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Cycling around the Kis-Balaton

The Little Lake House in Zalavár

Around Lake Kis-Balaton, the Small Lake Balaton to the left below the large Lake Balaton, you can make a nice bike ride of about 45 kilometers.

Starting point is the Little Lake House in Zalavár.

As soon as you leave, a special building awaits you.

Seen from afar, you first think it is a small church.

Inside, a beautifully artificial tree reaches into the ridge of the building.

The cycle route continues over the dike, with the lake and the vast landscape at your side.

It reminded me a bit of the cycle route along the canals near us. Only something was missing here that I was not sad about at all: speeding cycling fanatics.

After all, Kis-Balaton is a bit away from Lake Balaton, depending on where you depart, about an hour to an hour and a half away.

Lake Balaton is quite long, almost 80 kilometers, and about 14 kilometers wide at its widest point.

Perhaps that distance explains why we encountered so few people here.

Kányavári-sziget and the wooden bridge

Further on we came across something special again: the Kányavári-bridge, an old wooden bridge that leads to Kányavári-sziget (Kányavári Island) in the Kis-Balaton.

You can hardly miss them.

From the bridge you get a beautiful view over the water and the surrounding landscape.

But… You can’t cross the bridge by bike, even though some photos on the internet make it seem so.

On Kányavári-sziget itself there is a watchtower that you can climb. Fun to do with children.

They will probably reach the top faster than we do, but that’s part of it.

Water buffalo in Kápolnapuszta

A little further on the route, on the edge of the Kis-Balaton area, we came to the Kápolnapuszta buffalo farm where water buffaloes are kept.

They are descendants of buffalo that are native to India.

Once upon a time, things didn’t look good for these animals. In 1991, there were only 99 left. In the meantime, their number has increased sharply again and there are more than 6,000.

That they are happy here was clear to us:

Some were stretched out in a mud bath to cool off. Others were grazing quietly. Here and there a calf walked among the large animals. They thrive in this nature reserve.

And suddenly, an authentic glimpse of Hungary!

Sometimes you pass villages where you don’t see anyone and then others, where everyone lives outside and sits in front of the door, like in Zalakaros.

There we saw an elderly woman in a field, sitting on the front bench of a horse-drawn cart, guiding her horse.

An image that seemed to come straight from another time, with the fields and hills in the background. A beautiful sight and I would have liked to take a picture, but out of respect we didn’t.

So, totally unexpected, and for a moment, we got a glimpse of Hungary in the past.

45 km of beautiful cycle paths

45 kilometers of cycling, but especially 45 kilometers of watching, discovering and enjoying.

Strange that we didn’t see any cyclists here who could easily cycle around the lake several times. Whole new stretches of cycle route have recently been built and the routes on the traffic-calmed roads were also very good and quiet.

We drove the route twice, once to the left and once to the right, starting from Little Lake House in Zalavár.

We actually found the ride the most beautiful in an anti-clockwise direction.

The restaurant Zöld Elefánt in Zalaapati was a nice discovery.

That’s where we had the best meal in Hungary.

Next page: Cycling from Szigliget to Zanka