Hungary

Hungarian culture is extremely rich in sacred values. The National Tourism Development
Strategy highlights nearly 4000 sacred places, among which 227 are deemed both religiously
and tourism-wise relevant for development. These values are located in 5 major tourist
regions: Budapest and its surroundings, Tokaj and Nyíregyháza, Balaton, Mátra-Bükk, Pécs
Villány. The highlighted values can be categorized into four groups: 1. Places of worship,
pilgrimage sites, churches, and other prayer locations.2. Monasteries, retreat locations.3.
Pilgrimage routes and thematic paths.4. Other sacred values. It is evident that these heritages
can appeal to multiple target groups, including culturally inclined tourists interested in
religious heritage, those seeking solitude and spiritual introspection, and pilgrims.
After several centuries, walking pilgrimages have been becoming popular in Hungary again:
each year hundreds of people leave towards Compostela while others walk in Hungary, on
one of the six domestic pilgrimage routes.