Balaton for Explorers - 2 days

The pleasantly warm thermal water of Lake Hévíz is unique and it has a well-earned reputation for aiding those suffering from rheumatic and musculoskeletal ailments. The promenade starting at the end of the pedestrianised street was named after Dr Vilmos Schulhof, a former doctor at the baths, and is flanked by sycamore trees and Lake Hévíz on one side and the beautiful buildings of the Szent András Rheumatism Hospital, which have stood here since the 1870s, on the other. As you walk around the lake, the road back to the entrance to the baths takes you by the Festetics Bath House and through a park where trees protect you from the hot sun.

Your visit to the centre of the town will take you back in time, with its Classicist buildings from the Reform Era, beautiful parks and cobblestoned streets. Almost every building here has a story tell and many of them have something to do with people who were stars of their time: actress Lujza Blaha and writer Mór Jókai, for example, both bought villas in Balatonfüred. After you have visited the Vaszary Villa, the Jókai Mór Memorial House and the Round Church, why not take a stroll on the Tagore Promenade and allow the many statues and plaques to tell you the history of the town? Lake Balaton’s best-known promenade is named after the famed Indian poet and Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. Many celebrities have followed the example of planting trees here set by the great artist. The latest sights added to the promenade are the Bodorka Visitor Centre and the beautifully renovated Vitorlás tér, with its statue of actor István Bujtor.