Canadians returning to Hungary after a two-year pandemic pause will love what they find following a host of developments in 2021 – dubbed “the year of rebirth” – in the central European nation, say Hungarian tourism officials.

On the promotional trail ahead of the re-launch of Air Canada flights on May 3, the execs updated select media last week at the Hungarian consulate in Toronto on developments in Budapest and elsewhere in the country.

The resumption of Air Canada flights features the mainline carrier replacing pre-pandemic Rouge service on a thrice-weekly summer sked through October.

The flights will also cater to the large Hungarian diaspora in Canada, noted Hungarian Consul General Valér Palkovits, who pointed out that Budapest can also serve as a gateway to the Balkans and beyond.

For those planning to stay, Budapest is also a central access point for several other European capitals that are within a five-hour drive or train journey, including Vienna and Prague.

The city is also a popular stop for Canadians and others on Europe’s river cruise circuit, many of whom visit pre- or post- excursion.

Ivan Ljubinkovic, head of tourism development at Visit Hungary, says the city wasn’t idle during the pandemic, engaging in a host of infrastructure improvements, including the addition of 35 new hotels and modernizing many of the 600 B&Bs in the city.

Major projects include the revival and renovation of the Buda Castle district; construction of a major city park and cultural hub, due to be completed this year (“from ruin to amazing in six years”); and the addition of many kilometres of bike lanes, amongst them.

“2021 was the year of rebirth,” says Ljubinkovic. “What you’ve seen before, you will not see now.”

Visitors, however, will still find a thousand years of history across Buda and Pest, the halves of the city bisected by the Danube river, as well as the city’s ubiquitous thermal bath/hot spring lifestyle, a revival of Jewish culture (including the second largest synagogue in Europe), and a burgeoning culinary scene that now includes seven Michelin restaurants. (Insider’s tip: try the chocolate!)

Canadians are less likely to be familiar with Hungary beyond Budapest, Ljubinkovic acknowledges, and he points to spa and wine tourism as being distinctive themes beyond the capital, as well as the Lake Balaton resort area.

He also notes that there are eight UNESCO sites in the country, ranging from caves to small villages (as well as Buda Castle).

“People are not aware of how much there is to discover in Hungary,” he says, adding that most points in the country can be reached via good roads and rail network in less than three hours. “People spend two to three days in Budapest, but (there is so much to do) it could be visited for a week.”

One region visitors currently are unlikely to visit is the area along Hungary’s border with the Ukraine, which has already seen a stream of close to 200,000 refugees from the war with Russia cross over.

But Palkovits noted that Budapest is far from the border and things in rest of the country remain “safe and normal.” Moreover, he added that Hungary is a member of NATO, but lamented, “We never thought we would see this (war) in the 21st century.”