoy the Hungarian cuisine in a csárda "czarda".

Scheduled dates: 26 April - 2 May 2008, 10 May - 16 May 2008, 24 May - 30 May 2008, 7 June - 13 June 2008

Click on the link below to download the proposal in PDF document.

Note: Depending on your settings, PDF documents may open in your browser. We recommend right clicking the download link and selecting Save Target As...

If prompted select Save to save the file to a location on your computer.

download

Day 1 - Budapest

Our tour will start on Monday afternoon in Budapest at the airport where we pick you up. We will drive you to your accomodation where after some refreshment we will start our Budapest sight-seeing tour. Since our time will be limited we will visit the "must-see" sights of Budapest the Buda Castle, Matthias Church, Basilica, Parliament, Heroes Square and the City Park.

In the evening we will have our dinner. During this dinner we will discuss the program of the following days allowing us to fine-tune it based on the information of the most recent programs, weather condition and your comments and ideas. After dinner we will see Budapest by night. Budapest at night is one of the most beautiful cities. By car we will drive through the Andrassy promenade and the Chain Bridge, go up to the Gellért Hill and have an overlook at the city. From there we will drive to the accomodation at around 10pm.

Day 2 - Lake Fertő

IBAs visited: 3
On Tuesday morning after breakfast we will drive to Lake Ferto, a large saline lake situated on the Austrian-Hungarian border. The Hungarian part of the lake (an area of 75 km2), is 88% covered by reedbeds (Phragmites), and adjacent mesophile and wet saline grasslands. In this area we will spend two nights in a small village called Sarród. We will be accommodated either in a newly renovated pension or in Heron Castle, which is the Headquarter of Ferto-Hanság National Park.

After lunch we will go for birding and spend the afternoon by spotting waterfowls. We will see Great White Egrets and Grey Herons. Ducks, shorebirds, gulls and the variety of raptor species even increases the spectacle. (Great White Egret is a symbolic bird of Lake Ferto and the Hungarian nature conservation, since it almost died out in the 19th century. But thanks to the work of the "Egret Guards" who were guarding Egrets and Egret nests by guns its population started to grow.) During our birding in the reedbeds the songs of Moustached Warblers, Bluethroat and Savi's Warblers can be also heard.

In the evening we will drive to Fertoszéplak, where we will have our dinner in a Csárda (czarda). The Csárda is a typical Hungarian village restaurant wich served as restaurant, pub, meeting point and dance hall for villages folks. (Here comes the name of the dance czardas) In the csárda we will taste some traditional Hungarian foods and some local redwines.

Day 3 - Hanság and Sárvár thermal bath

IBAs visited: 2, 3
Wednesday morning we will start the day with birdwatching at Lake Ferto, and this time we will go to other areas of the lake in order to see or hear new species. After a few hours birding from Lake Ferto we will drive to Hanság. Hanság is a poorly-drained flood-plain, once together with Ferto it was Hungary's biggest marshland. This beautiful region, divided into wet meadows, alder woods and open water areas, ensures an excellent habitat for several raptor species, song- and water birds. If we are lucky we can see Great Bustard, on a specially handled, protected area. (We also try to spot Great Bustard on the Kiskunság).

We will have our sandwich lunch in this area and continue birding. We will see White Storks and passing through small villages we can see how these birds live together with humans and build nests on the chimneys. If we are fortunate, beside many other species we can see here Lesser Grey Shrike and Red Kite as well.

In the late afternoon we will drive to Sárvár a small town in Transdanubia, which has a very nice castle and park. After having a short walk around the castle, we will drive to the thermal bath of Sárvár. We will relax in the warm thermal water and leave the bath in the evening hours. In the evening if our pension has the facility and the weather is nice we will make our traditional Hungarian food the Rablohus (Robber's meat). It's actually meat, onion, potato, bacon roasted on a spit.

Day 4 - Tata

IBAs visited: 14
After breakfast on Thursday morning we will drive to our next destination Tata. Tata is Baroque little town, that surrounds the picturesque and protected Ramsar area, the Old Lake. We will spend two days and two nights here before going to Kiskunság.

We will be birding in the soft wood groves of Lake Öreg of Tata where we have the opportunity to see different woodpeckers. Six woodpecker species are living in this grove and we hope we can see Great-, Middle- and Lesser-Spotted, Syrian and if we are very lucky Black Woodpeckers. In the parks surrounding the Old Lake we can see and hear a lot of songbirds and thrushes. On the lake we can spot different herons, ducks and other waterfowls.

In late afternoon and in the evening we will walk in the oldtown of Tata and will see some beautiful buildings. We will have our dinner in a friendly restaurant.

Day 5 - Gerecse Mountains and wine tasting in Neszmély

IBAs visited: 15
The whole Friday we will devote to Raptors and spend all the day in nature. The Gerecse Mountain is of fossil origin and despite of its small area approximately hundred bird species are nesting and living here. The variety of habitats (forests, shrublands, grasslands, agricultural areas) offer good conditions for biodiversity. If the weather is favorable, we can see and hear up to 10 raptor species within only a few hours. If everything goes well among the raptor species we will see Imperial Eagle and Saker in their natural habitats.

In the evening we will visit one of Hungary's most famous cellar the Hilltop Cellar in Neszmély, a small village not far from Tata.. The wines of this cellar won several prizes both in Hungary and abroad and in 2004 it was the "Wine-cellar of the year" and also won the "Excellent wine-cellar of Hungary" award. Upon tasting the famous Hilltop wines, you will understand why we have visited this cellar.

Day 6 - Kiskunság

IBAs visited: 22
In the morning we will drive to Kiskunság to visit the National Park. We will stay overnight in a small village of the Kiskunság. Kiskunság like Hortobágy is a big "Pusta" (steppe) with grasslands, saline lakes and in certain areas quicksand. During our morning birding we try to find Great Bustard (if we could not see this wonderful bird in Hanság). During this walk we can also see different raptor species.

In the afternoon we continue on our way to the biggest alkali lake of Hungary, called Kelemen-szék. Here we can experience a wide variety of breeding and migrating waterfowls, including unique species like Avocet, Kentish Plover, Mediterranean Gull and many goose and duck species. These birds are very rare, but we hope we can see at least one rarity species.

In late afternoon or in the evening (according to the schedule), we will see a so-called Pusta program, which usually contains an acrobatic horse-herd (Hungarian cowboy) show. Though it's quite commercialized, the clothes of the horse-herds and the horses are beautiful. After the show we will have our last dinner in a Csárda.

Day 7 -Hortobágy

IBAs visited: 33
This is our last day and we don't want to miss the most famous Hungarian landscape the Hortobágy. By far Hortobágy is the most marketed Pusta and rural environment in Hungary and it has an extensive tourism. In order to get there we get up early morning and drive to Hortobágy . In Hortobágy we will have some 3 hours and will see the most famous tourist attractions like the 9-hole bridge, the Pusta, and Hortobágy the village

After visiting the Hortobágy we will drive back to Budapest to reach the plane. We envisage to leave around noon and reach the ferry stage around 3pm.