According to the 2011 data, the city's population was around 170.000.
Today's Szeged is an important university town and a popular tourist attraction.
In the summer season (1 June - 15 September) a tourist information pavilion is located at the Széchenyi Square.
If you are flying to Hungary, you will most likely be arriving to the Ferihegy International Airport in Budapest and you will want to take the M5 highway South to Szeged. The M5 highway has just been completed (end of 2005) to reach Szeged, and it will take from about an hour and half to two hours to drive from the airport.
You will need to get a sticker for your car in order to drive on the highway, which you can buy at any gas station (ask for "matrica").
Szeged has a parking zone system, parking tickets are available from newsagent's, local stores, etc.
It takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes to travel by train from Budapest Nyugati to Szeged. These trains also stop at Ferihegy, Terminal 1, meaning it isn't necessary to travel into the centre of Budapest.
There are daily frequent buses running to surrounding cities including Budapest. Buses to Pécs take about 3-3.5 hours and cost HUF 3410 (as of August 2015). Four daily buses leave Szeged for Subotica costing HUF 1000 (as of August 2013). The trip takes one hour including time spent crossing the border.
Szeged has a small airport [http://www.airportszeged.hu/], which is just perfect for small airplanes or private planes.
For the size of the city, Szeged has a really good public transportation network. Within the city you can get around by cabs (taxi), trams (villamos), electric buses (trolibusz) or buses (autóbusz). If you wish to use these types of public transportation, you will need to find out about their routes(there are several), stops and schedules. During the workdays, in the busy hours, within the city, most public transportation vehicles will leave every 10-15 minutes.
There are a few taxi services in the city. You can call and "order" one to your location. The drivers may not speak English, but should be able to get you where you want to go. Trips usually cost somewhere between 1-2000 Forints within the city.
* Szeged Taxi: (62) 333-333
* Tele-4 Taxi: (62) 444-444
* Rádió Taxi: (62) 480-480
* Gábriel Taxi: (62) 555-555
In the summer you don't want to miss the famous "Open-Air Festival" [http://www.szegediszabadteri.hu/]. It is called open-air, because the Dóm square is turned into a stage with seats. It usually starts around the beginning of July and ends sometime in August. The shows play for about a week and then they change. Tickets are not always easy to get, but you can always get them from scouts (of course at a higher price) before the show starts.
Tips: If you are on a limited budget, you can purchase tickets for a lower price and after the show has started you can move to a better (empty) seats.
There are several events taking place in Szeged during the summer. The best way to find out about their times is from the free local magazine (called "Szegedi Est") that you can find in most restaurants, bars, clubs and cinemas.
* Wine Festival
* Beer Festival
* Days of Szeged
* Hungaricum Festival
* Szegedi Ifjusagi Napok (SZIN) - Szeged Youth Days [http://szin.org] is an open-air festival with Hungarian and international bands, held every year at Partfürdő. In 2012 the date is 22-25 Aug.
Like some other Hungarian towns, Szeged also has thermal baths. The two best known are:
#Anna fürdő [url=http://www.szegedifurdok.hu/furdok/index.php?spgmGal=Anna_Furdo&option=com_mambospgm&Itemid=85]]- it has just been renovated and offers an amazing experience, located downtown of the city. The bath has two sections, which offer various natural, thermal water based pools, spas, saunas.
The younger (mainly 20-30s) crowd enjoys visiting the bath's Night Swimming events every Monday, Wednesday, Friday night between 9-12PM. The entry fees are half-priced for these events (currently about 900 Forints, or about 4-5 Euros).
# Thermálfürdő [http://www.szegedifurdok.hu/furdok/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=51&Itemid=60[/url] - is an older, indoor thermal bath located at the swimming pool complex on the Újszeged side of the city.
You can see the city from the above and if that is something you would like to do, just head out to the local airport. You can select from various airplane tours ranging that last about 15 minutes to 1.5 hours around the city. They even have programs when they "let you fly" the airplane: [http://www.rivair.hu/]
The Szeged Go-Cart ring is on the road 47, outbound from Szeged, just before the junction of M43 and 47. The track is made of old tires in an old parking lot, and is about 800 meters in length. Prices are reasonable: [http://www.szegedgokart.hu/]
The quality of the food varies by restaurants, but is good in general. Meats and cheese can be found at most places, and they are often breaded and fried. If you go to a standard restaurant, the portions will be generous and more than enough to feed an adult. There are a few restaurants (Gőry [url=http://www.gory.hu/]),]which serve extra large portions of food, which are almost impossible to eat all at once.
In the downtown (Tisza Lajos krt. 76.) there is also a vegetarian restaurant [http://www.agnietterem.hu/[/url] serving traditional Indian and Hungarian dishes as well.
Coffee Shops have become very popular among students. There are quite a few in town, where the younger crowd likes to meet up to study and/or talk.
Szeged is a University town and it has a very active night life throughout the school year. The high school and college crowd gets mixed up at most places, although some clubs try to target specific age groups with their events.
Most places have entrance fees, but offer discounts if you have a student ID. Regular fees are around 500-1000 Forints depending on the day of the week, the place and the event.
Parties are advertised to start early at night, but the crowd doesn't start to gather really until about midnight or 1AM (!!!) and usually party until the morning. This is true even on weekdays (for example Wednesday is a very big party night). Many times people meet at local pubs for a drink and talks before hitting these places.
# GinTonic [url=http://www.gin-tonic.eu/]]- This is a club in the basement of the older Tisza Hotel in downtown. It has dance nights every Friday. It is in the same block as Retro, but on the other side of the building. This is a highly popular party place among foreign students who study in the city. They usually play the latest popular dance songs. The entrance fee is about 800 Forints.
#JATE Klub [url=http://www.jateklub.hu/[/url]]- This is one of the popular university clubs that is open during the day as well as at night. There is a large bar section and several dance floors with different types of music. Concerts and other cultural events are also common here. If the evening appears to be slow, the crowd might go over to the SZOTE Klub (which is true vice-versa). The high school and college crowd blends really well in this place. They play all types of music from alternative through the latest popular dance songs to older Hungarian favorites. Sometimes they collect entrance fees, but you can get in without a fee if you get there earlier.
#Retro [url=http://www.centralkavezo.hu[/url]]- this is a newer coffee house, that turns into a dance club at night. Dance nights are held on Fridays and Saturdays. The place mostly attracts graduates, late 20s and above. They like to play songs from the 80s, 90s and of course today's hits. Entrance fee is around 1000 Forints.
#Sing-Sing [http://www.sing.hu[/url] - this is one of the largest dance clubs in Southern Hungary. It is located right next to Szeged's main bus station and farmer's market. This club usually attracts the younger high-school crowd (their average age is probably around 20). It is well known for its semi-monhtly dance shows, concerts with invited guests and teen parties. They usually play the latest dance hits.
* Gentleman's Club - there is one gentleman's club in town called Zsiráf. It is on Furj Str. near the Greek restaurant.
In Szeged, and in most other, bigger Hungarian cities you can find a cheap room in college dorms. Most places will let you pay cash and stay for a few days. There are a few of these around town and the best way to find one is probably to ask one of the younger, "student looking" locals.
* Familia Pension has a very easily accessible location, a couple of minutes walk from Dóm square (the Votive Church) and a few blocks from the main railroad station and the 500 years old Mátyás Church.
* Hotel Bella is situated in downtown Szeged, on 'Kossuth Lajos sugárút', within walking distance to the major sights, restaurants and bars.
* Collage Dorm Hunter Street, The cheapest accommodation in the city. Szeged, a small college in the center of the rooms in summer for families, group publisher. The rooms are 4-storey room. Shared kitchen and sanitary. A total of 40 key deposit guarantee.
The bigger hotels are usually closer to downtown. Szeged is not that big in size and you can probably walk or use public transportation to most places.
* Hotel Tisza [url=http://www.tiszahotel.hu/]]is an older, but renovated hotel in an excellent location right downtown.
* Hotel Royal [url=http://www.royalhotel.hu/[/url]]is another older, but upscale hotel in the heart of the city.
* Hotel Dóm [url=http://www.domhotel.hu/index_eng.html[/url]]A newer hotel.
* Matrix Hotel Szeged [url=http://www.matrixhotel.eu[/url]]elegant and friendly rooms.
* City Hotel Szeged [url=http://www.hungaryrooms.com/city_hotel_szeged[/url]]Elegant rooms and intimate restaurant Rézangyal Bistro.
* Novotel Hotel [url=http://www.novotel.com/novotel/fichehotel/gb/nov/2996/fiche_hotel.shtml[/url]]is within walking distance from downtown.
* Hotel Forrás [url=http://www.hotelforras.szeged.hu/[/url]]is in Újszeged, on the Tisza River's opposite side from downtown. The hotel has an indoor thermal bath, which is open around the whole year.
* Hotel Romance [url=http://www.romancehotel.hu/index.php?pid=romance&lid=english&act=szeged[/url]]is situated just in the heart of Szeged, close to Széchenyi Square.
* Hotel Mozart [url=http://www.mozarthotel.hu/[/url]]- new Hotel, opened in 2011 (really good location, in the center of the city).
* Hotel Soleil [http://www.hotelsoleil.hu/[/url] - new Hotel, opened in 2011 (really good location in the center of the city)
Szeged has many free WiFi (hotspot) locations. The largest square downtown - the Széchenyi tér - offers free wireless access to anyone with a WiFi capable device (laptop, mobile phone, PDA, etc.).