Go south from west! – family discovery tour in the western corner of Lake Balaton

1. Route details

This 33 km long tour leads on the southern part of Keszthely and in the western corner of Lake Balaton.
There are no particularly difficult sections such as slopes and roads hard to ride.
The tour can be completed in two directions.
The recommended route to complete the tour follows Keszthely, Balaton Bike Route, Balatonberény, Balatonszentgyörgy (Csillagvár street), Star Castle, Battyánpuszta, Balatonszentgyörgy Bike Route, Balaton Bike Route, shore of Lake Balaton in Keszthely. To complete it follow bike signs blue D and A.
The starting point of the tour is the shore of Lake Balaton in Keszthely. From here we ride toward the southern shore on the Balaton Bike Route. At the Balatonszentgyörgy junction we turn left toward Balatonberény and there we follow the blue D sign to the centre of Balatonszentgyörgy. There are no signs in the village but the direction to the Star Castle is signed. Along the road where St. George church is (Csillagvár street) we come to a forest area (Irtás dűlő) where we can reach the Star Castle. On the way back, from the roundabout at the end of ‘Irtás dűlő’ we continue straight toward Battyánpuszta, where we turn right (Battyán street). From the part of the road curving right (Vörs junction) we ride on designed bike route and follow the blue A sign. This way we arrive to the Berzsenyi street where we turn left and after following the painted bike signs we can reach the bike route. This brings us back to the crossings of the Balatonszentgyörgy junction where we already have been at the beginning of the tour. Here we join the Balaton Bike Route again and return to Keszthely and to the starting point of the tour.
Road numbers on the tour: 10 (Balaton Bike Route), 125 (Balatonberény – Balatonszentgyörgy).
The route mostly leads through built-up area and almost fully on signed bike roads. Most of these are asphalt roads while a short part is gravel road.
Along the route there are several bike shelters and rest places (Helikon strand, Nyugati Berek, Balatonberény) and other places to stop and rest (Star Castle, Roman ruins of Fenékpuszta, Erzsébet park).
As most of the route leads through inhabited area, there are several dining, food and other shopping facilities.

2. Difficulty factors in the tour

There are no particularly difficult sections such as slopes and roads hard to ride.

3. Highlights of the tour
In the western corner of Lake Balaton, a stretch of the main road is moving away from the shore, that's why Balatonberény is hiding almost unnoticed between Keszthely and Balatonmáriafürdő. The round tour takes you and your family to this friendly and quiet area: although you will also visit the city of Keszthely, the focus is mainly on nature. In the ornithological station, on the bridge over the river Zala or on the Csicsergő promenade you can get close to nature, but even if the day is a bit cooler, you don't have to skip the tour: there are a number of indoor sights on the way. In Csillagvár Castle you can walk among scenes from the everyday life of the medieval castles that protected the borders of Hungary at the time or guess the function of old objects in the exhibition about the history of travel.