Lake Balaton & Southern Transdanubia

Extending roughly 80km like a skinny, lopsided paprika, at first glance Lake Balaton seems to simply be a happy, sunny expanse of opaque tourmaline-coloured water in which to play. But step beyond the beaches of Europe’s biggest and shallowest body of water and you’ll encounter vine-filled forested hills, a national park and a wild peninsula jutting out 4km, nearly cutting the lake in half. Oh, and did we mention Hungary’s most famous porcelain producer and a hilltop fairy-tale fortress?