Lake Balaton

Balaton was as popular a destination as the Romanian mountains or Praha for Eastern Europeans during the Communist times. Now with cheap flights from Germany and UK, there are plenty of options to get there quickly. I spent a week or two there last summer at a campsite on the shores of Balaton close to Keszthely. The campsite was typical for anywhere in Europe.. German and Dutch kids running riot whilst their parents sit with the dog outside of their campervan! The weather was beautiful but the mosquitoes incredibly irritating. I have to admit, I didn't know much about Balaton and we just decided to stop there on the way to Croatia from Vienna. The lake (at ...  Read the complete review

Forget Budapest, Lake Balaton is Hungary's chief tourist location attracting hundreds of thousands visitors each year, from Hungary and abroad. And its hardly surprising given the variety of activities available on and around Europe's largest freshwater lake. LOCATION/TRANSPORT/GEOGRAPHY Lake Balaton is situated some 50 miles south west of Budapest and measures about 77 kilometres in length. Its width is anything between 1.5 and 14 kilometres. The average depth is a shade less than three metres and swimming is possible generally between May and September It is surrounded by beautiful countryside and a series of interesting resorts and ...  Read the complete review

The area surrounding Lake Balaton in Hungary has been popular with German tourists for decades. During the Berlin Wall 'era', many families from east and west Germany, divided by the wall, travelled to the Balaton to see each other! The southern end of the lake is famous for its hot springs and therapeutic baths which give the area a very distinctive sulphurous smell! Having a Hungarian g-g-granmother, I was quite excited about visiting the area but I was so disappointed. I found the Hungarian people (generally) very rude and stand-offish - even the hotel staff. Nearly every bar in town is a strip club or table-dancing club and if you go out to the ...  Read the complete review