Piac Street and Kossuth Square

Debrecen’s Main Street - Piac Street - was the proud venue of the famous town fairs for 300 years starting in the 16th century. Today’s cityscape, however, is defined by the former merchant houses erected at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The pink office building of Debrecen’s First Savings Bank (on the corner of Kossuth Street) and the twin tenement blocks with the copper spires (on the corner of Simonffy Street) spectacularly stand out against the background of slightly gaudy downtown houses. Number 54 is occupied by Debrecen’s most beautiful Art Nouveau building now functioning as County Hall. Debrecen’s Main Street was suitable for traffic for two centuries thanks to a 650-meter-long and 6 to 7-meter wide elevated wooden walkway erected in the 1600s. A small section of the ancient “mud bridge,” now on display outside Hotel Aranybika, is a peerless archeological relic. Debrecen’s Main Square - Kossuth Square - features the iconic group of statues erected to commemorate Lajos Kossuth, the huge mosaic depicting the city’s coat of arms, made by placing together 180,000 pieces of Venetian glass, the Millennial Fountain as well as the Art Nouveau building of Hotel Aranybika. The extended walking zone that includes the square is the venue of countless summer cultural events such as the Turkey Days and Flower Parade. This is also where the city’s Christmas tree is placed at the beginning of the festive season.

Ady Park

Your Debrecen strolls will be even more refreshing in the leafy shade of trees and fountains dotting the city’s small squares and piazzas. The newest, scheduled to open in spring 2015, will be a vibrant, youthful and enchanting spot.

Agora Scientific Adventure Center

Agora presents serious scientific knowledge and the little wonders of everyday life in a fun and easy-to-understand way. It features more than thirty interactive games and gets visitors involved in spectacular experiments. At the top of the futuristic three-storey building, stargazers will be delighted to test the limits of the observatory taking aim at the Sun, our fellow planets and other celestial bodies.

• Web:

  www.agoradebrecen.hu

• E-mail:

  agora@agoradebrecen.hu

• Address:

  Debrecen Egyetem tér 1 (Botanical Garden)

• Phone:

  +36 52 518 620

• Opening hours:

  Thuesday-Friday: 13:00-19:00; Saturday-Sunday: 10:00-18:00

• Tickets:

  Adult: 1800 Ft, Student/Retired: 1200 Ft

Aquaticum Spa

Located in an area of scenic beauty in Big Forest, the spa complex offers an entire unit of medical facilities and a wide range of specialist consultations to guests who seek regeneration, healing, or relaxation. Your comfort and enjoyment will be guaranteed by the attractions of the Thermal Bath, the Indoor Mediterranean Pleasure Bath, “water-chute park,” wellness center as well as the “sauna world.” All this in an area of natural beauty set aside for public recreational use.

• Web:

  ww.aquaticum.hu

• E-mail:

  spa@aquaticum.hu

• Address:

  4032 Debrecen Nagyerdei park 1.

• Phone:

  +36 52 514 174

Bánk Recreation Center and Arboretum

The center’s exhibit house and arboretum give fascinating insights into the flora of the surrounding area as well as the entire Central Europe, and the life of the “vákáncsos,” impoverished peasants who lived rough in the woods. You can also take a pleasant stroll along the trail called Trees of the Year, or in the adjoining exhibit farm. More recreation and entertainment options are available at the “fun village,” historical exhibition and the rustic open-air activity house.

• Web:

  www.nyirerdo.hu

• Address:

  Debrecen Fancsika 93/A

• Phone:

  +36 52 441 118

Botanical Garden at UD

UD’s Botanical Garden behind the main campus building was established in 1928 when the original garden that had belonged to the Reformed College ceased to exist. Today it keeps nearly 6,000 plant species on display. Its collection of cacti and succulent plants – with a list of 1,300 cactus and 1,000 other succulent species, one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe – is renowned world-wide.

• Web:

  www.botkert.unideb.hu

• Address:

  Debrecen Egyetem tér 1

• Phone:

  +36 52 512 900

• Opening hours:

  every day: 8:00-16:00

• Tickets:

  Adult: 550 Ft, Student/Retired: 350 Ft

Agora Scientific Adventure Center

The only one of its kind in the region, this center offers a once-in-a-lifetime experience to visitors regardless of their ages. Agora presents serious scientific knowledge and the little wonders of everyday life in a fun and easy-to-understand way. It features more than thirty interactive games and gets visitors involved in spectacular experiments. At the top of the futuristic three-storey building, stargazers will be delighted to test the limits of the observatory taking aim at the Sun, our fellow planets and other celestial bodies.

• Web:

  www.agoradebrecen.hu

• E-mail:

  agora@agoradebrecen.hu

• Address:

  Debrecen Egyetem tér 1 (Botanical Garden)

• Phone:

  +36 52 518 620

• Opening hours:

  Thuesday-Friday: 13:00-19:00; Saturday-Sunday: 10:00-18:00

• Tickets:

  Adult: 1800 Ft, Student/Retired: 1200 Ft

Debrecen Reformed College

Having functioned continuously as an educational institution since its establishment in 1538, the college is the cradle of Hungarian civilization Designated as a national monument in 2013, it also features a museum that has permanent exhibits displaying the school’s history, student life, and the religious art of the Reformed Church in the Trans-Tisza Region. Your visit here will help you understand why Debrecen became the most important bastion of the Reformed faith in Hungary. Bedecked with majestic murals, the building’s stairwell leads to the entrance of the gigantic library storing more than 600,000 volumes, the Csokonai Room and the Oratory that housed Hungary’s National Assembly in 1849.

• Web:

  www.reformatuskollegium.ttre.hu

• Address:

  4026 Debrecen Kálvin tér 16

• Phone:

  +36 52 516 923

• Opening hours:

  Monday-Friday: 10:00-16:00

• Tickets:

  Adult: 800 Ft, Student/Retired: 400 Ft

Déri Museum

The Déri Museum is one of Hungary’s foremost establishments of its kind. In addition to its exhibits of local cultural interest, it has become renowned for the huge collection of items, brought together by Frigyes Déri, which represents various aspects of universal human civilization. The museum’s main attractions are the awe-inspiring Christ-paintings of Mihály Munkácsy. The museum opened a new permanent exhibit in 2015, whereas in the Lajos Zoltai Hall temporary exhibits will be on display. The group of four statues by Ferenc Medgyessy, erected outside the main building, was awarded the Grand Prize at the 1937 Paris Exposition.

• Web:

  www.derimuzeum.hu

• E-mail:

  deri@derimuzeum.hu

• Address:

  4026 Debrecen Déri tér 1

• Phone:

  +36 52 322 207

• Opening hours:

  Thuesday-Sunday: 10:00-18:00

• Tickets:

  Adult: 2000 Ft, Student/Retired: 1000 Ft

Main Building of the University of Debrecen

One of the nation’s five research universities, UD celebrated its centenary in 2012. The glass-ceilinged cour d’honneur of the main edifice, built in Eclectic and Neo-Baroque style, is skirted by an arcaded corridor system, whose walls are inscribed with the names of the school’s most renowned professors and former students. The fountain in the spacious French-style park in front of the building plays a special role in student tradition: Graduates are supposed to take a plunge in its pool after their finals.

• Web:

  www.unideb.hu

• Address:

  Debrecen Egyetem tér 1

• Phone:

  +36 52 512 900

Mist Theater

In the immediate vicinity of Nagyerdei Arena, a one-of-a-kind attraction beckons from spring through fall. The multimedia fountain, or “Mist Theatre,” boasts a 30×10-m, fan-shaped curtain of water vapor which can be used as a functional movie screen to show clips of Debrecen as well as special laser installations. The more adventurous might want to try the stepping stones across the basin on sweltering summer days.

• Address:

  Debrecen Nagyerdei Park

Nagyerdei Stadium

Nagyerdei Park is the home of Hungary’s most modern sports arenas. The brand new, state-of-the-art arena, Nagyerdei Stadium, was inaugurated in 2014. With a seating capacity of 20,000, it promises to become a fantastic venue of competitive team events and individual training sessions as well as concerts and other programs of cultural interest. The stadium’s unique architectural features boast a spectacular “suspension sidewalk.” Complete with a running track, the 1,100-m-long structure skirts the entire building at a height of several meters. This will make joggers feel that they do altitude training smack in the middle of the flattest region in Hungary.

• Web:

  www.nagyerdeistadion.hu

• E-mail:

  jegy@nagyerdeistadion.hu

• Address:

  4032 Debrecen Nagyerdei Park 12.

• Phone:

  +36 30 316 4910