Enjoying lake Balaton

It’s easy to reach it, for there are several roads connecting Slovenia, Croatia and Austria with Budapest, running past it. You can also reach it by rail, because the main train connection also goes past the lake. In the nearby town of Sarmellek there’s also an airstrip, with budget airlines connecting it to the world. And Hungary is still one of the cheaper European countries, but you’ll have to pay in the local currency – Forint – as they are not part of the Euro zone.

The Caribbean spirit

At the middle of the north coast is the only HI Hullam Hostel in this part of Hungary. It’s in a small town of Révfülöp. It’s impossible not to see it, for it is placed in a huge old building right by the main road. It’s in the one floor house with a small part of it nearby. There are rooms with 2, 3, 4 and 6 beds available, with shared facilities and some private rooms. The lowest price starts at €13. The hostel is open from March until October and they can accommodate larger groups, if they book in advance.

At the end of the season the hostel is mostly empty. My stay was quite interesting, thanks to Tom Zolly, a talkative and irreplaceable part of the young team, taking care of the guests. That’s also why the reception stays open all through the night. There’s not much place to socialize in the building, but you can find some computers with internet access here. Main activates take place in the garden behind the hostel, that’s linked with a covered terrace. There’s also a nice bar here that stays open late in the night, usually hosting live music. Due to the relaxed atmosphere guests feel like as if they’d be spending hot summer nights in the lazy Caribbean. There’s also a kitchenette in the garden, from where an aroma of traditional Hungarian cuisine often tempts visitors. There’s a little fire here with a cauldron hanging over it. You can buy fresh vegetable to boil in it in a local market at the corner.

The hostel also rents bicycles and organizes various trips. The nearby beach also allows all sorts of water activities from swimming, rowing, sailing to windsurfing. If you’re there in the beginning of July you can also take part at the marathon swim across the lake. The distance to Balatonboglar is 5200 meters. This traditional marathon is held annualy since 1982 and has over 8000 participants. This year it will be held on July 2nd.

Visit the volcano and more

Révfülöp has everything big cities have. This place with some 1200 inhabitants has, apart from the hostel, several shops, restaurants (Hungarian Csarda-s), a beach, rail station, discotheque and more. And everything is just a few hundred meters apart. But I also suggest you go explore the surroundings. Not far away is the rich wine land of Badascony, and here’s also a basalt remains of a volcano named the Needle (Hegyestu), and a few kilometers further on is the most picturesque village on the shores of the lake - Tihany. The village stands on a lookout peninsula on top of which the church dominates the view. There are many restaurants around it, souvenir shops and a few museums. One of them is especially interesting to everybody with a sweet tooth, for it’s a museum of Marzipan! The surroundings of the lake are also full of various places of interest. There are several rare plants here, with several orchids and even lavender.