Egyek: Landscape and Cultural Heritage

Egyek combines protected landscapes with distinctive architecture and places of remembrance. If you are researching hotels in Egyek for a trip, it helps to consider whether you are mainly interested in the local landscapes, the town’s architecture, or other destinations in the Hajdú-Bihar travel region. The distinctions below clarify the local connections and provide a factual basis for your planning.

Landscape and Protected Areas

Most of the Ohat-erdő TVT is within Egyek’s administrative area. The area is under strict protection and may be visited only with permission; check the permit requirements before planning a visit. Another landscape feature is the remaining parts of the Pusztakócsi Marshes, which have been protected since 1973. The visitor area of the Egyek-Pusztakócsi Marshes can be explored on foot or by bicycle.

For Göbe-erdő, also called Göbe-morotva, the town boundary helps put things in context: the 173-hectare area lies mostly in Tiszadorogma and partly in Egyek. The bodies of water also have distinct local connections: part of the Ohati Fishponds is supplied by the Nyugati-főcsatorna; the Ohat IV fishing lake is also located in Egyek. These names are not interchangeable when orienting yourself in the landscape.

Architecture and Remembrance

Egyek’s main square is home to a late Baroque-Empire-style Roman Catholic church, with stone statues of Saints Peter and Paul. On the green in front of the church stands a First World War memorial created by Horváth Béla: it depicts Christ holding a fallen soldier in his arms. The church and memorial are directly connected spatially and mark different aspects of the town’s history.

Built in 1925, the school building of the Újtelepi általános iskola is designed in the Székler style. Its façade depicts the scene of the Blood Oath with Árpád; the Hungarian coat of arms is in the center. The school building adds another distinctive façade motif to the sacred architecture and war memorial.

The Kálváriás Cemetery on Bartók Béla Street lies on a double kurgan. It is the only exclusively Catholic cemetery in Hajdú-Bihar County. This site thus combines a distinctive landform with a religious affiliation at county level.

Hajdú-Bihar as a Regional Context

The wider Hajdú-Bihar travel region includes the area of the Hortobágy National Park – the Puszta World Heritage Site. It covers nearly 75,000 hectares in the Great Hungarian Plain in eastern Hungary. As a cultural landscape, it preserves visible evidence of more than 2,000 years of traditional pastoralism. The Hortobágyi-halastó pond system has Ramsar site, Important Bird Area and Natura 2000 designations; it is also part of the World Heritage Site.

For walks, the Hortobágyi-halastó nature trail offers routes of 3.6, 5.4 or 10 kilometers, with no difficult sections. The three distances make it easy to compare the routes by length. Hortobágy Wildlife Park also offers a bookable Land Rover safari with an expert guide to see Przewalski’s horses and aurochs; check the booking conditions before making plans.

The Shepherd Museum is also part of the wider Hajdú-Bihar travel region. It presents the lives of shepherds, along with handmade clothing, tools and decorated personal items. The museum is housed in a former coach house that belonged to the Hortobágyi-Csárda complex. These regional themes complement the local perspective on Egyek with additional natural, landscape and cultural connections.

Discover more destinations: Balmazújváros, Hortobágy, Tiszacsege.

To the main travel overview: Balmazújvárosi.