I visited Pannonhalma in November of 2024 by car from Budapest - the drive is about an hour and a half long. The only other visitors that I eventually saw were a group of high schoolers on a field trip, but the upper parking lot did not have a single available space. I was about to drive down the hill to the parking lot near the "visitor information center" when I noticed someone who looked like a repairman employed by the abbey getting into his car parked in the slightly lower-lying area by the south side of the building. That smaller lot is probably not meant for visitors, but there are no impediments to exit or entry, so I counted myself lucky to be able to park that close on a rainy day.

If I turned right from there and walked around the complex clockwise, I would reach the visitor entrance in about a minute from my parking spot. However, despite being familiar with Clyde's review below, I still walked counterclockwise to the main entrance, engaged a woman in an office by the gate in a conversation regarding access to the abbey, and was directed to continue to walk around the building, which in the end meant that I practically circumnavigated it. Somewhat unfortunately, the grandeur of such a complex can only be truly appreciated via aerial photographic shots. The ground-level approach perspectives barely hint at that.

The abbey is over a thousand years old - it was actually recognized as a World Heritage property on the 1,000th anniversary of its founding - but most of its buildings were extensively renovated between the 18th and early 20th centuries and do not project a feeling of old. Nor is there much exuberance here - just a handful of eye-catching details.

There are only a couple of areas of the great complex that are accessible to visitors. The first one is the basilica with the crypt and the cloisters. There are fine features throughout, but hardly anything that can be called extraordinary. As in any such church, there is a treasury as well.

The other accessible area is the library, which is as impressive as an old library can be and is easily the most outstanding part of the complex. This is one of the largest ecumenical book collections anywhere, in a marvelous 19th-century classicist interior.

I could have explored the grounds outside of the main complex with a few additional minor points of interest, chapels, and gardens. It was raining outside, so I didn't. My visit lasted just over an hour. I appreciate the history of the place and the role the Benedictine monks played in the cultural fabric of medieval Europe - and that may be a sufficient justification for the inscription - but on balance, the abbey felt short of exceptional. If not for the library, I would probably rate it even lower.