Experience the best of Pécs

Pécs lies in southern Hungary, sheltered by the Mecsek hills so that its climate is warmer than most of the country. The Romans founded Sopianae here, and its early Christian burial chambers, painted with biblical scenes, are on UNESCO's World Heritage list. Széchenyi tér, the main square, is dominated by a former mosque from the Ottoman period, now a church, whose domed form betrays its past.

A cathedral with four towers stands on a rise nearby. The old porcelain works, with its shimmering eosin-glazed ceramics, has become a cultural quarter, and museums honour Victor Vasarely, the pioneer of op art who was born in the city, and the painter Csontváry. Pécs was a European Capital of Culture in 2010. Villány's red-wine cellars and the hot springs of Harkány lie to the south.

Villány reds, especially Cabernet Franc, are the region's pride, and Hungarian cooking here leans on paprika, pork and plenty of pastry. Almond trees blossom early in spring, and the city's café terraces fill from then through the summer.