The majority of travelers come for a single day (mostly Slovakians), not staying overnight. Ukrainians and Russians frequent the Castle, along with many Italians. Around the town you may run into many German-speaking travelers as well.
Trains leave the Budapest Keleti station each hour. The ones leaving at odd hours are direct, the ones leaving at even hours require you to change trains in [wiki=213c57dbadcfb1dee095cb33d0742b3a]Füzesabony[/wiki]. Most of these trains are gyors (fast) trains and will take about two hours and 20 minutes to arrive. Hourly IC trains will take you directly to Füzesabony, cutting the total travel time to just under two hours, but a reservation is required.
If you come from [wiki=c6f21d4402257ede81a2ee894fd89d6f]Miskolc[/wiki] your options are similar, except there is no direct service and you will have to change trains in Füzesabony. IC trains take just under an hour to arrive.
Buses leave Budapest's Stadionok station for Eger twice an hour and the trip takes a little over two hours . Less if you travel with the express service. Most major cities in Hungary also have direct bus connections to Eger.
The easiest way to arrive is to take the M3 as far as [wiki=213c57dbadcfb1dee095cb33d0742b3a]Füzesabony[/wiki], then continue north on route 25. For a more scenic route from [wiki=c6f21d4402257ede81a2ee894fd89d6f]Miskolc[/wiki] you can drive through the windy roads of the [wiki=4d94fceaf6f2c0c0643c6c804491f8ee]Bükk[/wiki] mountains.
There's a map of sights inside the castle [http://www.egeronline.com/sights/castle/castle_en.php]: in Hungarian and German right near the entrance; the map in English is available inside, near the Minting Museum.
The entry ticket (HUF 1800, half price for student) will grant you entrance to the main exhibits.
* The Gothic Palace houses an excellent exhibit on the history of the castle, the Turkish siege, and aftermath.
* The Art Gallery contains artwork from different Hungarian artists, most notably Munkacsy.
* Finally there is a tour of the Underground Passageways. The tour will take you first to the Heroes' Hall, with a replica of the tomb of István Dobó. The passages themselves contain several different examples of archaeological finds, as well as reenactments of events from the Turkish siege (a cannon being fired, an underground explosion, and a makeshift motion detector that uses peas). The passages can only be visited by tour, which are available in English at an extra cost.
The castle has several other attractions which are not included on the main ticket. Specifically, you will have to pay extra for:
* Panopticum exhibits of a dozen wax figures based on characters from the book "Eclipse of the Crescent Moon" by Géza Gardonyi. Winter time: open 9am-3pm. Entrance 350ft adult; 250ft children/students/retired.
* Weapon exhibition on Dobó bastion contains weapons from all around the world.
* Minting museum displays coins of ancient origin.
Beyond historic sights there are excellent views of the entire city as well as several hobbyhorses inside the yard that even adult tourists enjoy playing with/on.
Minaret. The northernmost medieval minaret in Europe (i.e., the northernmost one except those built by immigrant communities in the last decades) and the tallest in Hungary (the other two are in [wiki=4f01e8bf5ebce8fd5d1fcd894af0120e]Pécs[/wiki] and [wiki=71e1d3838b47a4b859a9977142f95fb6]Érd[/wiki]) the minaret is a 42 meter high symbol of the Turkish occupation. It is 97 steps to the top, but be warned, the climb up is in an incredibly enclosed space on uneven and slippery steps and there is little room to move around up top so those who are afraid of heights or tight places should just enjoy it from the outside. Open for visitors from April to November.
* Ráctemplom (Serbian church) on Vitkovics Mihály u. 30. features baroque and rococo architecture and the iconostasis painted by Miklós Jankovich.
* The wine museum, not very big but pleasant
* Basilica on Pyrker tér 1. is the third largest in Hungary (the other two are in [wiki=d89322bf74e93b1bb1caf11f5a321678]Esztergom[/wiki] and [wiki=9fed5dae86e3030d9be3740efa198659]Budapest[/wiki]).
* Lyceum is the baroque building opposite the Basilica and currently functions as a college. The Archbishop's Library inside is home to various frescoes, including one of the Council of Trent, as well as the only handwritten letter by Mozart in Hungary. The Observatory in the tower features a mirror telescope, a cannon sun dial which announces midday with a small explosion, and a camera obscura which projects an image of the city skyline on the wall. Very few of it is free, but you can buy a ticket for all the exhibitions for HUF 800. You can also find free Internet on some computers within the building.
* Széchenyi Street is the main pedestrian shopping street which features a variety of shops and restaurants.
* Town under the town is the former archiepiscopal wine cellar. Under the Basilica, you can visit the cellar and taste some fine wine. HUF 950 or 3euros, HUF 500 or 1.5euros for students
* [url=http://beatlesmuzeum.hu]Egri Road Beatles Múzeum[/url], a small museum of a huge collection of Beatles memorabilia.
Guided route: 4.000ft per hour per person. In winter rides start at 10am (till up to 12pm) and 1pm (till up to 5pm). Can offer good gallops and intense rides if guide can tell that you have enough experience. There is breathtaking scenery even in winter time: along and across vineyards; up the hills; through the forest; in beautiful fields. Seems to have no no-ride weather, even in winter. Recommended by [wiki=307c5e2eb319c0eda6729d824747e034]#Hotel_Senator_Hz|Senator Ház[/wiki]. Among personnel, only 1 or 2 speaks basic English (neither can be a guide); in off-season English emails are not responded to--call instead. The only shortcoming: guiding rider smokes on the route. Have some Panzio of the same owner next to the stalls (closed in winter).
Horses: Fantom (1994): too slow as a leader on a gallop. Sigi (1996): trials rider in the first minutes, restless and fast through the route, but rarely keeps the distance. Hadfi (1996): need constant attention of rider on a route.
* Seems to be partner/friends with [wiki=b10feea7717fdf84272a702805901c83]#Mtyus Udvar Hz|Mátyus Udvar Ház[/wiki]; located not far away from them.
Very good choice of artistic (and custom-made?) cakes and marcipans of every size. In non-summer time, don't take seriously plastic seats you see right after entrance--there is a large hall with old-school furniture behind the counter (as shown on panorama on the web site). Serves only Lipton tea, but Segafredo coffee. For the New Year season, a Christmas tree is decorated with real sweets and marshmallows. It has been in operation since 1966 and the interior seems to have remained the same since then.
* Much more modern compared to Dobos, still quite luxurious interior with striped chairs and marble tables. Be careful with the cacao--really large cups.
All main dishes are served in pancakes, are mostly around 2000 Ft, and are very large. Good selection of wines. Regulars seem to come here for desserts--and look really enthusiastic about them. Artistic interior feels like inspired by Andy Warhol. Located a bit off the beaten path.
:Onion soup is disappointedly non-traditional, but still good. Conqueror's soup is served in bread, and definitely worth tasting. Be careful with Sombrero--extremely hot, which is not indicated in menu.
* Decent place to eat if you stay near Dobó tér. Owned and managed by the same people as [wiki=29a83033b46311c3707ce3aab30856b2]#Hotel Senator Hz|Senator Ház[/wiki] hotel. Before 11am, part of the restaurant is used for breakfast for guests staying at Senator Ház hotel. During the daytime, it attracts many non-residents even in winter time.
* Offers excellent game dishes. Not the cheapest in town, but the meals are excellent and the atmosphere is unique--although locals are rare here, compared to tourists. Interior is full of mounted animals--which not everyone may like. Menu in English, Finnish, French, Italian, Polish, Russian (translations may vary in minor aspects). Saddle of venison (3.150ft, cooked with truffles) is very tender, absolutely recommended. The hunter's favourite (2.680ft) is amazing in matching four sauces to four kinds of meat. Goose Ragout Soup (680ft) is quite interesting, and served in a bread.
*Imola Udvarház Dózsa György tér 4. [http://www.imolanet.hu/udvarhaz/index.htm] Near the castle gate. In 2009 it was selected as one of the top 12 restaurants in Hungary. A good selection of wines from Eger and Tokaj wine regions. Mains 1600-3000 HUF
* They serve a mix of Hungarian and Greek cuisine. Although its not very expensive, the food is not great but not too bad, rather oily, but portions are quite big.
Eger is the centre of one of the top wine regions in [wiki=912d59cdf1d3f551fae21f6f0062258f]Europe[/wiki].Egri Bikavér is most famous cuvee here, but there are several others definitely worth a sip.
Egri Bikavér (Bull's Blood) is a strong red Hungarian wine which supposedly saved a clever Hungarian girl from her fate with a Turkish sultan. During the time of the Turkish occupation, it is said a young girl was summoned to become a member of the local sultan's harem. Not wanting this fate for his daughter, her father gave her a bottle of Egri Bikavér to take to the sultan. He told her to tell the ruler it was bull's blood, and would make him invincible. The sultan, being Muslim, was unaccustomed to alcohol, and proceeded to pass out, leaving the daughter unharmed. That's a legend -- but in real life, also be careful with Egri Bikavér. It's excellent, but strong stuff!
The real story is an important piece of Hungarian history:
the "bull's blood" made there - is a cuvee (two type red wine mixed) - this name was given
by the Turkish horde trying to conquer Eger - and than proceed towards Austria...etc
But failed!...there were approx. 2000 Hungarians inside Eger, and 200,000 Turks outside.
They had always seen the Hungarians drinking red wine, but they did not know what it was,
and they assumed this must be bull's blood which makes these warriors so strong and fearless.