Sümeg is a town of 5,900 people (2022) in Veszprém County of Hungary. It is best known for its 13th-century castle perched on a 270-m-high limestone hill above the town. Sümeg is a place of pilgrimage: the statue of the Virgin Mary in the Franciscan church is visited every September.

Understand

Sümeg was already inhabited in prehistoric times and in the time of Roman Pannonia.

The first written record of the town was in 1292, the castle was first mentioned in 1318. Sümeg's importance started to grow in the early 16th century, as surrounding cities and castles fell to the Ottoman invasion. In the 1550s, the bishop of Veszprém fled to Sümeg, and the town remained the seat of the Veszprém diocese until the late 18th century.

The town at the foot of the castle hill started to flourish in the late 17th century after it was surrounded by a wall, but it was destroyed by fires multiple times. After Rákóczi's war of independence, the castle was destroyed by the Habsburgs in 1713, to prevent further uprisings. Later in the 18th century, the town's church and the Bishop's Palace were built.

Meanwhile, the castle fell into disrepair, and it was further ruined by the weather, and the population using its walls as building material. Its restoration began in the 1960s, and has been going on ever since. Today, it is one of the best maintained castles of Hungary.

Get in

Sümeg is on Road 84, which connects Sopron on the Austrian border with Lake Balaton. The nearest airports are Hévíz-Balaton Airport (40 km), Graz Airport (168 km), Vienna Airport (173 km), Bratislava Airport (173 km) and Budapest Airport (202 km).

• 1 Sümeg train station There are daily trains from Szombathely, and bi-hourly trains from Győr. In summer, there are also daily direct trains to Budapest. The train station is 1.8 km (1.1 mi) from the castle.
• 2 Sümeg bus station There are buses connecting the town to Budapest, Veszprém, Győr, Szombathely, Zalaegerszeg, Székesfehérvár, and other cities.

Get around

As Sümeg is a small town, there is only limited public transport within the town. Some intercity buses stop at multiple stops in the town. Most points of interest can be reached with less than 30 minutes of walking from the centre.

The castle hill is closed off to car traffic, meaning you have to walk 400 m to the entrance, with 50 m of elevation difference.

See

• 1 Sümeg Castle — one of the largest and best preserved forts in Hungary.
• 2 Bishop's Palace was built between 1748-1755, Baroque, include Municipal Picture Gallery and The Collection of 'Eights', Jozsef Mindszenty Memorial Exhibition, the exhibition of glass artist Martin Horvath, Discovering Canada - The exhibition of Canadian painter Frederick Hagan, Hunting exhibition, Chapel of St. Martin and the demonstration boards of the life and cult of St. Martin of Tours.
• 3 Caveman's Mine — a protected flint mine that is now a museum.

Do

• Bishop riding (castle stables with a small Hussar Museum)

Sleep

• Krigler Pension. (updated Nov 2018)

Go next

• Lake Balaton is Central Europe's largest lake and a popular tourist destination. It is 22 km southeast of Sümeg. (By car, follow Road 84 towards Balatonederics. Trains going to Keszthely, Kaposvár and Pécs have stops near the lake.)
• Tapolca is home to one of Hungary's largest cave systems. (Follow signs pointing towards Tapolca, or take the train or the bus.)
• Keszthely is a town on the coast of Lake Balaton, famous for the Festetics Palace.
• Hévíz is Hungary's most important spa town, near Lake Balaton.
• Somló Castle is a ruined castle 30 km north of Sümeg.