Cultural Program

Cultural Program
Street view of Szentendre, a centuries old, beautiful town, 20 km from Budapest on the Danube river.
Tuition includes a fully-funded cultural program designed to facilitate students' engagement with CEU and the city of Budapest. The cultural program includes a walking tour of Budapest, group dinners, a weekend trip to a neighboring country, visits to nearby Hungarian towns and villages, and evenings at the theatre and opera. The program provides students with an International Student Identification Card (ISIC), which can be used to secure significant discounts throughout the region. The program manager also schedules optional hikes and outings to the Buda hills, and shares recommendations for alternative cinemas and popular music venues.

Regional Trips

The program includes a trip to one of the following Hungarian towns, transportation by boat is dependent upon the season. Past trips have included:
  • Boat trip to Szentendre, nowadays an artists’ colony, and host to the biggest outdoor museum in Hungary.
  • Boat trip to Visegrad, a charming old town, residence of Hungarian kings during the Middle Ages.
  • Boat trip to Esztergom, the first capital of Hungary and birthplace of King Saint Stephen, the first king of Hungary.
  • Trip to Gödöllö, the favored residence of Queen Elizabeth, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph, affectionately known as Sissy.
  • Boat trip to Százhalombatta, Hungary's first experimental archaeological park.

Weekend Excursions

The program includes a weekend trip to a city outside of Hungary:
  • Vienna, Bratislava, and Prague are the most popular destinations, but other attractive destinations are Zagreb and Ljubljana, Krakow, and the medieval towns Sighisoara and Sibiu. Travel is made by train, and students stay in trusted hostels. The weekend trip includes museum visits and mixture of free and guided time.
Students often travel independently to these popular destinations:
  • Northeastern Hungary – trip to Eger (known as ‘the baroque city’, the third most visited locality in Hungary) and Debrecen;
  • Western Hungary – trip to Tihany, at Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Europe, passing through the royal towns Székesfehérvár and Vezprem;
  • Southern Hungary – trip to Szeged and Pécs