Transdanubia
2 days / 1 night
Accommodation: Crocus Gere Wine Hotel ****
Catering: full board (breakfast, lunch, dinner in the hotel and different restaurants of Villány’s surroundings)
Crocus Gere Bor (Wine) Hotel ****
About the hotel
The hotel can be found in the centre of the Villány wine region, southwards from Pécs. It offers a great combination of spa facilities and the world of fine wines. The hotel’s air-conditioned, elegantly furnished rooms invite the guests to enjoy peaceful nights. The hotel features an indoor swimming pool, jacuzzis and a sauna and provides a wide range of massages and other wellness treatments including Vinotherapy.
Program
We would like to guide you through the ancient Villány wine region in the southern most part of Hungary, one of Hungary's premier wine regions where some of the best Hungarian red wines are produced today. Here can be found the first wine route of Hungary, the Villány-Siklós Wine Route, constituting part of the most scenic wine tours. During our 2-day program you can visit the world famous, historical attractions of Pécs, see picturesque vineyards, taste the region’s best wines, enjoy wellness services, the hospitality of the local people and can see the castle of Siklós, and a simple, rural homestead of Mátty.
Short Itinerary
1st day
- 3-hour Pécs sightseeing including the city’s main sights, like the Cathedral, Turkish Djami and Barbican gate tower
- 3-course lunch in a traditional Hungarian restaurant in Pécs
- visiting the Gere Winery’s vineyards and centuries-old wine cellar including wine tasting and candlelit dinner
- wellness by night
2nd day
- visiting the historical town centre, monuments and castle of Siklós
- experiencing the rural milieu in Mátty by visiting the homestead with its thatched farm house and animals, taking a pleasant horse carriage trip in picturesque environment and having a traditional, Hungarian, 3-course lunch
- travelling back to Budapest
Program Description
1st day
1. Stop: Pécs
Leaving Budapest we will travel toward the sunny, southern part of Hungary, the so-called Southern Transdanubia region, the southernmost part of the former Roman province of Pannonia. We will travel by varied landscapes of untouched vast forests, wide plains and valleys tucked away behind gentle slopes. After 2 hours exciting journey across hills and valleys we first reach the 5th biggest city of Hungary called Pécs, located on the slopes of the Mecsek Mountains, close to the border with Croatia. The 2000 year old city has been inhabited since the period of the Roman Empire. It's antique Christian thumbs have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The city's motto is: "The Borderless City". With its mediaeval monuments, meandering cabled stoned streets and baroque houses it has a real Mediterranean atmosphere with many cafés, restaurants that await their guests with open terraces from March until October. In order to get know to the sights, our guide will invite you for a wonderful walk in the old town, with some of the mayor attractions, like the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul, one of the most important historical heritages of the town, buildings from the turkish occupacy, minaret, a magnificent Turkish Djami built in the 16th century, Barbican, a round Gothic-style gate tower, erected in the first half of the 15th century and public buildings and statues decorated with Zsolnay Porcelain.
After the historical sightseeing our guide will take you for lunch in the downtown.
2. Stop: Villány
The next stop is at the city of Villány, centre of the great Villány wine region, Hungary's first-class red-wine producing areas. Situated upon the southern and eastern slopes of the Villány Mountains, the terraced surface of the mountain offers an ideal morphology to the efficient viticulture. The mass of the Villány Mountains protects the vineyards from the northern cold climatic influence, resulting in a special sub-Mediterranean microclimate. There is also a protected natural park here: 240 million years old fossils of animals and ammonites had been discovered in the former limestone quarry.
Having discovered the fertility of this land the Romans were first to plant grape here. Many well-known wines are made from the grapes basked in sun in the vineyards on the plateaus slopes. The red wines, for which the Villány is famous, are the Blue-Oporto, Blue-Frankish, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and the Merlot. Here you can see famous vineyards and visit one of Hungary's top wine makers, the Gere Winery and taste its wines.
Arriving to Villány, firstly we will visit the Gere Winery’s vineyards with picturesque slopes and we will get acquainted with the winery’s viniculture philosophy and wine-production. Then we will invite you in the winery’s traditional, centuries-old cellar, where you will hear about the wine regions and the winery’s history, winemaking traditions, can taste splendid wines, have a fine dinner and spend a memorable time in joyful, rural atmosphere.
After the dinner you can enjoy the four-star Crocus Gere Bor(Wine) Hotel’s wellness services.
2nd day
1. Stop: Siklós
After a rich breakfast in the hotel, we will departure to a charming town with the best preserved border fortress of the country, Siklós. It offers for its visitors a large number of monuments and sights, atmospheric streets that show a picturesque combination of the ancient past and the promising future. We will visit the Siklós Fortress, which has become symbol of the town, and the other main outstanding sight in the town, the Turkish Djami from the 16th century.
The border fortress guarding the plain of the Dráva River is one of the best preserved fortress castles of Hungary. In the territory of the present Siklós a military base called Serena was established in the Roman Era. The first mention of the fortress is in a document of 1190. The first official documentation proving the existence of Siklós dates back to 1294, from this time on it was the residence and the centre of the domains of the most significant families of the Hungarian history. During the Ottoman occupation the Turks used the castle as a fortress. On the outskirts of the town they built mosques, the most splendid of which was the Djami of Malkoch Bey, surrounded by a rose garden. The terrace of the bastion of the 18th century fortress, still in its original shape, offers a beautiful panorama over Siklós and the nearby vineyards.
2. Stop: Mátty
We will continue our trip to Mátty, to experience the rural milieu of a traditional, Hungarian farm. The homestead with its thatched farm house recalling the 19th century’s atmosphere is located in the wonderful environment of the Duna-Dráva National Park, in the neighbourhood of the Mátty Fishing Lake. Here we can get insight the homestead’s everyday life, see the farm’s animals, take a pleasant horse carriage trip in picturesque environment and have a traditional, Hungarian, 3-course lunch.
After the programs we will travel back to Budapest.
Accommodation Description
Crocus Gere Bor (Wine) Hotel ****
Hotel
The Crocus Gere Bor Hotel Wine Spa can be found in the centre of the Villány wine region and offers a great combination of spa facilities and the world of fine wines.
Villány is situated southwards from Pécs, approximately 30 km, being one of the most famous wine-districts in Hungary. Its vine-lands and also the village itself are protected by the long-stretching mountains of Villány.
Attila Gere and his family belong to the most renowned wine makers of the area.
Rooms
The elegantly furnished rooms invite the guests to enjoy peaceful nights.
Rooms include:
- Wake Up Service/Alarm Clock
- Safety Deposit Box
- Air Conditioning
- Mini bar
- Hairdryer
- Satellite TV
- Bath or Shower
- Wi-Fi
Services:
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Gastronomy
In the restaurant guests can taste delicious Hungarian cuisine accompanied by highest-quality wines from the Villány region. Vegetarian meals are also available.
Wellness
The Crocus Hotel Wine Spa features an indoor swimming pool, jacuzzis and a sauna and provides a wide range of massages and other wellness treatments including Vinotherapy.