On Tuesdays in 2026, the Sóstó Museum Village in Nyíregyháza turns the looms back on. At the Beszterec homestead inside the open-air museum, guests can learn the basics of weaving and take their finished “masterpiece” home. The address is 4431 Nyíregyháza, Skanzen utca 8. It’s a hands-on heritage session where a small rag rug is both the goal and the keepsake.
Where and when
Workshops run on Tuesdays with multiple spring and early-summer dates. Mark the calendar for 2026.05.19., 2026.05.26., 2026.06.02., 2026.06.09., and 2026.06.16., all in Nyíregyháza. More dates are coming, suggesting an extended run through the season. The setting is the Sóstó Museum Village (Sóstói Múzeumfalu), a beloved open-air collection of traditional buildings nestled in the leafy Sóstó area, a resort zone often described as the city’s lungs thanks to its sprawling green space and bathing complex.
What you’ll learn
Weaving was long considered traditional women’s work in the rural world. Even after factory-made textiles spread, households still wove rag blankets from strips of worn-out clothing. Colorful rag-weave blankets covered oven ledges and benches, doubled as sheets or covers in the stable, and stood up to hard use. This workshop teaches the fundamentals through a small-format rag rug: the rhythm of the shuttle, how to work with varied fabric strips, and how to finish a piece that looks right at home on a bench or as a rustic accent back home. It’s old skills with modern utility—sustainability before the buzzword, turning textile leftovers into something sturdy and beautiful.
How it works
Participants get a practical introduction on traditional looms set up at the Beszterec homestead. The instruction focuses on the essentials so beginners can get weaving quickly: setting the weft with colorful strips, keeping tension consistent, and creating a balanced pattern. At the end, everyone leaves with their own small rug, the perfect souvenir from a day of living history. The museum setting helps frame how indispensable weaving once was to daily life, from clothing to household linens to those endlessly useful rag covers.
Make it a day out
Sóstógyógyfürdő, the celebrated spa-and-resort district next to the museum village, makes it easy to turn a workshop into a full escape. This is the proud showpiece of Nyíregyháza, a place to breathe, soak, and wander. Right by the beach complex, Hotel Barbizon channels a Barbizon mood in a park of 1,000 square fathoms of greenery, and it stakes a claim as the city’s most extravagant hotel. If you want an academic-adjacent base, a hotel on the University of Nyíregyháza (Nyíregyházi Egyetem) grounds offers 2–3-bed rooms, accessible rooms, family options, and queen beds, plus strong infrastructure for conferences, training sessions, and business meetups, with high-level technical rentals on hand.
Prefer rustic and close to nature? A friendly guesthouse stands 50 meters from the lake on the edge of the oak forest that separates town from the Sóstó resort. It sits right by Lake Sóstó (Sóstó) and next door to one of Europe’s most visited zoos, the Nyíregyháza Zoo (Nyíregyházi Állatpark). In the city center, the Central Hotel & Restaurant (Centrál Hotel & Étterem) is quiet yet close to everything, with 33 rooms across single, double, queen, junior suite, and suite categories. Expect a clean, elegant style and practical comforts: bath or shower, hairdryer, air conditioning, minibar, LED TV, phone, laptop safe, welcome tray, and Wi‑Fi.
There’s also a hotel at Hunyadi u. 2 in the city center, about 7 km from the M3 motorway’s Nyíregyháza South exit. It’s easy to reach by car or public transport—the city (7, 18) and long-distance buses stop right out front, and the station is 3 km away.
If you want to stay inside Sóstó’s leisure bubble, a pension sits 600 meters from the beach with a landscaped yard and secured parking, staffed 24/7. Another hotel hugs the edge of the Sóstó forest, about 3 miles from downtown, where forest-view rooms come with morning birdsong, air conditioning, minibar, coffee and tea setup, in-room safe, and smart TV with internet; doubles have showers, suites have bathtubs.
For something unforgettable, Hotel Jungle (Hotel Dzsungel) stands inside the Nyíregyháza Zoo at Sóstógyógyfürdő. Five thousand animal neighbors mean you might wake to sea lions or elephants along with the birds. Guests get free admission to the zoo, and Lake Sóstó (Sóstó) is right there. The Hotel Pagony, meanwhile, sits just beside Nyíregyháza off Route 4 inside the 136-acre Pagony Recreation and Leisure Park, calm yet convenient. And the Hunguest Hotel Sóstó connects directly to the Aquarius Adventure and Park Baths (Aquarius Élmény- és Parkfürdő), delivering high-level wellness that hotel guests can access free of charge.
Eat and unwind nearby
Sóstógyógyfürdő’s heart offers a restaurant right by the zoo, perfect after a loom session. In town, a cozy, faithful medieval-style knight’s restaurant serves up atmosphere with your meal. Bisztró de Lux brings a fine bistro sensibility and a modern vibe, with a terrace for warm days, a globe-trotting menu, and traditional Hungarian dishes reimagined; there’s an à la carte selection as well. For comfort food, a family-style spot welcomes guests with homely flavors and a private room for family, friends, or corporate events.
Craving pizza? The revamped Celentano Pizzeria turns out memorable pies, fresh grills, and tasty soups in an Italy-evoking room using original Italian recipes. For a big-city-meets-French flourish, Chloé in New York (Chloé New Yorkban) pairs gangway-style windows and exposed, anthracite-tinted elements with elegant, organic lines. The menu stays light and urban with local sensibilities, the drinks list is broad and quality-driven, and the program calendar is lively: live-music Saturdays, bar‑piano Thursdays, lounge‑club Fridays, and occasional dinner-and-stage evenings in collaboration with a theater troupe.
Whether you come for the loom or stay for the spa, Weaving Tuesdays at the Sóstó Museum Village stitch heritage into your hands—and give you a handcrafted rug to prove it.
