Open-Air Theater

The Open-Air Theater [5] is a major even in Szeged in every year. The Dóm square is transformed into a large outdoors theater and people from all over the contry come here to see the plays. They usually have a good selection of operas and musicals. Sometimes tickets can be difficult to get, because they tend to sell out fast to popular shows. Tips: Tickets are not very cheap. But if you are on a limited budget, you can purchase tickets for a lower price and after the show has started you can move to a better (empty) seats.

Festivals

There are several events taking place in Szeged during the summer. The best way to find out about their times is from the free local magazine (called "Szegedi Est") that you can find in most restaurants, bars, clubs and cinemas.

• Wine Festival
• Beer Festival
• Days of Szeged

Movies, theaters

Theaters

There are two main theaters in Szeged [6]. One the main one is located close to the museum, near to the bridge in downtown. The smaller theater is also near-by, located a just few blocks from there.

Movies

• Belvárosi Mozi [7]: a traditional, old, large movie theater. It has recently been upgraded and now also offers 3D movies. It is located near the museum, next to the main theater.
• Cinemacity [8]: located in the Szeged Pláza [9] shopping mall.

Clubs

Szeged is a University town and it has a very active night life throughout the school year. The high school and college crowd gets mixed up at most places, although some clubs try to target specific age groups with their events.

Most places have entrance fees, but offer discounts if you have a student ID. Regular fees are around 500-1000 Forints depending on the day of the week, the place and the event.

Parties are advertised to start early at night, but the crowd doesn't start to gather really until about midnight or 1AM (!!!) and usually party until the morning. This is true even on weekdays (for example Wednesday is a very big party night). Many times people meet at local pubs for a drink and talks before hitting these places.

1. GinTonic [10] - This is a club in the basement of the older Tisza Hotel in downtown Szeged. It has dance nights every Friday. It is in the same block as Retro, but on the other side of the building. This is a highly popular party place among foreign students who study in the city. They usually play the latest popular dance songs. The entrance fee is about 800 Forints.
2. JATE Klub [11] - This is one of the popular university clubs that is open during the day as well as at night. There is a large bar section and several dance floors with different types of music. Concerts and other cultural events are also common here. If the evening appears to be slow, the crowd might go over to the SZOTE Klub (which is true vice-versa). The high school and college crowd blends really well in this place. They play all types of music from alternative through the latest popular dance songs to older hungarian favorites. Sometimes they collect entrance fees, but you can get in without a fee if you get there earlier.
3. Retro [12] - this is a newer coffee house, that turns into a dance club at night. Dance nights are held on Fridays and Saturdays. The place mostly attracts graduates, late 20s and above. They like to play songs from the 80s, 90s and of course today's hits. Entrance fee is around 1000 Forints.
4. Sing-Sing [13] - this is one of the largest dance clubs in Southern Hungary. It is located right next to Szeged's main bus station and farmer's market. This club usually attracts the younger high-school crowd (their average age is probably around 20). It is well known for its semi-monhtly nude (both male and female) dance shows, concerts with invited guests and teen parties. They usually play the latest dance hits.
5. SZOTE Klub [14] - It is the same type of university club as JATE located by the Votive church, on the opposite side from the main library. The main party nights are: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Majority of people partying here are in their 20s. Don't expect many people showing up before 1-1:30AM! They play the latest dance hits, with a mix of the 80s and 90s. Entrance fee is 700 Forints, but they have student discounts as well.

If you would like to get a sense of some of the parties, you can visit PartyPont.hu [15], which posts images of some of the parties in town.

Baths, pools

Like some other Hungarian towns, Szeged also has thermal baths. The two best known are:

1. Anna fürdő [16] - it has just been renovated and offers an amazing experience, located downtown of the city. The bath has two sections, which offer various natural, thermal water based pools, spas, saunas.
   The younger (mainly 20-30s) crowd enjoys visiting the bath's Night Swimming events every Monday, Wednesday, Friday night between 9-12PM. The entry fees are half-priced for these events (currenlty about 900 Forints, or about 4-5 Euros).
2. Thermálfürdő [17] - is an older, indoor thermal bath located at the swimming pool complex on the Újszeged side of the city.

Other things to do

• Gentleman's Club - there is one gentleman's club in town called Zsiráf. It is on Furj Str. near the Greek restaurant.

• Kárász street - main street, downtown
• Tisza river
• Dóm square, and the Votive church
• Ferenc Mora Museum - works by Hungarian painters like;Munckacsy,Istvan Csok,Rudnay,Josef Rippl-Ronai and Szeged Synagogue

By car

If you are flying to Hungary, you will most likely be arriving to the Ferihegy International Airport in Budapest and you will want to take the M5 highway South to Szeged. The M5 highway has just been completed (end of 2005) to reach Szeged, and it will take from about an hour and half to two hours to drive from the airport.
You will need to get a get a sticker for your car in order to drive on the highway, which you can buy at any gas station (ask for "matrica").

By train

It takes about 2 hours to travel by train from Budapest Nyugati to Szeged. These trains also stop at Kőbánya-Kispest, which is easily accessible from Ferihegy Airport, meaning it isn't necessary to travel into the centre of Budapest.

Szeged lies on the banks of Tisza river. The western side is generally referred to as "Szeged", while the newer eastern side is called "Új-szeged" ("New Szeged").

There are further parts of the city, which you can think of as districts (although they do not work as districts): Belváros (the center of the city, downtown), Alsóváros, Móraváros, Rókus, Újrókus, Fölsőváros, Tarján, Fodor-kert, Petőfi-telep, Makkosház, Baktó, Tápé, Újszeged, Odessza, Marostői kiskertek, Klebelsberg telep, Kecskés István telep, Iparváros, Béke-telep, Baktó.

Public transportation

For the size of the city, Szeged has a really good public transportation network. Within the city you can get around by cabs (taxi), trams (villamos), trolley buses (trolibusz) or autobus (autóbusz). If you wish to use these types of public transportation, you will need to find out about their routes, stops and schedules. During the work week, in the busy hours, within the city, most public transportation vehicles will leave every 10-15 minutes.

Schedules

• Schedule of buses within Szeged: [1]
• Schedule of buses leaving and arriving to Szeged: [2]
• Schedule of trolley buses and trams: [3]

Tickets

Ther's no difference in the tickets for the different types of transportation methods. You can usually purchase tickets from the driver, for which you will always have to get on the vehicle using the frontmost door. You can also purchase weekly and monthly passes as well as single-trip tickets from various kiosks and newspaper stands throughout the city. These passes will be valid for all 3 types of public transportation,so you can travel by trams, trolley buses and buses as well. There are also discounts offered to students and seniors.

• Local bus ticket and pass prices: [4]

Taxi

There are a few taxi services in the city. You can call and "order" one to your location. The drivers may not speak English, but should be able to get you where you want to go. Trips usually cost somewhere between 1-2000 Forints within the city.

• Szeged Taxi: (62) 333-333
• Tele-4 Taxi: (62) 444-444
• Gábriel Taxi: (62) 555-555

Szeged has two big-sized supermarkets, Tesco and Cora. Both are easy to reach. Cora has its own bus line,Tesco (Rókusi blvd.) can be reached by Line 2 and the other Tesco,in Móraváros can be reached by line 4. In addition, there are many regular supermarkets, such as Plus, Lidl and others, throughout the city. Most of them belong to German supermarket chains. Buying everyday products (especially groceries) could be cheaper than in other European countries like France, Italy or Germany. Most electronic equipment like iPods and computers are, however, considerably more costly here.

Szeged is famous for its local, traditional food.

The most famous of all is probably the Fisherman's soup (Halászlé), which is made from various freshwater fish using lots of paprika (this is not necessarily spicy, but you can definitely order it that way).

Szeged is also known for its good quality sausage and salami. Pick is Szeged's own brand, which is also exported to various countries around the world. Make sure that you try the famous "Pick salami". You can buy these products at most local grocery stores and smaller, family owned 24/7 stores.

If you are looking for international food, just check the local grocery stores. You shouldn't have too much problem finding anything from around the World. Even Americans can find their favorite Cream Cheese and Peanut Butter/Jelly if they look around...

Restaurants

The quality of the food varies by restaurants, but is good in general. Meats and cheese can be found at most places, and they are often breaded and fried. If you go to a standard restaurant, the portions will be generous and more than enough to feed an adult. There are a few restaurants (Gőry [20]), which serve extra large portions of food, which are almost impossible to eat all at once.

In the downtown (Tisza Lajos krt. 76.) there is also a vegetarian restaurant [21] serving traditional Indian and Hungarian dishes as well.

Fast Food

There are lots of fast food places in the city. The most popular ones are local pizza restaurants, which are all around town. Some of them, which are open until the morning hours, are popular gathering places for the late night crowd. Of course, the international fast food chains are also present (Burger King, McDonald's, etc.), they are popular mostly among younger people. Compared to the local fast food places, these chains offer smaller portions for higher prices.

• Burger King - at the Nagyaruhaz mall in the center of town.
• McDonald's - on the main walking street, Kárász street and in the Rókusi boulevard.
• Subway - ain't got no subway no more. they got some nasty sandwich shop where subway used to be. and the pictures for the sandwiches arent like the old subway glamour shots. these pictures make you want to THROW UP.

Traditional Szeged-style fish restaurants

The traditional fisherman's restaurants are a great choice for visitors. Locals also visit these on a regular basis because of their excellent fish soup and wide selection of good other food. There are three main fishmerman's restaurants in town.

1. Roosevelt Téri Halászcsárda [22] is close to downtown, right across from the Móra Ferenc Museum by the bridgehead of the "old bridge";
2. Kiskörössy Halászcsárda [23] is in the northeastern part of Szeged, on the bank of the Tisza River. This is an excellent choice in the warmer months, because you can enjoy your meal next to the river and quite often they will also have musicians perform traditional Hungarian folkmusic or Gypsy music for the guests. You'd probably want to catch a cab to get to this restaurant, and then use another cab to get back to your hotel.
3. Fehértói Halászcsárda [24] is outside the city, next to the old E5 highway going towards Budapest. You can ask a cab to drop you off here and they can also bring you back. This restaurant breeds its own fish and is known for its excellent fish soup. Their prices are reasonable as well.

Other restaurants

1. Alabárdos is on Oskola str., near John Bull Pub. They have a nice restaurant section and a separate section just for grabbing a beer or tasting wine. Food is good. Prices: higher than usual
2. Gőry Pince & Terasz [25] is the place with a huge food selection and even bigger portions. Many just order half portions. Food is excellent. Prices: higher than usual
3. John Bull Pub [26] is located downtow, about 50 meters from the Virág Cukrászda. Great place to grab a beer with clients or friends, and can be an excellent choice for a romantic dinner. They have a big menu, with a good selection. Prices: high
4. BOCI Tejivo [27] Small canteen that provides a variety of fast food under 500 HUF. Open 24 hours a day and also provide free wifi. Located next to a bar. Prices: low

Pastries, cookies

Hungary has very good home made style pastries and cookies. Szeged has a few bakeries around town that have excellent food selection. Ordering is quite simple, since most of the baked goods are displayed behind a glass window. They are usually freshly baked. Just point and pick what your eyes like and enjoy. Some of the more popular pastry shops around town:

• Hatos Rétes -
• Palánk -
• Virág Cukrászda -
• Z. Nagy Cukrászda -
• A Capella -

Coffee Shops

Coffee Shops have become very popular among students. There are quite a few in town, where the younger crowd likes to meet up to study and/or talk.