A Weekend In Pécs, Hungary’s Culture-Packed City In The Southwest

City of Museums, University City, Gate of the Balkans – Pécs has many monikers. Hungary’s fifth largest city, which spends much of the year basking in sunlight from the south-facing perches of the Mecsek mountain, offers plenty for a visitor. And thanks to a large and well-heeled foreign student population – mostly from Germany and Scandinavia – there are more excellent cafés, bars and restaurants here than in other Hungarian cities of comparable size (150,000). Pécs is located about two hours from Budapest by car, a little bit more by train.

FRIDAY

12 p.m. Zsolnay Quarter, a beautifully revived ceramics factory with plenty to do

The east side of Pécs is still anchored by a huge cluster of brick industrial buildings, once home to the Zsolnay ceramics factory. At its peak, Zsolnay employed a thousand people and produced household and building decorations and fireplaces across Austria-Hungary, from Transylvania all the way to Vienna. The company’s finest period was during the Art Nouveau when an army of architects and interior designers, including Ödön Lechner, Hungary’s Art Nouveau master, and Max Fabiani, the great exponent of the Viennese Secession, relied on Zsolnay’s eye-catching ceramics.

With WWI and the advent of decor-free modern architecture, Zsolnay's performance nosedived and – through Communism (1947-1989) and many ownership changes – it never fully recovered. In 2010, the dilapidated plant and the Zsolnay family’s once lavish residential quarters were restored and transformed into the Zsolnay Quarter, a massive cultural hub of museums, craft shops, and art colleges (confusingly, there’s also a Zsolnay Museum in Pécs’s downtown, unrelated to the Zsolnay Quarter).

The highlight of the Zsolnay Quarter is the Gyugyi Collection which comprises upscale and rare Zsolnay household products that the Hungarian-American collector, László Gyugyi, bequeathed to the city of Pécs. Through astonishing vases, bowls, and statuettes, one can trace the company’s evolution from historicism to the Art Nouveau. I recommend that you not miss the Pink Zsolnay exhibition – more than a thousand pieces of gorgeous pink-only Zsolnays – which was another private collection donated (back) to Pécs.

There's a high-end glove manufacturer (1861) on site where visitors can learn about Pécs’s long tradition of glove-making, observe the production process, and buy the gloves. Excellent contemporary art exhibitions are usually held inside m21 gallery. There are two cafes on the premises: Escargot is nicer, Room more casual. A few stores line the northern side of the campus, including a chocolate maker. Fans of Zsolnay could also visit the exhibition about the family and their nearby funerary monument.

3 p.m. Lunch with locals, city museum, pastries and shopping

Time to head to the city center for an immersive local lunch experience. Off Király utca, the main pedestrian street, hides István Pince, an old-school, below-ground bar and restaurant. You will share the weathered, wood-paneled interior with local intellectuals, alcoholics, and students. The bean goulash is notoriously tasty and they serve affordable daily lunch specials. You could follow others around you and pair your meal with a fröccs, the local wine spritzer.

Named after the great 15th-century Renaissance poet, the Janus Pannonius Museum complex manages most of Pécs's museums. Their visitor center on the main square has recently opened a permanent collection, Genius Loci, about the history of Pécs that is worth seeing. The building's courtyard contains an inviting garden cafe, Irem kertje. Next destination: Jókai Cukrászda, a pastry shop with delicious classics such as Esterházy torte and isler cookie.

8 p.m. Dinner at a wine bar, then more drinks

For dinner, try Eleven, a chic wine bar with a wide selection of local options and an informed staff. Pécs itself is a small winegrowing region although it is less known than nearby Villány and Szekszárd. The menu comprises tasty specials and various cheese and meat platters (Eleven doubles as a wine store, so one can pick up a few extra bottles). Pécs’s commercial and nightlife centers on Király utca: Nappali bar is always lively with a diverse crowd and regular concerts.

SATURDAY

10 a.m. Immerse yourself in Pécs’s museums

Start the day with breakfast at Reggeli or pick up delicious pastries at Orma, both on Király utca, then head to what’s known as Museum Street – officially Káptalan utca – conveniently home to most exhibitions. In fact, Pécs offers more culture per square meter than any other city in Hungary.

The Modern Magyar Képtár has a jaw-dropping permanent collection of modern Hungarian paintings presented on three levels, ranging from the impressionist Nagybánya Colony to the present day. Only Budapest’s National Gallery can rival it. I'm partial to the alluring post-impressionism of József Rippl-Rónai; to the fauvism of Csaba Vilmos Perlrott who was a student of Matisse; to the avant-garde works of Károly Hopp-Halász; to the minimalism of the Pécs-based Ilona Keserü; and to the sculptures of Amerigo Tot. Also here: works by Marcel Breuer, the world-famous architect and furniture designer who grew up in Pécs and initially aspired to be a painter.

Can you name an internationally famous Hungarian painter? It's not easy. Apart from Mihály Munkácsy, it was the Pécs-born Victor Vasarely who enjoyed sustained global fame. Alongside Bridget Riley, Vasarely was a pioneer of the Op Art movement, a form of minimalism in the 1960s and 1970s that relied on optical illusions and spatial tricks. The roots of Vasarely’s works go back to the Bauhaus-type Budapest art school he attended before moving to Paris in 1930. Pécs's Vasarely Museum features an impressive collection from across his lifetime.

One more picture gallery before breaking for lunch. Walk around the corner to the Csontváry Museum featuring paintings by Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry (1853-1919), a lonely, mad genius often regarded as the greatest painter of Hungary. He was a pharmacist and didn’t start painting until age 41, when, prompted by a vision, he set out to travel the world and fulfill his mission to “surpass even Raphael.” His works – enormous in size and made in the decade between 1898 and 1909 – show symbolic scenes painted with bright colors and strong contours.

Csontváry was evidently aware of the stylistic developments in Europe but didn’t have an obvious inspiration; his naive and expressionist strains show parallels with Henri Rousseau. Much to the envy of Budapest art lovers, the Csontváry Museum in Pécs holds many of his greatest works such as the Siratófal (The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem; 1904) and the Magányos cédrus (The Lonely Cedar; 1907).

1 p.m. Lunch & coffee

Enjoy a well-deserved lunch at Balkán Bisztró with a plate of pljeskavica or cevapi. These grilled meat-heavy Balkan dishes with a side of ajvar and flatbread are a fitting meal in Pécs, which is near the Croatian and Serbian borders. Another option is Blöff Bisztró, an all-around trendy and solid place near the main square. For excellent coffee, stroll over to Pécsi Kávé, hiding within a nondescript interior courtyard off the main square.

3 p.m. Ottoman remains & (post)modern architecture

Pécs was a favorite of the Ottoman leadership during Hungary’s century-and-a-half-long occupation, because it lay inland, away from the battle lines. Today, only two of the eleven mosques still stand, because most were destroyed after the allied European army recaptured the city in 1686. The Yakovalı Hasan Mosque has even retained its minaret, while that of Pasha Qasim, still anchoring Pécs’s main square, was (re)converted into a Roman Catholic church. The fusion of 16th-century Ottoman architecture and 1930s modernism complete with Novecento frescoes create a rare and fascinating stylistic eclecticism that is more than worth the admission ticket.

Time for modern buildings! In the 1920s, many students from Pécs attended the Bauhaus, the experimental art school in Germany; most famous of them is Marcel Breuer, but he has no building in town, only the painting at the Képtár mentioned above, a memorial plaque on the house where he was born, and a short street named after him. There’s an elegant modernist apartment building at 9-11 József utca designed by Alfréd Forbát, the Pécs-born architect who practiced together with Bauhaus Director Walter Gropius.

If this type of stuff gets you going, be sure to hike up to the modernist villas hidden on Pécs's hillside: the Bálványosi Villa (Kaposvári út 17), also by Forbát, is a sort of Tugendhat Villa of Pécs near to which stands the strangely adorable Kallivoda Villa (Surányi Miklós út 18) designed by Farkas Molnár, another Bauhaus student from Pécs who later became Hungary's leading modernist.

Pécs is also the center of postmodern architecture in Hungary: weird and playful buildings from the 1980s and 1990s adorned with overblown historical shapes, harsh colors, and intentionally distorted facades and spatial layouts. Local architect Sándor Dévényi was the master of these as a glance at two of his especially ebullient works will manifest: Római Udvar (13 Jókai utca) and Munkácsy Udvar (9 Munkácsy Mihály utca).

5 p.m. Drinks & art gallery

Take a breather at Partisan, a hip specialty cafe and bar also serving tasty grilled sandwiches and cakes. Then drop in to Nádor Galéria next door, located on the ground floor of a striking Art Nouveau building. The large exhibition space is dedicated to the works of young local artists.

8 p.m. Dinner and drinks

Part bakery, part restaurant, Pécs’s most upscale and expensive dining establishment is Morzsa. The sleek interior exudes Scandinavian vibes, almost comically so, while the menu is a mishmash of small plates such as duck cracklings, long-aged pork loin, mushroom paprikash, and fried carp. The wines, as you might have guessed, lean toward natural producers. After your meal, for a change of pace, check out Szabadkikötő, a free-spirited bar favored by local alternatives just down the street.

SUNDAY

9 a.m. Breakfast, a stunning church, Roman-era remains

Pécs was one of the original ten archdioceses established by Hungary's first king, the canonized Stephen. Today a group of stunning historic buildings ring the Archbishop's Palace where the old castle once stood. The former grain storage facility contains Magtár Café, a good place to start the day with breakfast pastries and coffee.

Pécs's giant cathedral counts among the great Revival buildings of Central Europe; it was the Vienna-based German star architect, Friedrich von Schmidt, who reimagined what Pécs's original Romanesque church might have looked like. Its scale and richness of detail – including the side altars and the crypt – speak to the golden period of Austria-Hungary when such commissions were undertaken. The admission ticket includes access to one of the panoramic church towers.

Near the cathedral lie an underground system of early-Christian burial chambers complete with ornate sarcophagi and wall paintings. They date from the 4th century A.D., when Pécs, called Sopianae then, was capital of the Roman province, Pannonia Valeria. Today, these remains are part of Unesco’s World Heritage List.

12 p.m. Holocaust memorial at the Jewish cemetery

Before the Holocaust, Pécs had a thriving Jewish community that accounted for five percent of the population. They included many middle class professionals – doctors and lawyers, for example – and successful businessmen who founded some of Pécs's iconic companies (Pécsi Sör, for example, the city's famous brewery). As in the rest of the Hungarian countryside, the entire Jewish population of Pécs was deported in 1944 to Auschwitz where most of them were killed. The neglected Jewish cemetery, a ten-minute drive from the city center, features a poignant Holocaust memorial designed by the city’s own Alfréd Forbát. The congregation is tiny, but Pécs's wonderful synagogue still functions as such.

1 p.m. Farewell lunch

Finish your trip on a high note with a delicious lunch. A good option is Hosszú tányér in the nearby village of Hosszúhetény. It is a farm-to-table tasting menu restaurant with seasonally changing dishes. During my visit, I had tender pike-perch (fogas) followed by lamb chop with a side of plum-filled dumplings (szilvásgombóc). The wines are also sourced from the village. Alternatively, if you are taking a train back from Pécs, try Pizzeria D&D Capriciosa, which, despite its name, specializes in cevapi platters. It is unpretentious restaurant right by the train station.