Big Spring Bucket List

After the winter, lots of people feel spring fatigue: our vitamin reserves are depleted, we long for sunlight after all the short, grey days. It’s been a long time since the Christmas break, so we need to relax. If you can, include a mini holiday during spring time: travel somewhere for a few days at least. After a weekend full of spa water, healthy food, long walks and a little sport – whether it’s horse riding, cycling, swimming or Nordic walking – you will come back a person refreshed.

You must visit the Alcsút Arboretum before the end of March to see the country's largest field of snowdrops in its full glory. Twenty-eight varieties of seven snowdrop species cover a 2.5-hectare area. (If you would also like to see a blanket of crocuses, travel to the Kámon Arboretum in Szombathely in February-March.)

Easter is the time for the family, who might not have been all together since Christmas, to celebrate again. Decorate willow twigs, bake a cake, eat some spring onions. At this time, mothers prepare their children's favourite food (whether they are 3 or 30 years old). You can also have an egg hunt in the garden for the kids and you can recharge your batteries after lunch in the company of your loved ones. 

You can do this at the Kőröshegy Lavender Farm, on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, which has been receiving guests almost all year round since 2012. Depending on the season, you can pick lavender, carve pumpkins, buy flower bulbs or pick flowers and enjoy the fantastic view.

Visiting castles and palaces is a great thing to do in every season, but in spring if the unpredictable weather surprises you with a little rain, you have somewhere to hide until it stops. Gardens are usually the most beautiful in the spring, and you can imagine yourself as royalty as you stroll among the trimmed bushes and blooming flowers. The Festetics palaces in Dég and Keszthely, the Royal Palace of Gödöllő, the Andrássy palace in Tiszadob or the park of the on Edelény Palace Island are good choices. 

You can pick wild garlic along popular hiking routes or in the depths of forests, so you can collect this fresh spring delicacy while on a pleasant day out. There are strict rules about collecting wild garlic (for example, you’re not allowed to pick it in protected and privately owned areas and you can take home maximum two kilos a day). Keep these rules in mind, and if you are not sure that you recognise the plant, you should buy it at the market instead. 

Almond trees are the earliest fruit trees to bloom in spring and you will find plenty of them when driving or cycling this way. It’s a wonderful sight. In the meantime, enjoy the beauty, the scent of flowers, the warm sunshine and blow dandelion puffballs, listen to the birds or have a picnic outdoors.