"Lake Balaton. An hour from Budapest." a Balaton Travel Page by dabidc

The lake is about 90 kms from Budapest in a southwesterly direction. The new M7 motorway gets you there in less than an hour and the blue car of Gentleman 75 chewed those kms up like a hungry animal.

Then there are two choices, stay on the south side or drive along the east side of the lake and travel the north shore road. Or you can do a full circuit of Balaton, if you wish.

The lake is 77 kms long from N.E to S.W and has a width that varies from a narrow section of 4 kms to the widest part at 14kms. It is a relatively shallow lake.

If you have seen Neuseidler See on the eastern border of Austria, then you will notice some similarities. The shore line often has reeds growing long the edges and there are many Vineyards in the area.

The lake is a special place for the people of Hungary, it is the largest in Central Europe.

Notice the group of cyclists near the lake, there is an excellent bike/walking path alongside the lake.

There is also a train service and I have to admit that I have not tried it, however when using the internet to decide if I could take a train from Budapest to Graz in S.E Austria, I came across so many locations that started with Balaton that it was impossible to determine which way the train was going without a map of the lake. The journey would have taken all day.

Such places as Balaton Akarattya, Balaton Kenese, Balaton Fufzo, Balaton Almadi, Balaton Fured and so on. Wow a traveller's nightmare. .