From Wikitravel

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

Contents 1 Understand 1.1 Demographics 1.2 History 1.3 Other general information 2 Get in 2.1 By Car 3 Get around 3.1 Public transportation 3.1.1 Schedules 3.1.2 Tickets 3.2 Maps 4 See 5 Do 6 Learn 7 Buy 8 Eat 8.1 Restaurants 8.1.1 Fish 9 Drink 10 Sleep 10.1 Budget 10.2 Mid range 10.3 Upscale 11 Get out 12 Safety

Understand

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 kms 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 most number of sunny days throught the year.

Szeged is the main city of 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

Other general information

Szeged is a very active city, partially because of its educational base. The University of Szeged offers wide range of programs including Agricultural studies, Food Engineering, Arts, Economics and Business Administration, Health Sciences, Law, Medicine, Music, Pharmacy, Life Sciences and Education. Throughout the year student 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.

Get in

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 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.

Get around

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, Forod-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: http://www.tiszavolan.hu/Schedule/Local/
  
• Schedule of buses leaving and arriving to Szeged: http://www.tiszavolan.hu/Schedule/distance/

Tickets

You will need separate 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 puchase weekly and monthly passes from various kiosks and news paper stands throughout the city. Make sure that you ask about combined passes that will allow you to travel on trams, trolley buses and buses as well. There are also discount offered for students and retired people.

• Local bus ticket and pass prices: http://www.tiszavolan.hu/Schedule/Local/?page=prices

Maps

You can use the following online street finder to find a street address in Szeged: http://www.utcakereso.hu/szeged/index.php

See

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

Do

• Like in some other Hungarian towns, Szeged also has thermal baths. The two most know are:

1. Anna fürdő - it has just been renowated and offers an amazing experience, located downtown of the city;
2. Thermálfürdő - is an older, indoor thermal bath located at the swimming pool comlex on the Újszeged side of the city.

• You can catch a play at the Szegedi Nemzeti Színház (Szeged National Theater) or in the summer months at the Open-Air Theater.
• You can enjoy the latest movies at the cinemas. The Szeged Plaza shopping complex offers multiplex style movie experience, while downtown you can watch your favorites at one of the bigger screen cinemas.

Learn

Szeged is a very active city, partially because of its educational base. The University of Szeged offers wide range of programs including Agricultural studies, Food Engineering, Arts, Economics and Business Administration, Health Sciences, Law, Medicine, Music, Pharmacy, Life Sciences and Education. Throughout the year student 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.

Buy

Szeged has two big-sized supermarkets, TESCO and CORA. Bot are easy to reach. CORA has its own bus line and TESCO can be reached by Line 2 for example. Besides of those Szeged is filled with the common mostly german small supermarkets like PLUS, LIDL and others throughout the city. Buying everyday products is much cheaper as in more western countries like France, Italy or Germany. On the other hand everything electronic like iPods and Computers are considerably costly.

Eat

Szeged is famous for its local, traditional food.

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

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

Restaurants

The quality of the food varies by restaurants.

Fish

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

1. Roosevelt Téri Halászcsárda is close to downtown, right across from the Móra Ferenc Museum at the bottom of the "old bridge";
2. Kiskörössy Halászcsárda is in the northeastern part of Szeged, right next to 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 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 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 their own fish and is known for their excellent quality fish soup. Their prices are reasonable as well.

Drink

Sleep

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 the college dorms. Most places will let you pay them in cash and stay for a few days. There are a few ot these around town and the best way to find one is probably to ask one of the younger, "student looking" natives.

• Familia Pension located in Szeged at a distance of 200 meters from the 500 years old Mátyás Church, a couple of minutes walk from Dóm square (the Votive Church) and the railroad station, in a place that can be easily accessed.

Mid range

Upscale

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

• Hotel Tisza is an older, but renovated hotel in an excellent location right downtown;
• Hotel Royal is another older, but upscale hotel in the heart of the city;
• Dóm Hotel (recommended) is a newer and offers some extra convenient services;
• Novotel is within wakling distance to downtown. It was renowated not too long ago and offers about the same quality service as the previous choices.
• Forrás Hotel is located in Újszeged, on the Tisza River's opposite side from downtown. Right at the hotel you will find an indoor thermal bath, which is open around the whole year.
• Romance Hotel 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:
  • http://www.szegediszabadteri.hu/index.php?id=961
  • http://www.szabadter.hu/index.php

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 latenight parties could cause problems, but in general this is not an issue.

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