Mar 13, 2015

Mayor Kristof Pajer was looking for a way to save his tiny Hungarian community from extinction. The solution? He put the whole village up for rent.

For 210,000 forints ($730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land.

Guests are offered the temporary title of deputy mayor, giving them the right to oversee law and order and rename the four village streets for the length of their stay.

: Worker Laszlo Tivadar walks with a horse from the village of Megyer, Hungary, Friday, March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses in the village that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

: Interior view of a barn belonging to a house is pictured in the village of Megyer, Hungary, Friday March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses in the village that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

: A mailbox stands besides of one of the four streets in the village of Megyer, Hungary, Friday March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses in the village that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

: Chicken walk in the mud in their compound in the village of Megyer, Hungary, Friday, March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses in the village that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

: A cow peers out of a cowshed in the village of Megyer, Hungary, Friday, March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses in the village that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

: Workers are busy with construction works in the village of Megyer, Hungary, Friday, March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses in the village that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

: The cemetery of the village Megyer, Hungary, photographed Friday, March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

: A house is pictured in the village of Megyer, Hungary, Friday, March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

: Interior view of a house from the village of Megyer, Hungary, Friday, March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

: Changing rooms for the soccer pitch in the village of Megyer, Veszprem county, 190 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. The village of Megyer, population 18, has put itself up for rent to companies and tourists. For 210,000 forints ($750; 690 euro) a day, a prospective renter gets seven guesthouses that sleep 39 people, four streets, a bus stop, a barn, a chicken yard, six horses, two cows, three sheep and four hectares (10 acres) of farmland – along with the possibility of temporarily being named deputy mayor. (AP Photo/MTI, Lajos Nagy)

: A signpost at the entrance to the village of Megyer, Veszprem county, 190 kilometers southwest of Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. The village of Megyer, population 18, has put itself up for rent to companies and tourists. For 210,000 forints ($750; 690 euro) a day, a prospective renter gets seven guesthouses that sleep 39 people, four streets, a bus stop, a barn, a chicken yard, six horses, two cows, three sheep and four hectares (10 acres) of farmland – along with the possibility of temporarily being named deputy mayor. (AP Photo/MTI, Lajos Nagy)

: In this Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015 file photo, houses are reflected in a puddle on the main road in the village of Megyer, Veszprem county, 190 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of Budapest, Hungary. Rooms at Hungaryís village-for-rent are going fast. Over 300 inquiries and reservations for 280 guests have been made since Mayor Kristof Pajer last week began advertising the village of Megyer, available for 210,000 forints ($760; 690 euros) a day. Pajer said Thursday, March 5, 2015, tourists are coming from as far away as Australia, South Africa, Sweden and the United States and the village “is booked solid in August and most of April and May.” (AP Photo/MTI, Lajos Nagy, File)

: Interior view of a house from the village of Megyer, Hungary, photographed Friday, March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

: A man walks on one of the four streets in the village of Megyer, Hungary, Friday, March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

: A sleeping room is pictured in a house from the village of Megyer, Hungary, Friday, March 13, 2015. For 210,000 forints (US Dollar 730) a day, visitors get access to seven guest houses that sleep 39 people, a bus stop, horses, chickens and four hectares (10 acres) of farm land. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

A decade ago, the village Megyer, 190 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of Budapest, was on the edge of ruin. The population had dropped to only 18 after the fall of communism also put an end to the collective farms which were a key source of employment in the area and many residents moved away.

After falling in love with Megyer’s peace and quiet during a chance visit in 2005, Pajer and some friends purchased properties in the village and turned them into guesthouses. But business was slow and they “couldn’t get over the tipping point to operate them profitably,” said Pajer, who has been mayor since 2006.

“Then we got the idea … to create a unified package for tourists,” he said.

Pajer, an engineer who commutes between Budapest and Megyer and also manages a couple of rock bands, has been organizing a week-long rock festival in Megyer since 2011.

“A thousand visitors pitch their tents all over the village during the festival” at the end of June, said Pajer, who is also turning a vacant, two-room house into the village museum.

Since an advertisement about the village on a Hungarian website gained international attention last month, hundreds of reservations have been made from as far away as Australia, South Africa, Sweden and the U.S. – Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press

For rent: One Hungarian village, and a mayoral title

Leave a Reply Cancel