#142 Lake Balaton - The holiday paradise of the 80s today

June 7th - 8th, 2022: Balaton: Siófok, Tihany, Szigliget

I had heard a lot about Lake Balaton, also known as the Hungarian Sea. When I thought of Lake Balaton, I imagined people driving through vast cornfields in their Trabis, their trunks full of canned food, and then lying on meadows in the scorching heat and jumping into the warm, shallow lake. It wasn't quite like that. There were no Trabis, and it wasn't scorching hot, but rather cool, cloudy, and rainy. The lake was still quite warm and shallow, but deep enough to swim in.

In the 80s, many of the tourists at Lake Balaton were Germans. They were not only people from East Germany but also from West Germany, making Lake Balaton the first place for German-German encounters. Today, only 10% of the tourists are Germans, which we did not notice at our campsite right on the lake; it was still full of Germans, even the signs were in German. (Maybe that's a good way to get used to Germany.)

The area around Lake Balaton has a lot to offer tourists. There are so many tourist attractions and excursion destinations that we couldn't see everything in the two days we were there. Siófok, on the southern shore of the lake, is a party town that reminded me a bit of the Ballermann. On the northern shore, we first took a trip to the Tihany Peninsula, which almost divides the lake in two. From the church high up on the hill, you have a wonderful view of Lake Balaton.

There are also beautiful views from the castle in Szigliget. In addition, there is an incredibly well-made and interesting exhibition about life in the castle. There are countless castles around Lake Balaton, in the south they were occupied by fighters of the Ottoman Empire, in the north they were used for defense against the Ottoman Empire.

A vacation at Lake Balaton is definitely worth it. We have to come back in the height of summer.

Day 236 - Total tour 18,349 km

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