10 Things To Do In Szombathely, Hungary

Due to its famous Roman legacy, the whole city turns into a giant stage for a Roman carnival each year. This big event takes place usually at the end of August for four to five days. The weather is rarely unpropitious and people can enjoy the warmth of summer sunbeams wearing a toga. Lots of thematic program and craft activities ensure the boredom to be expelled. Don’t worry, if you miss this special event in August, you can still sense the presence of Romans if you attend to the store-exhibition which displays the war tools of Legio XV.

Contact for Carnival: phone +36 94 510 160

Savaria Legio store-exhibition: open Tues-Fri 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Address & telephone: Aréna street 8 Szombathely, Hungary, +36 94 510 160

As Vas county’s capital, Szombathely offers many great restaurants and cozy, homey places to have a stodgy meal or a fun night out. The area is full of quality food, and more and more restaurants are increasingly using produce from local farmers. You really can’t go wrong whichever place you choose.

You might think that this town has gone mad by highlighting its Roman heritage everywhere, but what can the inhabitants do if they keep bumping into Roman shrines and ancient merchant roads? Iseum, the former shrine built for the goddess Isis, is now extraordinarily renovated and provides a peculiar, eerily beautiful open air place for operas and plays during the summer. In the Ruin Garden, there are still the traces of a sanctuary for Mercurius and an eight-angled bath as well as the cobbles of the Amber Road which once sliced through whole Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean.

Iseum address: II. Rákóczi Ferenc street 6-8 Szombathely, Hungary phone +36 94 501 709

Open: Sun-Tues closed, Wed-Sat 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Ruin garden address: Mindszenty square 1 Szombathely, Hungary phone +36 94 313 369

Open: 1st March-30th November Tues-Sat 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sun-Mon closed