Győr

Győr ([ˈɟøːr], German: Raab, Slovak: Ráb, Croatian: Jura Đura, Serbian: Ђер/Djerba) is a city in Western Transdanubia in Hungary. It is called A barokk városa (the Baroque City), because the old part of the city contains dozens of monumental buildings and sculptures from the 18th century.

It is the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron county. The city is the sixth largest in Hungary, with around 129,000 inhabitants (2017).

Understand
Győr is in the northwestern part of Hungary, close to the Slovakian and Austrian borders in the middle of the 'Golden Triangle' between Bratislava, Budapest and Vienna. It is a good stop between Vienna and Budapest or Sopron and Budapest, and also a good base for day trips throughout almost the whole North Transdanubian region. It has very good train and bus connections, and the motorway that passes to its south enables easy travel to Vienna and Budapest.

The city is nicknamed A vízek városa or A folyók városa ("City of Waters" or "City of Rivers"), because Raab/Rába, Rábca, Mosoni-Duna, Marcal rivers melting here or nearby.

Győr is also home to one of the biggest engine manufacturing plants in Europe (over 400,000 units per year), which supplies most European Skoda, Audi and Seat car factories. The city centre is very well supplied with small restaurants, pubs, bars and most of the hotels are here or nearby.

History
Győr was founded around 450 BC by the Celts. The Romans settled there around the 1st century BC. After they abandoned the city, the Slavs eventually arrived around 500 AD. It was briefly part of Great Moravia and then the Kingdom of the East Franks. The Magyars came around 900 and survived the Mongol invasion of Hungary in the 1240s. During the Ottoman era, Győr saw much conflict and was captured by the Turkish Army for four years. At the end of the 17th century, it was a flourishing city. It achieved the status of 'free royal town', which helped to further improve the economy, trade and culture. During World War II, the local Jewish community was nearly wiped out and several buildings and factories were destroyed. In the 1950s and 60s, the Communist government built many block flats, and in the 1970s, the long process of restoring the Old Town began.

Orientation
The centre of the city (Belváros) is bordered by rivers from north and west, from south is limited by a railway.

The major neighborhoods (and sights):
 * Adyváros (Ady-városi Lake a nice relaxing spot);
 * Belváros (the Old Town) full with sights;
 * Bácsa (Nagybácsai church with great window, Kisbácsai church);
 * Gyárváros (the former Civitas Regalis or Royal Town area destroyed by Tatars, now mostly industrial buildings here and shopping malls as Arkad, Jézus Szentséges Szíve church 1928, rebuilt in the 1950s, also here is Győri ETO Stadion with capacity of 30,000 people, a Magvassy Mihály Sports Hall, the Ice Skating Rink and Janos Xantus Zoo, the Audi Hungária Motor the principal employer of the city);
 * Győrszentiván (bus 30, 31 to there; separated bike road, train station on Komárom line, Roman Catholic church, Treasure House a renovated farmhouse exhibition room, riding stables);
 * Gyirmót (Dead Raba walking trail starts from the border Gyirmót, other 'sights' is the Achilles Park open air bath);
 * Kismegyer (or called Győr-Szabadhegy, south part of the city, TV tower, Szabadhegyi R.C. church, Szabadhegyi Reformed church, Cemetery chapel of  Kismegyer built on the ground of the Tarisznyavár Castle of Middle Age, take bus 2, 5, 6, 7, 17 or 38, ~7 km from the centre);
 * Likócs (most relaxing district with village feeling, seven km NE of the centre);
 * Marcalváros (former Bela Kun housing estate - a socialist development; also here is the Holy Spirit Church built in the 1990s);
 * Ménfőcsanak (Bezerédj chapel, Nagyboldogasszony church, Lutheran templom, Memorial Park, Bezerédj-Esterházy Mansion 1750s);
 * Nádorváros (Kálvária church, Győr Plaza, St. Emeric parish temlpom, Nádor City Lutheran Church, Schlichter Villa, Polish-Hungarian Friendship Sculpture at Bem tér);
 * Pinnyéd (Bishop Forest, a popular tourist spot, NW of the centre);
 * Révfalu (north of Danube, the most attractive part of the city according by locals, Kossuth híd or Révfalui bridge, Ányos Jedlik bridge: Pál Vasarhelyi footbridge or small Erzsébet Bridge; Széchenyi Bridge; Széchenyi István University, 'Aranypart' lit. Golden Coast free beach of Mosoni-Danube, the listed building of Watertower built in 1910; Monument of Flooding in 1954, School with Tulips Secession style planned by one of the country most famous architect, Jenő Lechner, can see at Rónay Jácint u. 4.; the patron saint St. John of Nepomuk sculpture; houses with small garden are typical to this district, in the cemetery of Révfalu is the tomb of local polymath, poet, literary translator (mostly Finnish and Estonian), literary historian, folklorist Aladár Bán);
 * Sziget (area between Raab and Rapca rivers, west of Old Town, the main sight is the Roch and St. Sebastian's Roman Catholic parish church, Rába-Quelle Thermal and Pleasure Bath, also a couple smaller hotel are here);
 * Újváros (west of the Old Town, southeast from 'Sziget' district, temples of five religious groups are here: Old Lutheran church, the synagogue, the Reformed Church, the Catholic Church and the Greek Catholic Church; yearly events is the Five Temples Festival, this is a five days long religious, musical and cultural traditions showing program; the houses of Kossuth Lajos street almost all from 1750-1850 period are listed buildings).

Get in
There has been no regular border control between Austria, Slovakia and Hungary since January 1, 2008. This has brought about a big change for the locals who otherwise were subjected to it daily.

By plane
Győr's own local airport only sees private aviation traffic with an occasional holiday charter flight. Using it as an entry point for Győr requires pretty much arriving by your own, or chartered, plane.



More practical options are the international airports in large cities in Győr's wider surroundings. The closest is actually the  in Bratislava, Slovakia, which is a 75-minute drive away, or 2 hours on the bus. Bratislava Airport is mainly served by budget carriers like Ryanair or Norwegian. See our guide to Bratislava for more information.

A really small bit further away, and almost equidistant, are  and   both of which have a broad range of international and intercontinental connections. The travel time from either airport to Győr is less than two hours by road. Eurolines has a twice-daily service from Vienna International Airport to Győr.

By boat
Győr lies on the banks of the Mosoni-Duna (Moson-Danube), so it has a waterway connection to Budapest or Vienna.

Canoe tours are preferred to be taken also on Mosoni-Duna.

By car
The M1 motorway passes next to Győr, if you come from Budapest or Vienna, it's the best choice. From the southern direction (e.g. the Lake Balaton) you can get into Győr via the main roads No.81 or No.82.

Get around
Győr's most interesting tourist attractions are in or around the city centre which is walkable. Most streets of the old town is pedestrian street including the periodicly held flower market square.

Old Town
A roughly rectangular area less than half km². North-South between the Danube and the old Szent István Street, East-West bounded by E575 road/Galántai road and Raab (Rába) river. Strolling is one of the best thing to do in Győr. One of the highlight is the Basilica of Győr with the reliquary of king Ladislaus I. The museums of the city can get you familiarised with the city and region's history and some of their major artists.

Do

 * For children the Ugripark playhouse

Events
Blood sweating of Our Lady pilgrimage celebration: Aug.15

Learn

 * Szechenyi University.
 * Liszt Ferenc Zeneakadémia, college of the musical arts.
 * West-Hungarian University Apaczai Csere Janos Teaching Campus, a teacher's college.

Buy
About money changing. Like all Hungarian cities, the centre of Győr is well equipped with banks and ATMs. The safest are in the banks, another best option are the shopping malls where normally more than one machine can be found. Train tickets, hotels and sometimes even taxis and supermarket accept euros (on wronger or better rates, minus five percent usually - rate can be seen at the desk). No bigger bill than €50 and prepare to get the change almost always in forints.

The city centre is full of shops, mostly selling souvenirs and clothes. There is a flower market every morning by the Carmelite church. During the main Christian holidays, there are holiday markets open in different squares and along Baross Gábor and Arany János street. Most of the big department stores, malls, hypermarkets are about 2 km south of the City Centre, near the M1 motorway exit.

Eat
Fast food restaurants can be found in the Árkád shopping mall's food court.

Sleep
Plenty of small and larger hostel, hotels and private rooms all over the town. You will not have a problem finding accommodation there. In Jul and Aug most of student hostel transforming to summer hostel, plus lot of long term rental apartmants can be find there.

Connect
As of Sept 2021, Győr has 5G from Telenor, and 4G from Telecom and Vodafone, but a poor signal from DiGi. WiFi is widely available in public places.

Stay safe
There is a very low crime rate.

Go next

 * Bratislava - capital of Slovakia
 * Budapest - the Hungarian capital. Part of the World Heritage list.
 * Lake Balaton
 * Transdanubia - northwest is very well connected with Győr
 * Vienna - the Austrian capital. Part of the World Heritage list.