The Upper Tisza region is one of the most wildly romantic districts in all Hungary. With its four main rivers – the Tisza, Túr, Szamos and Kraszna – it is the perfect holiday destination for those who appreciate the unspoiled beauty of nature. There is canoeing, kayaking and camping among the walnut trees of Tiszakóród (I2). You can find accommodation in old peasant houses and go fishing in the quieter backwaters of the rivers. The flood-plain orchard at Kisar (H2) covers 125 acres and is Europe’s largest, and there is superlative bird-watching in the Szatmár- Bereg Reservation.
Every little village has something interesting to see. For example, in the cemetery at Szatmárcseke (H2) there is a sight unique in Europe – six hundred, boat-shaped carved wooden grave-posts, each about the height of a man. The graveyard also contains the tomb of Ferenc Kölcsey, the poet who wrote the words to the Hungarian National Anthem. In Túristvándi (H2) there is another Central European protected rarity, an eighteenth century carved water mill, resting on wooden piles and still in working order. The whole area around the mill is very attractive. The careful restoration of the folk baroque interior of the fifteenth century Calvinist Church at Sonkád (H2) has earned a European Nostra Prize. The Calvinist Church at Csaroda (H2) is one of the finest remaining examples of late Romanesque church architecture in Hungary. Tarpa (H2), renowned generally for its monuments to vernacular architecture, is home to Hungary’s last remaining horse-driven mill, dating from the mid-nineteenth century.

Tákos (H2) there is a Calvinist Church here, built in 1766 from timber, wattle and daub, whose name has spread far and wide. The appearance of the beaten floor completely belies the passage of time, it still looks as it would have done in the eighteenth century. The folk-baroque furnishings and the floral ceiling comprising 58 decorated panels (no two of which are the same) are the work of a local craftsman. A belfry stands adjacent to the church.

Nyíregyháza (G2) this town – one of the largest on the Northern Great Plain – is characterized by its rich Eclectic architecture, its art nouveau Greek Catholic Church and Bishop’s Palace, and its fine, well-tended parks. In a huge pine forest at the edge of the town is Sóstó, already a favoured spa 300 years ago, whose thermal waters (50°C, 122°F) are particularly suited to the treatment of locomotor disorders. The water tower next to the lake has become the symbol of Sóstógyógyfürdő (G2) and is a protected monument. The Sóstó Open-Air Village Museum introduces visitors to the constituent parts of the Upper Tisza area, and includes nineteenth century peasant dwellings, workshops of honey-cake makers, sieve makers and boot makers, an old school, a collection of fire extinguishing equipment, a church and a wayside inn.

Nyírbátor (H2) the fifteenth century Calvinist Church is a Gothic masterpiece. It is also well known for its organ recitals, and for the adjacent wooden belfry, the largest and the most beautiful example of the Hungarian woodcarver’s art. The Minorite Roman Catholic Church contains a special rarity – the splendid eighteenth century carved and painted Passion Altar.

Máriapócs (G2) the eighteenth century Basilica at Máriapócs is the best known place of pilgrimage for Greek Catholics, with pilgrims regularly travelling from all over Europe. Each September, on the Sunday nearest to the feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is visited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. It became so popular because of the miraculous weeping icon of the Virgin Mary. The original painting was commissioned from a travelling artist, and it first shed tears in 1696. News of this quickly reached Vienna, as a result of which it was ordered by the Emperor to be taken to St. Stephen’s Cathedral there.
A replica was created by an artist from Kocise, and it is this that visitors today see at Máriapócs. The miracle has continued, however, because the copy too has shed tears, first in 1715 and later in 1905. On his visit to Hungary in 1991, Pope John Paul II himself made a pilgrimage to the Church.

Tiszadob (F2) the Andrássy Mansion was built in the 1880’s in the style of a French chateau of the Loire Valley for the then Foreign Minister Gyula Andrássy. He also laid out the English garden to the rear, which includes Hungary’s only box hedge maze.