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Lake Balaton

Coordinates: 46°51′00″N 17°43′12″E / 46.85000°N 17.72000°E / 46.85000; 17.72000
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Lake Balaton
Lake Balaton
Location of Lake Balaton in Hungary.
Location of Lake Balaton in Hungary.
Lake Balaton
Location of Lake Balaton within Hungary
LocationHungary
Coordinates46°51′00″N 17°43′12″E / 46.85000°N 17.72000°E / 46.85000; 17.72000
TypeRift lake
Primary inflowsZala River
Primary outflowsSió
Catchment area5,174 km2 (1,998 sq mi)[1]
Basin countriesHungary
Max. length78 km (48 mi)
Max. width14 km (8.7 mi)
Surface area600 km2 (230 sq mi)
Average depth3.3 m (11 ft)
Max. depth12.2 m (40 ft)
Water volume1.9 km3 (0.46 cu mi)
Residence time2 years
Shore length1235 km (146 mi)
Surface elevation104.8 m (344 ft)
SettlementsKeszthely, Siófok, Balatonfüred (see list)
Designated17 March 1989
Reference no.421[2]
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Balaton (Hungarian: [ˈbɒlɒton]) is a freshwater rift lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe,[3] and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and the canalized Sió is the only outflow.

The mountainous region of the northern shore is known both for its historic character and as a major wine region, while the flat southern shore is known for its resort towns. Balatonfüred and Hévíz developed early as resorts for the wealthy, but it was not until the late 19th century when landowners, ruined by Phylloxera attacking their grape vines, began building summer homes to rent out to the burgeoning middle class.[4]

Name

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In distinction to all other Hungarian endonyms for lakes, which universally bear the suffix -tó 'lake', Lake Balaton is referred to in Hungarian with a definite article; that is, a Balaton 'the Balaton'. It was called lacus Pelsodis or Pelso by the Romans.[5] The name is Indo-European in origin, derived from Slavic *bolto (Czech bláto, Slovak blato, Polish błoto), meaning 'mud, swamp' (from earlier Proto-Slavic boltьno, cf. Slovene: Blatno jezero,[6][7] Slovak: Blatenské jazero[8]).

In January 846, the Slavic prince Pribina began to build a fortress as his seat of power and several churches in the region of Lake Balaton, in the territory of modern Zalavár surrounded by forests and swamps along the Zala River.[9][10][11] His well-fortified castle and capital of the Lower Pannonian Principality became known as Blatnohrad or Moosburg (literally, 'Swamp Fortress'), and it served as a bulwark against both the Bulgarians and the Moravians.[9][10][11]

The German name for the lake is Plattensee.[12] It is unlikely it was given that name for being shallow because the adjective platt is a Greek loanword that was borrowed via French and entered general German vocabulary in the 17th century.[13][14] It is also noteworthy that the average depth of Balaton (3.2 m or 10 ft)[15] is not extraordinary for the area (cf. the average depth of the neighbouring Neusiedler See, which is roughly 1 m or 3.3 ft).[16]

Climate

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Map of Balaton in ancient times
Balaton seen from Sentinel-2 satellite

Lake Balaton affects precipitation in the local area. The area receives approximately 5–7 cm (2–3 in) more precipitation than most of Hungary, resulting in more cloudy days and less extreme temperatures. The lake freezes over during winters. The microclimate around Lake Balaton has also made the region ideal for viticulture. The Mediterranean-like climate, combined with the soil (containing volcanic rock), has made the region notable for its production of wines since the Roman period 2,000 years ago.[17]

History

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Detail of a silver plate from the Seuso Treasure with the inscription PELSO (i.e., 'Balaton')

It always has been an important location, both tactically and culturally(with many folk tales surrounding it). During the Ottoman wars played an important role in defending Royal Hungary where even battles were fought.[18] While a few settlements on Lake Balaton, including Balatonfüred and Hévíz, have long been resort centres for the Hungarian aristocracy, it was only in the late 19th century that the Hungarian middle class began to visit the lake.[19] The construction of railways in 1861 and 1909 increased tourism substantially, but the post-war boom of the 1950s was much larger.

By the turn of the 20th century, Balaton had become a center of research by Hungarian biologists, geologists, hydrologists, and other scientists, leading to the country's first biological research institute being built on its shore in 1927.[20]

The last major German offensive of World War II, Operation Spring Awakening, was conducted in the region of Lake Balaton in March 1945, being referred to as "the Lake Balaton Offensive" in many British histories of the war. The battle was a German attack by Sepp Dietrich's Sixth Panzer Army and the Hungarian Third Army between 6 and 16 March 1945, and in the end, resulted in a Red Army victory. Several Ilyushin Il-2 wrecks have been pulled out of the lake after having been shot down during the later months of the war.[21][22]

During the 1960s and 1970s, Balaton became a major tourist destination due to focused government efforts, causing the number of overnight guests in local hotels and campsites to increase from 700,000 in July 1965 to two million in July 1975. The number of weekend visitors to the region, including tens of thousands from Budapest, reached more than 600,000 by 1975.[20] It was visited by ordinary working Hungarians, and especially for subsidised holiday excursions by National Council of Trade Union (Hungarian: SZOT: Szakszervezetek Országos Tanácsának) members to exclusive hotels and small resorts (Hungarian: üdülő ingatlan) for them.[23] It also attracted many East Germans and other residents of the Eastern Bloc. West Germans could also visit, making Balaton a common meeting place for families and friends separated by the Berlin Wall until 1989.[24]

Ecology

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Lake Balaton, Central Europe’s largest shallow lake (area ≈ 594 km²; mean depth ≈ 3.3 m), extends 77 km W–E through Transdanubia, Hungary. Because the Zala River delivers most of its inflow at the western end, the lake exhibits a persistent west-to-east trophic gradient from meso-eutrophic to oligo-mesotrophic conditions.[25] Balaton is polymictic: frequent wind mixing prevents stable summer stratification, although a weak diel thermocline develops in calm periods. Average residence time is ~2.3 years; alkalinity (≈ 2 meq L⁻¹) and pH (8.2–9.1) reflect the surrounding dolomitic catchment. Restoration measures—most notably the two-stage *Kis-Balaton Water Protection System* (KBWPS)—and upgraded wastewater treatment have reduced external phosphorus loads since the 1990 s, yet episodic internal loading still triggers cyanobacterial blooms.[26]

Flora

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Emergent and riparian vegetation

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A nearly continuous reed (*Phragmites australis*) belt—locally mixed with cattail (*Typha latifolia*) and bulrush (*Schoenoplectus lacustris*)—fringes > 100 km of shoreline, providing spawning substrate, wave attenuation and nutrient sequestration.

Submerged macrophytes

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Species richness peaks in protected embayments where Secchi depth exceeds 1.5 m. Dominant taxa include *Potamogeton perfoliatus*, *P. pectinatus*, *Myriophyllum spicatum*, *Ceratophyllum demersum* and charophytes such as *Chara tomentosa*.[27] Satellite-derived phenological metrics demonstrate that these macrophyte stands create pronounced spatio-temporal complexity in primary production dynamics and habitat structure.[28]

Phytoplankton

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Community composition fluctuates between diatom-dominated spring assemblages (*Cyclotella*, *Aulacoseira*) and summer cyanobacterial blooms (notably *Dolichospermum lemmermannii*, *Microcystis aeruginosa*) in the western basins, whereas chlorophytes and cryptophytes prevail farther east.[29] In 2019 Balaton experienced a record-setting bloom with chlorophyll-a > 200 µg L⁻¹, attributed to climate-driven sediment P release.[30]

Fauna

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Fish

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About fifty of Hungary’s seventy-six native freshwater fish species occur. The littoral reed belt shelters cyprinids (common bream *Abramis brama*, bleak *Alburnus alburnus*), predator nurseries for pike-perch (*Sander lucioperca*) and northern pike (*Esox lucius*), and native endemics such as weather loach (*Misgurnus fossilis*). Feeding studies show cyprinids shift from zooplankton to benthic prey as they move inshore during summer.[31] Commercial fishing has been banned since 2013; invasive gobiids (*Neogobius melanostomus*) and Prussian carp (*Carassius gibelio*) are increasingly targeted by recreational harvest regulations.

Zooplankton

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Rotifers (*Brachionus*, *Keratella*), cladocerans (*Daphnia cucullata*, *Bosmina longirostris*) and copepods (*Eudiaptomus gracilis*) dominate pelagic communities; densities reach 200–400 ind. L⁻¹ in Basin I but rarely exceed 100 ind. L⁻¹ eastward.

Benthic macroinvertebrates

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Soft sediments host oligochaetes, chironomids and the invasive Asian clam (*Corbicula fluminea*). A 2024 lake-wide survey documented limited native recolonisation despite improved water quality, while alien taxa increased in rip-rap habitats.[32]

Microbiota

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Complementary 16S rRNA amplicon surveys show pronounced habitat and basin heterogeneity in the lake. A cross-lake transect in June 2017 revealed that planktonic communities are dominated by Proteobacteria (35–45 %) and Actinobacteria (20–30 %), whereas benthic sediments harbour proportionally more Proteobacteria (40–60 %), Bacteroidota and Firmicutes; Shannon diversity in sediments exceeded plankton by ≈ 25 %. The Zala River mouth contained distinct Betaproteobacterial (*Limnohabitans*) and Acidobacterial lineages, indicating the inflow as a hotspot of diversity.[33] Higher-depth sequencing, detected 951 OTUs distributed across 26 phyla, including rare Verrucomicrobiota, Patescibacteria (candidate division CPR) and Parcubacteria that were previously overlooked by lower-resolution surveys, underscoring a substantial “rare biosphere” component in Balaton.[34] Viral metagenomes further indicate high cyanophage richness, suggesting top-down control of bloom-forming cyanobacteria. High-resolution long-read sequencing of full-length 16S-rRNA genes on an Oxford Nanopore R10.4 flow cell, applied to water samples taken at 33 pelagic and littoral sites spanning all four basins, recovered > 6 000 high-quality amplicon-sequence variants (ASVs).[35] While some bacterial families, such as Methylophilaceae and Cryomorphaceae, are evenly distributed throughout the lake, others like Comamonadaceae and Burkholderiaceae show localized abundance, being prevalent in certain areas and scarce in others.[35] The use of the long-read Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) sequencing has provided unprecedented insights into the genetic diversity and distribution of bacterioplankton across the lake. The high degree of shared taxa across all basins (209 taxa, 83%) suggests the presence of a core microbiome essential for the lake’s ecosystem functioning. This core microbiome likely plays a vital role in maintaining ecological processes such as nutrient cycling and organic matter decomposition, which are crucial for the lake’s health and stability. At the same time, the different groups identified between basins in lake water suggest a complex microbial ecosystem and highlight the need for ongoing monitoring to assess potential health risks and ecological change.

Conservation and management

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Key measures include the KBWPS wetland complex, a 150-km² reed-management zone, a ban on commercial fisheries (2013) and riparian buffer restoration. Recent Sentinel-2 analyses reveal strong functional connectivity between KBWPS and the western basins, mediating turbidity and chlorophyll pulses.[36] Persistent challenges include sediment-mediated internal P release, shoreline hardening that favours alien macroinvertebrates, and climate-driven bloom intensification.

Tourism

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The major resorts around the lake are Siófok, Keszthely, and Balatonfüred. Zamárdi, another resort town on the southern shore, has been the site of Balaton Sound, a notable electronic music festival since 2007. Balatonkenese has hosted numerous traditional gastronomic events. Siófok is known for attracting young people to it because of its large clubs. Keszthely is the site of the Festetics Palace and Balatonfüred is a historical bathing town which hosts the annual Anna Ball.[37]

The peak tourist season extends from June until the end of August. The average water temperature during the summer is 25 °C (77 °F), which makes bathing and swimming popular on the lake. Most of the beaches consist of either grass, rocks, or the silty sand that also makes up most of the bottom of the lake. Many resorts have artificial sandy beaches and all beaches have step access to the water. Other tourist attractions include sailing, fishing, and other water sports, as well as visiting the countryside and hills, wineries on the north coast, and nightlife on the south shore. The Tihany Peninsula is a historical district. Badacsony is a volcanic mountain and wine-growing region as well as a lakeside resort. The lake is almost completely surrounded by separated bike lanes to facilitate bicycle tourism. Although the peak season at the lake is the summer, Balaton is also frequented during the winter, when visitors go ice-fishing or even skate, sledge, or ice-sail on the lake if it freezes over.

Sármellék International Airport provides air service to Balaton (although most service is only seasonal).

Other resort towns include Balatonalmádi, Balatonboglár, Balatonlelle, Fonyód, and Vonyarcvashegy.

Sport

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The annual Lake Balaton Crossing swim takes place in July. The race starts at Révfülöp and finishes at Balatonboglár for a total distance of 5.2 kilometres.[38]

Towns and villages

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Towns and villages alongside Lake Balaton.

North shore

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From east to west:

Balatonfőkajár - Balatonakarattya - Balatonkenese - Balatonfűzfő - Balatonalmádi - Alsóörs - Paloznak - Csopak - Balatonarács - Balatonfüred - Tihany - Aszófő - Örvényes - Balatonudvari - Fövenyes - Balatonakali - Zánka - Balatonszepezd - Szepezdfürdő - Révfülöp - Pálköve - Ábrahámhegy - Balatonrendes - Badacsonytomaj - Badacsony - Badacsonytördemic - Szigliget - Balatonederics - Balatongyörök - Vonyarcvashegy - Gyenesdiás - Keszthely

South shore

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From east to west:

Balatonakarattya - Balatonaliga - Balatonvilágos - Sóstó - Szabadifürdő - Siófok - Széplak - Zamárdi - Szántód - Balatonföldvár - Balatonszárszó - Balatonszemes - Balatonlelle - Balatonboglár - Fonyód - Fonyód–Alsóbélatelep - Bélatelep - Balatonfenyves - Balatonmáriafürdő - Balatonkeresztúr - Balatonberény - Fenékpuszta

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Panorama from Balaton and Keszthely

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Herschy, Reginald W.; Fairbridge, Rhodes W. (1998). Encyclopedia of Hydrology and Lakes. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-0-412-74060-2. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  2. ^ "Lake Balaton Regional Water Institute". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Lake Balaton". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  4. ^ "History of Lake Balaton - Lonely Planet Travel Information". Lonelyplanet.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  5. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth; Orton, David E. (2007-04-15). Brill's New Pauly: encyclopaedia of the ancient world - Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider, David E. Orton - Google Knihy. Brill. ISBN 9789004142152. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  6. ^ Historical review - Google Knihy. 2009-01-06. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  7. ^ Vošnjak, Bogumil; Copeland, Fanny S. (1919). A bulwark against Germany: the fight of the Slovenes, the western branch of ... - Bogumil Vošnjak, Fanny S. Copeland - Google Knihy. Fleming H. Revell Company. ISBN 9780598570208. Retrieved January 2, 2014. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  8. ^ Stanislav, Ján (1956). Dejiny slovenského jazyka - Ján Stanislav - Google Knihy. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  9. ^ a b Bartl 2002, p. 19.
  10. ^ a b Róna-Tas 1999, p. 243.
  11. ^ a b Goldberg 2006, p. 85.
  12. ^ "Urlaub in Ungarn - Ferienwohnung Ferienhaus am Plattensee in Ungarn". Weltweit-urlaub.de. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  13. ^ Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 24. Aufl., s. v.
  14. ^ "the Grimm dictionary". Woerterbuchnetz.de. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  15. ^ [1] Archived July 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ [2] Archived May 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ [3] Archived October 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ Végh, Ferenc. "A Balaton Hadiflotta a Török Korban" (PDF).
  19. ^ Lake Balaton History Archived 2020-07-28 at the Wayback Machine at Lonely Planet
  20. ^ a b Láng, István (1978). "Hungary's Lake Balaton: A Program to Solve Its Problems". Ambio. 7 (4): 164–168. JSTOR 4312371.
  21. ^ "Rescue of IL-2 M3 Lake Balaton Hungary". forum.il2sturmovik.com. 26 December 2014. Retrieved 2019-09-16.
  22. ^ "Lake Balaton and Herend". guideservicebudapest.com. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  23. ^ "Comradely Greetings from Lake Balaton". MaNDA. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  24. ^ "German unity at Lake Balaton – a European history". Dortmund.de. Archived from the original on 2014-01-02. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  25. ^ Bernát, G.; Boros, N. (2020). "Oligotrophication of Lake Balaton over a 20-year period and its implications for the relationship between phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass". Hydrobiologia. 847: 2371–2389. doi:10.1007/s10750-020-04384-x.
  26. ^ Istvánovics, V. (2007). "Updating water-quality targets for shallow Lake Balaton (Hungary), recovering from eutrophication". Hydrobiologia. 581: 305–318. doi:10.1007/s10750-006-0508-1.
  27. ^ Korponai, J. (2008). "Distribution of submerged macrophytes along environmental gradients in large, shallow Lake Balaton, Hungary". Aquatic Botany. 89: 11–18. doi:10.1016/j.aquabot.2008.01.002.
  28. ^ Tóth, V. R. (2024). "Making temporal dynamics relevant: The role of macrophytes in the phenological complexity of a shallow freshwater lake". Ecohydrology. 17: e2663. doi:10.1002/eco.2663.
  29. ^ Padisák, J.; Reynolds, C. S. (1998). "Selection of phytoplankton associations in Lake Balaton in response to eutrophication and restoration measures". Hydrobiologia. 384: 41–53. doi:10.1023/A:1003255529403.
  30. ^ Nagy, K. A. (2022). "Record-setting algal bloom in polymictic Lake Balaton (Hungary)". Freshwater Biology. 67: 659–672. doi:10.1111/fwb.13903.
  31. ^ Specziár, A.; Tölg, L.; Bíró, P. (1997). "Feeding strategy and growth of cyprinids in the littoral zone of Lake Balaton". Journal of Fish Biology. 51 (6): 1109–1124. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.1997.tb01130.x.
  32. ^ Magyari, E. K. (2024). "Large shallow lake response to anthropogenic stressors and climate change: Missing macroinvertebrate recovery after oligotrophication (Lake Balaton, East-Central Europe)". Science of the Total Environment. 946: 174191. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174191.
  33. ^ Farkas, M. (2020). "Planktonic and benthic bacterial communities of the largest Central European shallow lake, Lake Balaton and its main inflow Zala River". Current Microbiology. 77: 4016–4028. doi:10.1007/s00284-020-02241-7.
  34. ^ Tóth, E. (2020). "Insight into the hidden bacterial diversity of Lake Balaton, Hungary". Biologia Futura. 71: 383–391. doi:10.1007/s42977-020-00040-6.
  35. ^ a b Castro Márquez, S. O.; Tóth, V. R.; Kolchanova, S. (2025). "A long-read sequencing approach to high-resolution profiling of bacterioplankton diversity in a shallow freshwater lake". Scientific Reports. 15: 12224. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-96558-7.
  36. ^ Tóth, V. R. (2023). "Exploring the functional connectivity between the Kis-Balaton Water Protection System and Lake Balaton using satellite data". Aquatic Sciences. 85: 106. doi:10.1007/s00027-023-01005-2.
  37. ^ Linkon, FD (14 June 2023). "Tihany, Balatonfüred and Lake Balaton: Pride of Veszprem, Hungary". www.tourola.eu. Tourola. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  38. ^ "Lake Balaton Crossing - the 5.2km classic swim. Raceday Buzz". 2024-07-27. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
[edit]
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Lake Balaton.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Balaton.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Balaton".
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