In 1000, when the Kingdom of Hungary was founded, its first king decided to join Western Christianity and thus Western Europe. However, Hungary and its region had a unique historical development interlocked between West Europe and East Europe and developed into a third historical region in Europe: East Central Europe. Throughout its history, culturally it was always closer to the West, but Eastern influence was also significant.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, one-third of the country was under Ottoman rule, while from 1867 to 1918 it was a co-equal member of the Austro-Hungarian Empire untied under the Habsburg monarch.

After the liberation from Hungarian Nazi rule and German occupation in 1945, it became a satellite state of the Soviet Union, first as the most oppressive Stalinist regime in Europe in the 1950s, then “the happiest barrack of the Eastern Block” from the mid-1960s.

Hungary played a pivotal role in the fall of the Iron Curtain and has become a pioneer in democratization in East Central Europe. It joined NATO in 1999, and European Union in 2004.

In recent years, once again Hungary started to shift politically and economically towards the East and away from the European Union and European liberal democracies.

Our Hungarian tours are curated by our North Korea Tours Department Head Greg Váczi who is a native Hungarian and who worked closely together with local specialists to present you with the most comprehensive tour about Hungary’s recent past.

Book your tour to Hungary now!
Note: We require all travellers on international and North Korea tours to have valid travel insurance.