If your trip will include visits to both Budapest and Vienna, why not make the most of your travel time between the two cities by sampling the wine and food, as well as visiting some castles accompanied by your private guide in the regions between the two cities. Rather than taking a plane or a train from Budapest to Vienna, let us pick you up and drive you there in a private vanÂ… while stopping at a few wineries, taverns, charming small towns, and castles along the way.
Since this is a private tour, we are happy to customize it according to your interest and preferences!
Your private guide will meet you inside the lobby of your centrally located hotel in Budapest. The scheduled time is between 9-9:30am (but this can vary a bit according to the day's plan). The route will take us through Sopron in northwestern Hungary to the shallow Lake Fertő / Lake Neusiedl straddling the Austrian/Hungarian border and the UNESCO World Heritage Site landscape surrounding it, and then through the Burgenland region. This area is dotted with beautiful castles and aristocratic homes, in fact, the name Burgenland means “land of the castles”. Feel free to ask us to customize your itinerary to fit any personal preferences you have, and ask any questions that come to mind!
Here are some stops that could be included in the day:
- Two winery tours and tastings are included in the tour. We recommend including one winery in Hungary and one in Austria (so you can compare and contrast). The Sopron region (on the Hungarian side) produces mostly reds, while the Burgenland region (on the Austrian side) is AustriaÂ’s most varied wine region, producing reds, whites, and even sweet botrytized wines.
- Meals can be at a winery, a restaurant on either side of the border, or a buschenschank or a heuriger (an Austrian establishment which serves its own wine along with local, traditional food). The price of lunch is not included in the tour price.
- Lake Fertő / Lake Neusiedl, which is the second largest lake in Central Europe, is surrounded by reeds and straddles the border. During the spring and summer storks flock here and are welcomed by the residents. We can make time to visit the lake, or explore some of its surrounding villages.
- Rust is one of the most prominent villages on the lakeside, located on the western shore. You could pass an hour or an afternoon strolling its streets and popping into wineries or shops. When the storks make their annual spring arrival to Rust, updated counts of the number of pairs, babies, and singles are scrawled on chalkboards.
- Sopron is the largest town in the wine region of the same name. If you look closely, you’ll find architecture reflecting many different periods of the town’s history, such as Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque. After the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Sopron decided its own fate and the town’s residents voted to remain a part of Hungary rather than join Austria. For this reason it is known as “The Most Loyal Town.”
- Eisenstadt, one of the region’s largest cities, was the seat of the Eszterházy Hungarian noble family. Schloss Esterházy, their magnificent palace, still dominates the town. The composer Joseph Haydn lived there for a period, and is buried in the town’s Bergkirche. Eisenstadt had a significant Jewish community: the Jewish Museum, old Jewish Quarter, and Jewish cemetery can be visited.
After a day well spent tasting, exploring and sightseeing, this private tour ends with a hotel drop-off in Budapest or Vienna. Budapest - Budapest, Hungary
