Zirc Arboretum is Hungary's highest-situated living tree collection, spread across 400 metres above sea level. Nestled right next to the Cistercian abbey in the heart of Zirc, this green oasis traces its roots back to 1780, when Cistercian monks planted the first trees while laying out an English-style garden around a medieval fishpond.

Today the arboretum holds nearly six hundred species of trees and shrubs, including seventy conifer species - among them Hungary's oldest eastern white pines. In spring, protected herbaceous plants bloom along the banks of the Cuha stream, while squirrels scamper through the branches and roe deer occasionally appear among the trees. Stone and wooden bridges cross the stream, leading past a cascading waterfall and natural riverbed sections, with rock gardens and shrubs framing the picturesque pond near the entrance.

• Town entrance - on Damjanich street, next to the pond, in central Zirc
• Northern entrance - with parking, convenient for groups arriving by bus

• Opening hours: 15 March - 30 April and 1 September - 18 November: 9:00-17:00; 1 May - 31 August: 9:00-19:00
• Admission (2018): adult 800 HUF, student/senior 600 HUF, family ticket (2+2) 2400 HUF
• Guided tours available for groups up to 25 people (extra fee)
• Dogs are not permitted
• A two-hundred-year-old small-leaved lime avenue begins at the northern entrance

Along the recommended route of about a hundred remarkable trees, look out for the 170-year-old Jurányi lime and the Amur cork tree, famous for its rubbery bark - living witnesses to this extraordinary garden's long history.