Lake Balaton is a freshwater lake in western Hungary. It’s a major holiday destination with beaches, volcanic hills, resort towns and high-rise hotels along its 197 km shoreline. The hilly north shore is a wine-growing region, with protected wetlands and hiking trails at Balaton Uplands National Park.
The average depth of the lake is about three meters – an ideal depth for bathers who like warmish water. At its deepest spot near the north shore the lake’s water measures 12 meters at the Tihany “well”.
Trains run between Budapest and Balaton every two hours. The trip takes a couple of hours.
I like the north shore better because it’s less populated and more interesting with its vast vineyards (the area is rich in volcanic materials in the Badacsony hills) and lavender fields. (Apparently, Balaton-grown lavender is favoured by perfume manufacturers over French-grown because of its richer oil content.)
And, of course, the ECHO of Tihany also lives on the north side.
Tihany is a small village with a magnificent Benedictine Abbey, founded in 1055 by King Andrew I. The founding charter of the monastery is the oldest surviving charter in its original form in Hungary. Its Latin text includes Hungarian words and expressions and is the oldest written record of the Hungarian language.
As time passed, the Abbey became subject to numerous reconstructions. One of these took place in the late 19th century. Since then, one of the walls of the building began reflecting sound and, voila, the famous Tihany echo was born. (When someone shouts while standing on a certain spot on a nearby hill the sound reverberates from one of the building’s walls and feeds back as an echo, reflecting up to fifteen-word sentences in its heyday.)
And let’s not forget: the north side teems with wonderful restaurants, all called Csárda. (Csárda is the traditional name in Hungary for taverns and pubs that are situated outside settlements on their borders, and along the roads leading to major fairs.)
The Balaton region Csárdashes specialize in offering Fisherman’s Soup or halászlé. a hot, spicy paprika-based fish soup, a folk item of Hungarian cuisine.
My favourite Csárda is near the village of Lovas that boasts not only very fine food. but also music by a resident Roma Trio that entertains you while you eat – and drink the region’s world-famous wines.
Thank you Robert for all your articles. The famous Tiahany, I believe, is the area of the also famous Anna Ball ( Balatonfüred ? ). Madeleine and I attended this Ball in July 1974, still under kommunist regime and have many memories about it, especially tough border crossings. Besides the Ball’s ambience what struck us was the Ball orchestra had big Coca Cola advertising on their cloth and instruments !
Keep well
Peter T
Lovely description! Are, by any chance, a writer? If not, you really should be!
We love the Balaton too, where my husband, Robi’s family comes from and have therefore visited a number of times. Yes, the water of the lake is warm and welcoming, an opaque turquoise colour. We took our whole family there in 2019 and our young grandsons jumped in and disappeared, what fun. The wine is excellent and so is the Roma music. I hope we can get back there one day. Thanks for bringing back all these memories and some history too.
A wonderfully clear and precise description. I just wish Cristina and I had had time to visit when we were in Budapest last month. Your blog post is certainly an incitement to return. Thank you so much Robert I’m looking forward to reading more.
A lovely and interesting article. It makes me want to go myself. Perhaps you could take me next time I visit Budapest? Apparently the Balaton is the largest lake in Europe and is also known for terribly dangerous storms because of it being so shallow.