Craving some flat cycling in Europe? Many people think of Holland but you should also consider Hungary. It may not be as well known as some of Europe’s gems but there are certainly plenty of worthy sights and pleasant places to linger.

Hungary’s Lake Balaton is the largest lake in central Europe and offers plenty of beaches, attractions and nice views. Budapest is a great city break, with several Unesco World Heritage sights and spas. If you can make it to Tokaj, you can sample some of the world’s finest wines.

Our route took us into Hungary from Slovenia, coming into the town of Lenti. The border crossing was a formality. The guards barely gazed at our passports. From there we headed up the north side of Lake Balaton, largely on a paved cycle path, cut cross-country to Szekesfehervar and along the north side of Lake Velencei-to into Budapest. We followed the Danube out of Budapest and into Slovakia. The terrain wasn’t very challenging and many parts of the country are flat, although don’t hold it against us if you find a few rolling hills out there.

Hungary’s roads were generally in good condition, although bicycles are banned on many of the larger roads. There is usually a cycle path available but not always. Coming into Budapest we were stuck on Routes 6 and 7 for some time before a path finally popped up. None of the drivers, including a few police cars, seemed to mind when we cycled on roads where technically we shouldn’t have and everyone gave us lots of space.

We were given a 1:300 000 ADAC map, printed in 1996. It was still fairly accurate, despite being over a decade old. Only a ring road around Budapest, the M0, and one motorway around Lake Balaton were not shown. Some of the road numbers had changed but this wasn’t hard to figure out. We also used several maps available free from tourist bureaus: the Hungary Camping Map, the Budapest and Surrounds Bicycle Route Map and the Kerekparral Budapesten, a map of cycle routes and repair shops around Budapest.

Outside of tourist sights, we were very impressed with campgrounds, which often had free wifi and in any case were much cheaper than their European counterparts and always very clean. We mostly used campsites in Hungary instead of wild camping since they were affordable and also we tended to be in fairly touristy areas at high season, making it harder to find a quiet place for the tent.

As for money, we found Hungary a good budget destination. Campgrounds ran at 2,500-3,000 Huf total (about 10-12 euros) in the high season, although you should double that figure for Budapest. A large beer runs between 300-500 Huf in most bars, although in very touristy towns you may find beers closer to 700-800 Huf for a half litre. We never paid for internet access but in Budapest we saw it advertised at 350 Huf an hour.

The one difficulty in Hungary was the language! It’s more challenging than in any other country we’ve visited to date and few people outside the cities speak English.

Also, if you need to find camping or bike gear in Budapest, you may struggle unless you know where to go. Here are some of the places we found helpful:

• Velvart: a bike shop where we found shoes as well as a range of accessories and parts. It was on the corner of Vőrősmarty Ut. and Wesselényi Ut.

• Turabolt — Right next to the Keleti Pályaudvar train station on Kerepesi Ut. They have a good selection of camping and hiking gear, including Thermarest and Petzl brands. Campstoves, lots of jackets and clothes and sleeping bags. We even saw a few Ortlieb bike bags.

• Mountex — We never made it to this shop, but it was recommended to us by several people. They have a few locations in the city, including 61-63 Margit Krt.