"6 Months In Szekesfehervar" a Szekesfehervar Travel Page by Mitre

After my intial period staying in a Panzio in Veszprem, I eventually moved on to an apartment in the bigger town of Szekesfehervar. Initially I had problems in the pronunciation of the place (say-kesh-fe-herr-var) but got the hang of it after a while.

Fehervar is a town of around 100000 people and is an industrial centre. Driving into it from any direction you are greeted with concrete tower blocks. But the city is not all grey and industrial at all. In fact the centre (Belvaros) is very nice. The main street (Fo Utca) is a cobble pedestrian zone and has some shops, cafes and restaurants. Around this area there is the large St.Stephens church which dominates the skyline. Further up there is the town hall & pretty town square where in the summer they hold open air concerts. There are also some ancient ruins here where are fenced off and you can view from the pavement.

There was certainly more people around in Fehervar than Veszprem and it had more shops and Western places like Pizza Hut and McDonalds. Despite this I still prefered Veszprem as it was more medieval looking. Fehervar is generally newer (apparently it suffered badly during the war) and a lot more spread out.

Due to its close proximity to Budapest, I was not out socially much here. Its a nice enough town but I would not go out of my way to visit. A half day maximum and you should be able to cover all the sights. Lake Valence is also close by and is worth a visit but it is no where near as nice as Balaton.