Balmazújváros combines a family tradition of hat-making with museums, Baroque architecture and a special nature feature in the town centre. There are also craft workshops, a designated horse-riding route and a thermal bath. Visitors planning a stay can choose between insights into craftsmanship and local history, seasonal nature-watching and outdoor activities.

Craftsmanship and local history

The Mihalkó family lives and works in Balmazújváros; the tradition of making shepherds’ hats in their family dates back to the 19th century. The family workshop also welcomes visitors interested in folk traditions. If you would like to visit, arrange the details in advance. This brings a specific place of craftsmanship together with a long family history.

The workshops of Ilona Bödőcs, a potter, and Levente Varga, who creates leather goods, are also open to visitors. Craft activities are available there on request. The permanent exhibition at the Semsey Andor Museum presents objects relating to local history and ethnography, traditions of extensive livestock farming and pastoralism in Hortobágy, as well as hat-making, blacksmithing and wagon-making.

The Veres Péter Memorial House is a literary memorial site and museum. The writer Péter Veres lived and worked there until the end of the Second World War. The house adds a literary-historical perspective to the town’s local themes.

Architecture and nature in the town centre

The Roman Catholic church stands on the east side of Kossuth tér in the centre. It was built in the Baroque style from 1781 to 1786, and its interior is also Baroque. Semsey Castle at 2 Debreceni utca is a two-storey building dating from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Comparing the dates places the church in the late 18th century and the castle in the transition to the 19th century.

Every autumn, several hundred long-eared owls retreat to the town centre. Western hackberry trees stand on Kossuth tér, their crowns growing together. Nature-watching offers a clear contrast in timescale: the owls’ recurring autumn presence and the enduring form of the trees on the square.

Horse-riding route and thermal bath

For horse rides, one of the short, designated horse-riding routes in Hortobágyi National Park runs from Nádudvari utca in Balmazújváros through Magdolna-puszta to Kőudvari földút. The route is described as suitable for horse riding, making it a specific option for excursions on horseback.

The Kamilla Medicinal, Thermal and Beach Baths cover three hectares. Its six pools are supplied by two hot-water wells and one cold-water well. Before planning a specific visit, it is advisable to check the latest operating information.

Hajdú-Bihar: the landscape on a larger scale

In the wider destination of Hajdú-Bihar, the Hortobágy Puszta offers a distinctive perspective on cultural landscapes and the history of grazing. The Hortobágy National Park – the Puszta World Heritage Site covers almost 75,000 hectares in the Great Hungarian Plain in eastern Hungary. As a cultural landscape, it preserves visible evidence of more than 2,000 years of traditional pastoralism.

The Hortobágy-halastó nature trail is also part of this regional context. Visitors can choose walks of 3.6, 5.4 or 10 kilometres; the routes have no difficult sections. The three distances offer a clear range of walking lengths and add another perspective on the landscape and nature of Hajdú-Bihar to the local themes.

Discover more destinations: Tiszacsege, Hortobágy, Egyek.

Back to the regional travel overview: Balmazújváros.