Eger is a baroque wine town built around a fortress that became Hungary's most famous act of defiance, with an Ottoman minaret, a neoclassical basilica, and a valley of cellars serving Bull's Blood a short walk from the center.
Mid-October, when the harvest is in, the cellars are busiest in the best way, and the trees along the Eger stream turn while the afternoons are still warm enough to sit outside.
Eat in a csárda in Szépasszony-völgy rather than on the main square: goulash or paprika chicken with nokedli, ordered alongside a glass of the cellar's own Bikavér, costs about half what the tourist tables charge.
Stay within a few blocks of Dobó István Square, which puts the castle, the basilica, and the walk out to the wine valley all within fifteen minutes on foot.
Do the minaret before lunch. The staircase is a single-file spiral with no passing room, so a queue on the steps means waiting inside the shaft rather than out in the square.
Read more in Eger Travel Guide: Castle, Ottoman Minaret & Bull's Blood Wine.
