Belváros, or the Old Town of Szentendre, is like stepping into a different tempo of Hungarian life—one where cobblestones slow your stride, pastel facades catch the shifting river light, and there’s always a surprise around the next corner. Wandering through these tangled streets, you’re never really lost. The town seems to gently guide you, sometimes towards the sloping bank of the Danube, sometimes into the welcoming arms of a shaded square. For centuries, Szentendre’s Old Town has been the setting for new arrivals and old traditions—a place where stories spill from every brick.
What’s immediately striking about Belváros is the air of creative camaraderie. Since the early 20th century, Szentendre has been Hungary’s unofficial artists’ village, and that legacy is lushly alive today. Peek inside whitewashed doorways and you’ll discover working studios: glassblowers, potters, painters, and textile makers, many descendants of the famed artists’ colony first gathered here by Károly Ferenczy in the early 1900s. Their workshops and galleries aren’t staid museum rooms. The art here brims with the energy of a river town open to the world, with joyful palettes and Slavic motifs echoing the town’s Serbian roots—a nod to the waves of settlers who came fleeing Ottoman rule in the 17th century.
Those same histories are written into the buildings and the labyrinth of alleys spiraling off of Fő tér, the central square that locals affectionately call the town’s “living living room.” Here, café tables crowd cobblestone, and you’re likely to overhear as much Serbian or Slovak as you do Hungarian. The 18th-century Blagovestenska church dominates one side of the square, its onion dome a colorful punctuation mark above the low roofs. Look up at the belltower and you’ll spot traces of Orthodox iconography, a sign of the multicultural mingling that has defined Szentendre for centuries. On festival days, the square is raucous with folk dances and local produce markets, but on weekday mornings it’s the gentle domain of old men reading newspapers and children licking ice cream cones from a nearby cukrászda.
Beyond the bustle of the square, take a moment for a slow meander along the Danube promenade. The riverbank is lined with willows and wooden docks, almost always dotted with families, painters capturing the changing light, or couples clutching cones of the town’s much-lauded lavender ice cream (which, let’s be clear, is worth lining up for). If you’re a fan of wandering with purpose, the promenade leads to the marzipan museum, a curiously delightful oddity where you’ll see everything from ornate wedding cakes to lifelike busts—all crafted from almonds and sugar by the dedicated Szabó family since 1994.
Venture up the winding stairs to the Roman Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist, perched above the old town. From this hilltop vantage, all of Szentendre stretches before you—the russet rooftops, the complex patchwork of courtyards and gardens, and the peaceful blue sweep of the river. The church itself is a reminder of the town’s medieval roots; it was first documented in 1241, a turbulent year when Mongol raiders swept through Hungary, but it has stood its ground ever since, rebuilt and reimagined by every generation that followed.
What’s most refreshing about Belváros is how it defies neat definition. It’s quirky but not over-curated, full of memory but always changing. You might start your day at a crumbling old bookstore, lose time in an avant-garde gallery, and still find yourself, as dusk falls, sipping fröccs beside the river, the spires of half a dozen ancient churches glowing in the sunset. Yes, it’s home to more museums than you could reasonably see in a weekend—the Szentendre Art Mill, the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, the Serbian Orthodox Museum—but there’s no checklist or must-see agenda. The charm of the old town is in its accidental discoveries, whether that’s a folktale shared by a shopkeeper, a hidden garden café, or the unexpected vision of a cat sleeping on a sunlit stoop.
If you’re lucky, you might catch the echo of bells at midday, or a lively fair spilling through the streets on a summer night. But even on an ordinary weekday, Belváros invites you to slow down and notice the small pleasures: the sound of footsteps in an ancient passageway, the way tomatoes glisten on a market stall, or the laughter of a family by the waterside. Szentendre’s Old Town isn’t flashy, but it is quietly, utterly unforgettable.
