Welcome in the Town of Sunshine

Whether you arrive from the neighbourhood, or from any other corner of the globe, Szeged always looks forward to receiving guests with doors wide open. The regional centre of South Great Plain, one of Hungary's nicest towns is pleased to welcome the lovers of canoeing, who join in their unconditional affection for  water.

Szeged's history has been bound with water right from the very beginning: where the rivers Tisza and Maros met, mankind settled on the sunny plain almost twenty thousand years ago, in the Palaeolithic age. On today's location the Romans established first a permanent settlement, from where they could control the salt- and gold transportation on water. The rivers meant the life to the town for long centuries: from the starting from the middle age wine-, corn- and wood trade, fishing, ship building and the connected trades ensured the living for the local people in addition to salt. Szeged received the town rank almost 760 years ago, and became an important military and public administrative centre from the 13th century. With a castle on the bank of River Tisza, enforced with military troops it grew into one of the biggest settlements of the county, and received the free Royal Town rank on 21 May 1719. Commemorating this event the Day of Szeged is celebrated every year on this very day, which is at the same time the opening event of the summer festival season.

The development was not, however, unbroken, as the floods of the blessing-bringing river tested the local people here several times. The most devastating natural disaster in Szeged's history, the Big Flood came in the night of 12 March 1879 and destroyed the town almost completely within a few hours. Only 265 houses could withstand the siege of the Tisza waves whipped by the wind out of more than five thousand houses, sixty thousand remained homeless. The tragedy shocked and moved the whole world, altogether 32 countries offered help to the rebuilding, six European capitals: Vienna, Berlin, Brussels, London, Paris and Rome offered an outstanding donation to the revival of Szeged. Remembering the noble gesture of solidarity the sections of the main road in the town are named after these cities. In the course of the rebuilding a town structure similar to Paris and Vienna was created with boulevards and avenues, which serves the increased traffic till today. As a consequence of the carefully planned buildings realized with exceptional speed 127 years ago the 'mansion downtown' was created reflecting an unmatched uniform, harmonious town look carrying the signs of eclecticism and Art Nouveau. For the value-preserving renovation of the downtown area Szeged recently received the European Nostra Award.

The magnificent environment housing nowadays more than 163,000 citizens offers several other attractions in addition to the beautiful buildings and places. The qualified thermal water of Anna Spa renovated not long ago, the youthful teeming life of the university city, the varied international sporting events, the exceptionally rich cultural offer - including the festivals, other events nearly every week of the tourist season - the Tisza fish soup offering unmatched gastronomic delight and other dishes made with the famous paprika of Szeged make the stay of all visitors coming here a real experience. Whether you arrive on the highway, by rail, on water or soon even either by air, the Town of Sunshine on River Tisza looks forward to your visit with treasures to be explored!