Hungary
Lake Balaton
Hungary's inland sea: warm shallow water and loud resorts on one shore, volcanic hills, vineyards and an abbey on the other.
Balaton is the largest lake in central Europe and, for a landlocked country, it does the work of a coast: about seventy-five kilometres of shallow, faintly green water with a resort town every few kilometres around it. The south shore shelves so gently you can wade out a long way, and it takes the families and the nightlife; the north shore is the interesting one, backed by extinct volcanic cones, vineyards and the abbey on the Tihany peninsula. Private motorboats are banned, so the water belongs to sails.
Suggested stay
3–6 days
Language
Hungarian
Currency
HUF
Timezone
UTC+2
Why you'll love Lake Balaton
The water shallow, warm by high summer and calm enough to wade a long way out, which is why Hungarian families have come here for generations
The north shore extinct volcanic cones with basalt organ pipes on top, vineyards running down to the water and a cellar in every village
Tihany a peninsula that nearly cuts the lake in two, with a Benedictine abbey above it, a second lake behind it and lavender on the slopes
Sails with motorboats banned the lake is sailed hard, and the long race up its length and back is a national institution
Best time to visit
Apr-Oct
16-28° days
46.957° N, 17.889° E
UTC+2 · Europe/Budapest
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Weather & when to go to Lake Balaton
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Apr-Oct
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Lake Balaton
This is a summer lake and it does not pretend otherwise. Once the season ends much of the shore simply shuts: beaches, passenger boats, restaurants and whole resort streets close from autumn until spring, and the winter is cold and grey with the water sometimes icing over. July and August bring the opposite problem, with the warmest water, the fullest beaches and the south shore at its loudest. June and September get the lake open and still sane.
Top things to do in Lake Balaton
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Tihany Abbey and the peninsula
history 👍 PopularA Benedictine abbey founded in 1055 on a bluff over the narrowest point of the lake, its foundation deed the oldest document containing Hungarian words and its founder buried in the crypt below. Behind it the peninsula holds an inner lake, lavender slopes and a walking loop round the old volcanic crater rim.
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Badacsony - the basalt hill and its cellars
scenic ⭐ Highly recommendedA flat-topped extinct volcano standing straight out of the north shore, with columnar basalt organ pipes near the summit, terraced vineyards on the flanks and old press-houses among them. Paths climb from the village to lookouts over the whole western lake.
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Balatonfured's promenade
culture arts 👍 PopularThe oldest resort on the lake, built around a mineral spring that still runs in a pavilion in the main square, with a tree-lined waterfront promenade where each planted tree carries a name, and the biggest sailing harbour on the shore beside it.
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The Kali Basin
off beaten path ⭐ Highly recommendedA hollow of stone-walled villages a few kilometres inland from the north shore, with meadows of strewn boulders left by the old sea, thatched and whitewashed houses, cellars and lanes that go nowhere in particular.
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Siofok and the south shore beaches
nightlife music 👍 PopularThe biggest resort on the lake, where the water stays waist-deep for hundreds of metres and the summer nightlife strip is the loudest in the country. Municipal beaches are fenced and grassed rather than sandy, and most charge for entry.
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Festetics Palace, Keszthely
historyAn enormous baroque palace at the western end of the lake with a helmet-roofed tower, a famous historic library of tens of thousands of volumes and formal gardens, sitting at the head of a real town rather than a resort.
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Szigliget castle
historyA ruined hilltop fortress above the north shore that never fell to the Ottomans, reached on foot up through a village of thatched houses, with the widest view there is of the lake and the line of volcanic cones behind it.
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Sailing on the lake
windsportsPrivate motorboats are banned, so Balaton is a sailing lake: dinghies, keelboats and a long-distance race up its length that Hungarians treat as a national event. The wind rises fast over shallow water, and storm warnings are flashed from beacons around the shore.
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Tapolca's cave lake
adventureA flooded karst passage directly under the streets of a small town near the north shore, rowed through in a low boat with clear green water beneath and rock a foot above your head.
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Fogas, langos and the shore kitchen
foodPike-perch from the lake, grilled whole or crumbed, is the local fish; langos is fried dough under sour cream and cheese, sold from beach stands; and the north shore whites, grown on basalt, are poured everywhere along it.
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The lakeside cycle route
adventureA marked cycle path runs the whole way round the lake, roughly two hundred kilometres, flat and busy on the south shore and hillier, quieter and prettier on the north.
Best areas to stay in Lake Balaton
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Balatonfured
Easiest base $$Historic spa town, plane trees and yachts
Explore hotels in Balatonfured →
Siofok
Swimming & nightlife $The south shore's big loud resort
Explore hotels in Siofok →
Keszthely
Year-round town $$Real town at the lake's west end
Explore hotels in Keszthely →
Tihany
Scenery first $$$Peninsula village high above the water
Explore hotels in Tihany →
Badacsony & the north shore villages
Wine & quiet $$Vineyard slopes, cellars, small harbours
Explore hotels in Badacsony & the north shore villages →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Lake Balaton
Getting to & around Lake Balaton
Getting there
No airport of its own: Budapest is the gateway, then about two hours by train or ninety minutes by motorway
Train
Balatonfured, Siofok and Keszthely
Lines run down both shores from Budapest, roughly two hours to the main resorts, stopping at nearly every town on the way; this is the usual arrival without a car
Drive
The M7 motorway
The motorway reaches the south shore from Budapest in about ninety minutes and carries most of the summer traffic; the north shore is a slower road with the views and the cellars
Coach
Resort bus stations
Coaches from Budapest serve the bigger towns and are useful where the shore train timetable thins out
Getting around
Car
Close to essential on the north shore, where the cellars, castles and Kali villages are scattered inland off the shore road
TBC
Train
The two shore lines stop at nearly every resort and are the simple way between towns on the same side of the lake
TBC
Ferry
A car ferry crosses the narrows between Tihany and Szantod year-round in about ten minutes, and passenger boats link the resorts in the warm months only
TBC
Bicycle
The circular route round the lake is well marked and rentals are everywhere; the north shore has the hills and the south the traffic
TBC
Bus
Local buses connect the shore towns with the inland villages, though timetables are built around school runs
TBC
Walking
Each resort is small enough to cross on foot, and the shore promenades run for kilometres
Free
Day trips from Lake Balaton
Heviz
Half dayThermal lake
A natural thermal lake big enough to swim across, warm enough to bathe in through the winter, with water lilies on the surface and a wooden bathhouse built out over the water on piles.
Getting there
bus | car
20 min by bus or car from Keszthely
Veszprem
Half dayCastle-hill town
A small city on a rock spine north of the lake, with one street of baroque houses along the castle quarter, a cathedral where Hungarian queens were crowned, and a high viaduct across the valley beside it.
Getting there
bus | car
45 min by bus or car north
Sumeg
Half dayHilltop fortress
One of the best-preserved castles in the country, standing alone on a limestone cone above the plain, with a parish church in the town below frescoed throughout by a single baroque painter.
Getting there
car | train
45 min by car northwest
Pannonhalma Archabbey
Full dayBenedictine abbey
A thousand-year-old Benedictine monastery on a hill above the plain, with a vaulted basilica, a vast classical library and vineyards on the slopes, still working as a monastery and a school.
Getting there
car
1 hr 30 min by car north
A little history of Lake Balaton
The Romans planted vines on the northern hills of what they knew as a frontier lake, and the volcanic soils there have been in wine ever since. The abbey at Tihany was founded in 1055, and its charter is the oldest surviving document with Hungarian words written into a Latin text. Through the Ottoman centuries the lake was close to the frontier, which is why so many of the hills above it carry castle ruins.
Balaton became a holiday shore in the nineteenth century, when Balatonfured's mineral spring drew the Hungarian gentry and the first steamer crossed the water. The railway along the south shore turned it into a mass destination, and under socialism the shore filled with trade-union holiday homes and company campsites. It was also, for decades, one of the few places where East and West German families could meet on holiday, an accident of Cold War geography that a lot of German visitors still remember.
Roman Pannonia plants vines on the volcanic northern shore
The abbey at Tihany is founded, its deed the oldest document containing Hungarian words
The first steamship crosses the lake, from Balatonfured
The railway reaches the south shore and opens the lake to Budapest
The last German offensive of the war is fought around the lake and fails
State holiday homes fill the shore, and divided German families meet here each summer
The Balaton Uplands National Park is created on the northern side
Know before you go
Payment
Cards & cash mixed
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type C / F
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+36
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
FAQs about Lake Balaton
▸ Which shore of Balaton should you stay on?
North for scenery, wine, hills and older towns; south for the shallowest swimming, the flattest cycling and the nightlife. Families with small children often prefer the south for the wading depth, and anyone with a car gets more out of the north.
▸ Can you swim in Lake Balaton?
Yes, and most people do. The water is shallow, warm by midsummer and slightly green from algae rather than dirty. The south shore stays waist-deep a very long way out; the north drops off faster. Most swimming is at fenced municipal beaches that charge at the gate and give you changing rooms and grass rather than sand, though free stretches exist.
▸ Does the lake freeze?
In a cold winter it freezes right over and people walk, skate and sail iceboats on it. It also freezes unevenly and people drown through it most years, so it is a thing to do with local knowledge and posted warnings, not on your own judgement.
▸ Do you need a car at Balaton?
Not on the south shore, where the train stops at every resort. On the north shore a car makes the difference, because the cellars, the Kali Basin, Szigliget and the volcanic hills are all a few kilometres inland from the railway.
▸ How long do you need at Lake Balaton?
Three days is enough for one shore and a couple of the sights. Five or six lets you take both shores, cross on the ferry, walk one of the hills and spend a day doing nothing on the water, which is rather the point of the place.
More in Hungary
Budapest
Two cities across one river, a parliament built to be seen from the water, and thermal springs under both banks.
✓ best Apr-OctDebrecen
The Calvinist capital of the Great Plain, with a thermal forest at one end of its high street and the puszta an hour west.
✓ best Apr-OctEger
A baroque town under the castle that held out in 1552, with a Turkish minaret in its middle and a valley of cellars on its edge.
✓ best Apr-Oct