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- October 13° · 6 rainy days
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- €price 1 of 5
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- 1–2days
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Subotica is a day on foot: the Town Hall, the synagogue and the Raichle Palace, built between 1902 and 1912, stand no more than half a kilometre apart in a straight line. Lake Palić, east of the city, has a page of its own; for the city itself the only real decision is the day of the week.
The synagogue was never drawn for Subotica. Marcell Komor and Dezső Jakab sent the design to an 1899 competition for a new synagogue in Szeged, where another scheme was chosen, and the Jewish community of Subotica took theirs. The shell was finished in 1902 and the building consecrated in 1903, with 950 seats on the ground floor and 530 in the gallery. Restoration ended in late 2017; since then it has been open to visitors, and it still serves as a synagogue for the major holy days.
The day for Subotica is Tuesday to Friday. The synagogue is closed on Mondays, there is no tour up the Town Hall tower on Sundays, and at weekends the synagogue shuts at 2pm — arrive on a Saturday afternoon and you see both buildings from the outside.
Guides for Subotica
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Subotica in 2 days
→The Town Hall's viewing-platform tour runs only once a day, at noon — the whole first day is built around that slot…
Day trips from Subotica
→The most natural day trip from Subotica is Palić, eight kilometres east, with a page of its own, so what's here is just…
Where to stay in Subotica
→Subotica has no second area to weigh up: the main buildings and the railway station all sit around the same small…
What Subotica costs
→No ticket in Subotica costs more than €2.10, and two of the five main stops are free — the biggest line in the day is a…
The Subotica the main five skip
→The Municipal Museum stands on Synagogue Square, in a house two years older than the Town Hall — a stop the list of…
What to eat in Subotica
→The cuisine of northern Bačka follows the Hungarian influence of the plain — fish stew, perkelt and kulen sausage are…
The best time to visit Subotica
→Subotica isn't chosen by month but by day of the week: Tuesday–Friday, all year, since that's when both the synagogue…
Getting around Subotica
→Subotica has no airport of its own — entry is Belgrade airport, and the last leg is the fast Soko train, 79 min with no…
Mistakes everyone makes in Subotica
→The wrong day shuts half the town, missing the noon tour leaves the tower for an outside view only, and a train without…
What to see in Subotica
The Town Hall
Komor and Jakab, 1908–1912. The ceremonial hall has sixteen stained-glass windows by Miksa Róth, and the tower is 76 metres; the viewing platform at 45.5 metres is reached only with a guide, at noon.
closed Monday, Sunday (Saturday groups only) · booking: no for individuals; groups book ahead
The synagogue
Hungarian Art Nouveau, its dome resting on an octagonal steel frame over eight steel columns that also carry the galleries. Entry is €2.10; children under ten go free.
€2.10 · closed Monday
The Raichle Palace
The house and studio the architect Ferenc Raichle built for himself in 1904 by the railway station, so it would be among the first buildings anyone arriving by train saw. It has held the Contemporary Art Gallery since 1968.
€1.70 · closed Sunday, Monday
The Cathedral of St Teresa of Ávila
A Baroque church from 1773–1779, with a 64-metre bell tower; a minor basilica since 1974. The altarpieces are by Josef Schoefft of Pest.
free
Palić
The lake east of the city, with a page of its own. The Water Tower and the Great Terrace in the lakeside park date from 1912 and are by the same Komor and Jakab — after the Town Hall, the same hands on holiday.
free
Two things you probably did not know
The Subotica synagogue of 1902 is one of the few art nouveau synagogues in Europe and the only one preserved in Serbia. Its restoration was completed at the end of 2017, after four decades; the dome rests on an octagonal steel frame above eight steel columns, which also carry the galleries.
Subotica is officially trilingual: Serbian, Hungarian and Croatian are equal in the municipality. Signs, documents and council sessions are in all three.
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Within reach from here
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