Lillafüred (Miskolc-Lillafüred) is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. Officially, it is a part of

Miskolc Miskolc ( , , ; Czech language, Czech and sk, Miškovec; german: Mischkolz; yi, script=Latn, Mishkoltz; ro, Mișcolț) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 (1 Jan 2014) Miskolc is the ...

, though it is almost 12 kilometres away from the city, in the

Bükk The Bükk Mountains () are a section of the North Hungarian Mountains of the Inner Western Carpathians. Much of the area is included in the Bükk National Park. Geography Although Kékes, the highest point in Hungary, is not here but in the n ...

Mountains. Lillafüred is a tourist resort.

History

Count András Bethlen, the minister of agriculture, decided in the 1890s to build a holiday resort near Lake Hámori. The resort was named after his niece, Erzsébet (nicknamed: "Lilla") Vay, who was the sister of the then-

ispán The ispánRady 2000, p. 19.''Stephen Werbőczy: The Customary Law of the Renowned Kingdom of Hungary in Three Parts (1517)'', p. 450. or countEngel 2001, p. 40.Curta 2006, p. 355. ( hu, ispán, la, comes or comes parochialis, and sk, župan)Kirs ...

, or count, of

Borsod County Borsod was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. The capital of the county was Miskolc. After World War II, the county was merged with the Hungarian parts of Abaúj-Torna County and Zemplén counties to form Borsod-Aba� ...

, Elemér Vay. The Palace Hotel was built by

István Bethlen Count István Bethlen de Bethlen (8 October 1874, Gernyeszeg – 5 October 1946, Moscow) was a Hungarian aristocrat and statesman and served as prime minister from 1921 to 1931. Early life The scion of an old Bethlen de Bethlen noble fam ...

Tourist attractions

Palace Hotel (Palotaszálló)

The Palace Hotel was designed by

Kálmán Lux Kálmán is an ancient Germanic origin Hungarian surname and male given name. Outside Hungary, the name occurs sometimes in the form Kalman. It was derived from the Germanic name: Koloman, Coloman or Kolman. The Germanic name Coloman has been ...

and built between 1927 and 1930 in neo-

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

style. One of the hotel's restaurants is named after

King Matthias Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...

. Its

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows show the castles of historical Hungary. The hotel is surrounded by a large park with rare plants.

Hanging gardens

The

hanging gardens The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World listed by Hellenic culture. They were described as a remarkable feat of engineering with an ascending series of tiered gardens containing a wide variety of tre ...

are below the hotel, between the streams

Szinva Szinva is a stream in northern Hungary, a tributary to the river Sajó. It originates in the Bükk Mountains. It is long, of which can be found the city of Miskolc, through which the stream flows from west to east. More than 70 bridges were buil ...

and

Garadna Garadna is a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Hungary. Etymology The name comes from Slavic/Early Slovak adjective ''gradná'' - "belonging to the castle", "an extramural settlement". The name was adopted by Hungarians before the sp ...

. The highest waterfall in Hungary, at 20 meters in height, can be found here. The waterfall itself is artificial. The internal water tubes form the "Anna Cave" at the bottom.

Caves

There are three natural caves not far from the hotel: *

Anna Cave The Anna Cave (also called ''Petőfi Cave'') is a natural limestone cave in Miskolc-Lillafüred, Hungary, near the waterfall. The cave was discovered in 1833, when opening a shaft in the limestone in order to provide the iron furnace at Hámor wi ...

, with plant fossils preserved in limestone; *

István Cave The István Cave (''St. Stephen's Cave'') is a limestone cave in Miskolc-Lillafüred, Northern Hungary. The cave was formed in the Triassic period and is about 710 m long. It was discovered in 1913. According to local legend, a dog fell into a 15 ...

, a large

dripstone cave Dripstone may refer to: *Hood mould or dripstone, an architectural feature for handling rain water * Dripstone, a type of speleothem (cave formation) that includes for example stalactites * Dripstone, a type of water filter made of porous stone * D ...

; * Szeleta Cave, a cave where many Paleolithic relics have been found.

Lake Hámori

The artificial lake was formed in the early 19th century by the damming of the Szinva and Garadna, to supply the iron furnace with water. The lake is 1.5 kilometres long. In the summer, boats and paddle boats can be rented.

Ottó Herman's house

A small museum dedicated to the well-known ornithologist and polymath

Ottó Herman Ottó Herman (26 June 1835 – 27 December 1914) was a Hungarian zoologist, ethnographer, archaeologist, and politician; a polymath recognized as a pioneer of Hungarian natural history research. He made numerous studies on Hungarian spiders, bir ...

. (Not to be confused with

Ottó Herman Museum The Ottó Herman Museum is the largest museum in Miskolc, Hungary. It holds more than 600,000 artifacts. Its main focus is on archaeology, mineralogy, arts, history, and ethnography. History The museum was founded in 1899 under the name Borsod- ...

, which is in downtown Miskolc).

Miller's Rock

There are two different local legends explaining why there is a crucifix on the top of the rock. According to the better-known version, the daughter of a rich miller jumped down from the rock with her lover, the miller's poor apprentice, because her parents didn't allow them to marry. The other legend claims an old miller jumped from the rock when he learned that his young wife was cheating on him. This second version is less commonly known, but it was mentioned by the famous author Mór Jókai in one of his books.

Fehérkőlápa

The area south from Lillafüred Valley gets its name ("marsh of the white stone") from a rock which provides views of the area, and a nearby marsh. The place is within Bükk National Park. There is a guesthouse there, which is depicted in

Vilmos Kondor Vilmos Kondor (born 1954) is the name (possibly pseudonym) of a successful Hungarian author. His seven crime novels, known as the Sinful Budapest Cycle, depict the adventures of a journalist, Zsigmond Gordon, in Budapest from the 1930s to the 195 ...

's novel

Budapest Noir ''Budapest Noir'' is the first Hungarian noir written by Vilmos Kondor and published by HarperCollins in Hungary in February 2012. The novel is about a crime journalist Zsigmond Gordon, who wants to find the killer of a Jewish girl found dead in ...

Trout farm

A trout farm is situated a few kilometres away from Lillafüred, and from there visitors can buy freshly grilled or smoked trout. The narrow-gauge train that departs from Miskolc makes a stop at the farm on the days it is open. The stop is after the main Lillafüred stop.

Hámor Rock

Used by rock climbers, climbing competitions are held at Hámor Rock every January.

References

External links

Lillafüred official tourist portal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lillafured Neighbourhoods of Miskolc Resorts in Hungary