Pannonhalma is a town in western Hungary, in Győr-Moson-Sopron county with approximately 4,000 inhabitants. It is about 20 km (12 mi) from Győr. Archduke Otto Habsburg’s heart is kept at the Pannonhalma Archabbey, while his body was laid at the Capuchin Crypt in the old Imperial capital of Vienna.

Amenities

Apart from local food and hardware stores, the town also has a number of coffee houses and pubs, wine cellars and two restaurants. There are two in the centre by a church and lower by a supermarket (Coop). By the church are a wine cellar, restaurants, coffee house, pubs, bank ATM, and post office. By the supermarket are stores, clinic for outpatients, pharmacy, elementary school, ambulance, police, fire-station.

Transport

There are regular commuter trains and local bus services to and from Győr. There are 4 bus direct to the archabbey a day. The railway station is situated at the lower end of the town at the bottom of a slope which rises more steeply at its end as it reaches the archabbey at the top of Szent Marton Hill, a distance of about 1.5 km (0.9 mi). Local bus services stop by church, in the top part of the town, closer to the archabbey. Over 100,000 tourists visit Pannonhalma each year, though most see little of the town itself. Tour buses normally stop at the car park near the modern reception centre towards the top of the hill, where there is good access for disabled visitors. There is a restaurant and small gift shop next to this car park, and it has good views over the surrounding countryside.

Wine

There are a number of arable farms in the area and many smallholders still grow grapes, often to make their own wine. Many gardens built on a slope include a small wine cellar excavated out of the soft sandstone.

The Pannonhalma-Sokoró wine region consists of 630 hectares and the main white grape varieties grown here are Pinot gris, Chardonnay, Rhine and Italian Riesling, Királyleányka, and Traminer (Gewürztraminer). An Ice wine variety is also produced from Riesling. There are fewer red wines in this area; the most widespread is Kékfrankos.