In the footsteps of St. Lucy's Day: witch tales, charms, and common sense – with sustainable winter getaways

Tokaj-Hegyalja (the Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the combination of land use, viticulture, and settlements represents a heritage inherently tied to long-term thinking.

Tarcal: a single sentence that has become a tourism story

The local narrative of Tarcal is linked to an iconic medieval decree by King Coloman the Learned: his famous proclamation (“about witches... since they do not exist...”) is associated with the settlement. This “witches do not exist” message has now become a creative, light-hearted yet historically rooted reference in Tarcal's tourism communication.

From a sustainability perspective, Tarcal tells its story “well”: not by overemphasising mysticism, but with a clever duality where fearsome beliefs are framed by common sense, local history, and cultural landscape. This also helps ensure that visitors come not for a “witch hunt” but to interpret, learn, and connect.

Bodrogkeresztúr: the “Prison” site of the Keresztúri Kincsestár and witchcraft stories

In Bodrogkeresztúr, one of the strongest elements of the Keresztúri Kincsestár is the storytelling linked to the “Prison” site. Local descriptions highlight that the town’s everyday life was marked not only by “earthly” crimes but also by “mystical, underworld tales,” with “an incredible number of stories and legends about the village’s witches,” curses, milk spoiling, and even discovery tales linked to the St. Lucy’s chair.

Here, St. Lucy’s Day is not abstract folklore but part of the local community’s microhistory: stories like “how they identified the witch” reveal how a community’s memory, fears, and humour operate simultaneously. From a sustainable tourism perspective, this offers a typical “small-scale, high-value” experience: it requires little infrastructure but is impactful and rooted in local content.

In Ribe, Denmark, the HEX! Museum of Witch Hunt explores the social mechanisms of 16th–17th century witch trials: how fear turns into suspicion, suspicion into accusation, and accusation into irreversible consequences. The museum highlights that Ribe was a key centre of Danish witch trials, with its streets serving as the backdrop for Denmark’s most famous case, the trial of Maren Spliids, who was burned as a witch in 1641.

As a parallel to St. Lucy’s Day, this site is particularly powerful: while folklore often recounts “recognition” techniques (like the St. Lucy’s chair), HEX focuses on what happens when the desire for recognition becomes institutionalised power. The visit is thus not about “thrills” but responsible remembrance and learning.

Sustainability tip: Ribe’s historic urban fabric and the museum’s focus support slow, pedestrian exploration with low impact and high cultural value.

Image: © Sydvestjyske Museer  Photo: Gitte Lindeborg

The story of the Pendle witches (1612) is one of Lancashire’s most famous heritage narratives, forming the basis of a route-based visitor experience. Visit Lancashire’s guide offers a “trail” concept: the tour starts at the Pendle Heritage Centre and follows the paths of the story’s characters through the Ribble Valley to Lancaster Castle, where the trials took place.

The Pendle Heritage Centre is not just a “starting point” but a standalone sustainable attraction: a museum and visitor centre that interprets the Pendle witches’ story as local heritage, complemented by gardens, short walks, and a tearoom – making it easy to organise as a low-impact, leisurely multi-hour experience.

Sustainability tip: such heritage trails are authentic and responsible when the story is presented not as an “attraction” but as a lesson, encouraging visits to local providers, institutions, and pedestrian exploration.

Image: https://www.visitlancashire.com/things-to-do/the-lancashire-witches