Szentendre Old Town

Szentendre was settled in waves by Serbs fleeing Ottoman advances, most substantially in 1690, and they built the town that survives: narrow lanes climbing from the Danube between ochre and red houses, with the towers of several Orthodox churches above the roofs and the Blagovestenska church on the main square. From the 1920s it drew painters, and the artists' colony that formed here left a string of small museums, the best known holding the ceramics of Margit Kovacs, whose figures are made in a way that is difficult to mistake for anyone else. The result is a very pretty town half an hour from Budapest, which is also the problem: it receives coach traffic in volume.

What you actually see

• Serbian Orthodox churches - the towers left by the 1690 settlement.
• Ochre lanes climbing from the river - the old town street pattern.
• The Margit Kovacs ceramics museum - the colony's best-known collection.
• The Danube promenade - the riverside below the town.

When to go

April to October, and specifically on weekday mornings, before the coaches arrive. Half a day. Summer weekends are extremely crowded. The town is quiet and pretty in winter but many places close.

Honest expectations

The main street is largely souvenir shops and marzipan museums, and prices are set for day trippers. Coach groups fill the centre from late morning. The genuine interest is in the side lanes and the Orthodox churches, which most visitors skip.

Nearby

Visegrad is upstream; Budapest lies south.