Biking around Lake Balaton

If you’re planning to have a biking tour around Lake Balaton you should definitely keep reading; hvg.hu collected the most important advises for those who are brave enough to take a trip around the lake by bicycle.

The whole tour around Lake Balaton usually takes two or three days, says Jonatán, who prefers to take a longer tour so there’s enough time to take a look around, and enjoy the view. Viktória also prefers the a three day trip, and she always follows the same schedule: depart at dawn, have an exact distance in your mind that can be done by early afternoon, and have some time for swimming in the lake and time to relax.

Although it’s better to have a fixed schedule or route, booking a hotel room or apartment in advance is not necessary. There are countless lodgings around the lake, and everyone can find the one that is the most affordable for them. If you decide not to take a fixed route or don’t have anything specific in mind, you should still take a look at the biking routes around the Lake, so you won’t end up having to take a dirt road for long kilometres, without any stopping points.

There’s a perfect route for those who wouldn’t want to spend two or three days biking, but would rather have a short tour. Éva and her husband take the same route every year: they park their car at the roundabout in Karattya, go in the direction of Kenese until they reach Tihany, and then they cross the lake by taking the ferry. It’s only 90 km, doable in four or five hours. This route is perfect for those who are not professional bikers.

Before taking any of the routes, it’s important to have a professional check the bikes, and fix any problems; it wouldn’t be so good to realize in the middle of the tour that there’s a loose screw in the front wheel. It’s also important to have extra equipment, such as a small biking kit, a mini pump etc.

If you would save yourself the trouble of taking your bike to Lake Balaton, or wouldn’t want to bother with taking it to a professional, there’s always the opportunity to rent a bike online. Although MÁV (Hungarian State Railways) offers special cabins for the bikes on some routes, several problems might arise; it’s possible, for instance, to sell more bike tickets than the number of vacant places.