Agriculture in Heart of Europe: Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic

Check in the hotel

Participants will be shown a good selection of sights of this metropolis on the river Danube with a sweeping history that goes back more than 2000 years. Heroes' Square, with its classical buildings and statues of Hungary's rulers will be seen first, then the City Park, Castle Vajdahunyad and the Zoo will be visited. The tour will then proceed to St. Stephen's Basilica, the capital's largest Roman Catholic cathedral, then to the impressive neo-gothic House of Parliament, similar in appearance to that in London. The main attraction in Buda is the Castle Hill, with its breathtaking view over the city and its many historic and cultural monuments, such as the 13th century Matthias Church, the Royal Castle or the Fishermen's Bastion. The tour ends on the top of Gellért Hill and the Citadel, from where the best panoramic view of the city can be enjoyed.

Main attractions in Budapest: Heroes' Square, the City Park, Castle Vajdahunyad St. Stephen's Basilica, House of Parliament, Castle Hill, the 13th century Matthias Church, the Royal Castle, the Fishermen's Bastion.

Dinner and accommodation in Budapest

Travel to Kozárd

Kozárd is a small village that has started a development program in which agriculture and rural tourism is joined together. The project is called Apple-Valley program and co-ordinated by the Agroservice Group, which has been established and run by a family. The corner stones of the development project are to found an apple plantation of 100-120 ha and some 30 ha of stone fruit plantation, establishment of processing and storage facilities, like cooling plant, solar dehydration facility, distillery, to reconstruct village houses for hosting tourists, to produce ecological foods and drinks for tourists, like pálinka which is a Hungaricum and mangalica salami, to build a hunting mansion. As part of the program in Kozárd our guest will learn a lecture on the Apple Valley project. After this indoor program they visit the orchards and the freezing facility. Upon request visit to the mangalica swine farm is also available.

Lunch in Kozárd

Travel to Hollókő

Hollókő is a Palóc ethnographic village in Hungary, part of the World Heritage. Its name means "Raven-stone" in Hungarian.

The village is located in Nógrád county, approximately 91.1 kilometres northeast from Budapest, the capital of Hungary. It lies in a valley of Cserhát Mountains, surrounded by low peaks. The natural environment is protected.

Travel to Szokolya

On the Kacár Homestead the owners try to re-introduce the lifestyle that existed near the beginning of the twentieth century. They take guests back to a time, when men enjoyed the fruits of their own handwork, Guests can try themselves the old techniques, bring old tools back to life - in other words - experience traditional farming. Also renewable energy sources are used to supply energy demand of the farm.

Transfer to Budapest

Dinner and accommodation in Budapest

Travel to Balatonfenyves

Hubertus Company farms 9000 ha area, of which about 2600 ha is being used for plant cultivation, about 2000 ha is grassland and about 2000 ha is forest area. The rest is covered with paths, waste land, canals and moor. They grow here mainly grain maize, maize for silage, wheat and oil crops, rape and sunflower for industrial purposes. Besides crop production, intensive and extensive grazing management has also an important role in Nagyberek, where the company has 400 ha intensive pasture, from where they gather grass three times a year, which means good quality fodder for the livestock raising sectors. The rest of the grassland is used for grazing beef cattle that is held in extensive circumstances. The beef cattle program of the company started at the beginning of the 70s with the American breed "Hereford". They cross them now with Red Angus breed that results in end-product, which better satisfies all requirements.

Lunch in Balatonfenyves

Travel to Hévíz

The Hévíz medicinal lake, unique throughout the world, awaits you amongst exquisite green surroundings. The forested parks and the town’s protected flora extending around the lake are a token of the peaceful relaxation and healing.

The clean air, friendly atmosphere and hospitality of the residents of the spa town all enhance the curative effect. The lake welcomes guests throughout the year, since the temperature of the water does not fall below 22 C° even in the winter, and in the summer reaches 38 C°. Thanks to the 410 liters flowing forth every second from the spring cavern, the lake’s waters fully regenerate in three and a half days, therefore remaining continuously clean.

A pleasant stroll along the lakeshore with the sight of the water-lilies makes you forget about the workaday rat race. Contributing to this are the countless quality wellness services, which assist in the refreshment, pampering and improvement of the guests.

The relaxing effect of a Hévíz vacation are felt for a long time, after returning home its positive impact may be enjoyed for months.

Dinner, overnight in Héviz

Leaving Hungary and transfer to Vienna with arrival around the noon.

Vienna, the capital of Austria, is a majestic city situated on the banks of the Danube River. It is alive with the music of Mozart, Schubert, and Johann Strauss.

There is much to see: from St. Stephen's Cathedral, late Romantic building with Gothic and Baroque elements in the heart of the city, the Imperial Palace, splendor of Art Nouveau, the magnificent Baroque Schönbrunn Palace, the Museum of Fine Arts and modern architecture at the Museum's Quarter.

With its nearly 75,000 restaurants and pubs, Vienna is the Mecca of European gastronomy.

Our Vienna city tour includes: St. Stephan's Cathedral (interior) , Hofburg Imperial Palace (exterior), and Schoenbrunn Palace (interior) including its enchanting gardens.

Diner, overnight 4* Hotel

In the morning, we will visit a traditional Austrian market - Fleishmarkt – a great selection of Austrian agricultural products.

Before leaving Vienna, we shortly visit a gem of contemporary architecture: Hundertwasserhaus (part of Austrian cultural heritage)

Our first technical visit is a private wine farm N of Vienna. We will see the vineyards and a wine processing hall and we finish in the winegrower's house where his wife and mother in law prepare a great variety of Austrian dishes for us.

Second farm visit today is a private arable and pig farm with maize, wheat and sugar beet.

The farm owner, an active member of Austrian AG chamber, will give a general presentation on Austrian Agriculture.

We continue to the Czech Republic – city of Brno.

Our dinner today will be in a famous local brewery restaurant PEGAS

Overnight in the centre of Brno.

On our way from Brno to Southern Bohemia, we will visit three very interesting farms:

Private Goat Bio farm, with about 800 goats and with their own dairy. This is one the ebst Czech BIO farms, with large spectrum of own dairy products.

The largest Czech Fish farm, operating over 10,000 hectares of fishponds in Trebonsko (Southern Bohemia). We will whole process of fish breeding and depending of the tour period also fishing out the ponds.

A COOP farm near Ceske Budejovice, a nice example of the most common type of Czech farms (representing over 60% of Czech agriculture). The 3,100 ha farm consists of two divisions: arable division (wheat, barley, maize) and animal husbandry division (both dairy and beef cattle, milking robots).

Dinner and overnight in Ceske Budejovice

Morning visit to the famous Budweisser brewery. Beer tasting.

Surrounded by the aroma of the Moravian malt and Zatec hops we will probe into the secrets of how the world-famous Budweiser Budvar lager is made. We will find out how the best quality domestic ingredients, water drawn from the brewery’s more than 300 meter deep wells and top-class brewer’s yeast are used to make the beer characterised by its slightly sweet and delicate taste, pleasant aroma of hops and bitterness that is popular with customers in 58 countries throughout the world.

Visit to a private dairy farm, using milking robots for their 120 dairy cows (Holstein breed).

The top modern dairy farm, built in 2008

Afternoon in a fairytale town of Cesky Krumlov. Cesky Krumlov is a real gem among Czech cities ranking high on the UNESCO list for its matchless medieval character, winding little streets and a number of well-preserved Renaissance and Gothic monuments. Tour of the Castle is included.

Dinner and overnight in Ceske Budejovice

After breakfast. we leave the hotel towards Prague.

In the morning we meet a representative of the Czech Ministry of Agriculture who will give a short general presentation on the Czech agriculture.

After lunch, we enjoy a city tour of Prague

Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Representative stone palaces and pointed towers all around will take you back to history. Situated on seven hills and divided by the river Vltava, Prague is one of the most picturesque and architecturally diverse cities in Europe.

Visit to Prague Castle (est. in 9th cent), then walk down to the Little Quarter and visit the famous Baroque St. Nicholas church. Then, cross the famous 14th century Charles bridge to the Old Town Square, where finish our tour under the Astronomical Clocks.

Farewell dinner with cruise on the Vltava River

Overnight 4* hotel

Free morning in centre of Prague

Transfer to the airport

Single room supplement: € 195