The Tihany Peninsula is one of Lake Balaton's most striking landscapes - a volcanic tongue of land reaching into the lake, shaped by ancient geysers, calderas and hot springs. It was here that Hungary's first landscape protection area was established, and the views from its basalt cliffs across the water are unforgettable.

At the heart of the peninsula lie two crater lakes, Belső-tó and Külső-tó, ringed by volcanic hills such as Csúcs-hegy (235 m), Óvár (214 m) and Hármas-hegy (212 m). In spring the dry grasslands bloom with Mediterranean-type plants, autumn turns the oak woods golden, and in summer rare large cicadas hum through the air. On the eastern slope of Óvár, hermit cells carved into basalt tuff - the so-called Hermit's Cells - recall an 11th-century Basilian monastic settlement.

How to get there

• Lóczy Nature Trail - starting near the Apáti church ruins by Sajkod, leading through Apáti-hegy, Nyereg-hegy and Csúcs-hegy to Szarkádi-erdő and the geyser field, moderate difficulty, several hours
• Alternative route from the Tihany harbour via Kiserdő-tető and Óvár to the Hermit's Cells

Good to know

• Managed by the Balaton-felvidék National Park
• Bozsai Bay and Külső-tó are strictly protected areas
• The Levendula Ház visitor centre sits by Belső-tó

Legend has it that the rock-cut cells of Óvár still whisper of the Basilian monks who arrived from Kiev around 1050, and the nearby Cyprián spring still carries their memory.