4 activities with kids for summer weekends to make the holidays fun

The firefly swarm is a special natural phenomenon that everyone should see at some point. In the Alcsút Arboretum, it has become a tradition that around Midsummer Night – that is, the second half of June – hundreds of people come to admire the amazing dance of the fireflies. We urge you to do the same, as it’s really hard to imagine the breathtaking spectacle until you have experienced it. Be prepared to answer the familiar “why?” question in the midst of all the astonishment. Here is a little help: the phenomenon is actually a mating dance. Waiting in the grass, the flightless females wait for the males – who are much smaller than the females but also light up – and fly around in search of their mate.

Most children are big fans of medieval stories and castles associated with heroic deeds are often high on their bucket list. While a summer holiday may not be enough to visit all the country’s forts and castle ruins with the underage members of the family, here’s some good news: you can kill two birds with one stone in the Dinnyés Castle Park. That’s exactly how many castle mock-ups you can see in the Castle Park and Skanzen. Inside the promenade, which forms a map of historic Hungary, are miniature castles that are in reality rather ruins. The mock-ups (which have been entered in the Guinness Book of World Records) are faithfully constructed according to their original layout, and are laid out according to the medieval counties.

Decades ago, many of us probably dreamed of going down in history as space explorers or astronauts – an idea that probably still exists in the minds of many children today – or, if it hasn’t happened yet, it will probably come to them after a visit to the Planetarium in Pécs. In the country’s first optical planetarium, thanks to technological innovations, a trip around the Earth or into space feels incredibly realistic, as the Digitarium allows visitors to find themselves on the Arctic Circle or at the other end of the Milky Way in an instant. Younger and older astronomy fans can also listen to interesting educational lectures and learn about the mysteries of electricity or magnetism through fun science experiments.

Every year, the organisers of the Veszprém Street Music Festival attract performers to Veszprém who, over the course of four days, make visitors feel as if they have travelled around the world, while remaining in the narrow but louder and more cheerful streets and squares of the city. This summer, Veszprém, which will be the European Capital of Culture in 2023, will again feature street musicians from home and abroad, creating a carnival atmosphere that will have even the youngest members of the family dancing and clapping. They can even pick up a tambourine and join in the fun on the improvised stages.