Best time to visit Hungary

Most visitors come in the summer, generally regarded as the best time to visit Hungary, when nine or ten hours of sunshine can be relied on most days, sometimes interspersed with short, violent storms. The humidity that causes these is really only uncomfortable in Budapest, where the crowds don’t help; elsewhere the climate is agreeable. Budapest, with its spring and autumn festivals, sights and culinary delights, is a standing invitation to come out of season. But other parts of Hungary have little to offer during the winter, and the weather doesn’t become appealing until late spring. May, warm but showery, is the time to see the Danube Bend, Tihany or Sopron before everyone else arrives; June is hotter and drier, a pattern reinforced throughout July, August and September. There’s little variation in temperatures across the country: the Great Plain is drier, and the highlands are wetter, during summer, but that’s about as far as climatic changes go. The number of tourists varies more – popular areas such as Szentendre and Tihany can be mobbed in summer, but rural areas receive few visitors, even during the high season.