Balatonvilágos is a real treat for those who would like to leave behind the busy weekdays and truly relax in a nice environment. Everyone can find their ideal way to relax, whether it is a light walk on the beach, a dinner in a local restaurant, or a huge party in the nearby city – Siófok.
Getting to Balatonvilágos:
Balatonvilágos, or as we Hungarians call it: just simply Világos, lays at the south-east corner of Balaton, on the border of county Somogy, Fejér and Veszprém.
It can be approached by bus or train, but even by car we have an easy job to get to Balatonvilágos, as there is a direct road to the city from motorway M7.
The distance between Budapest-Balatonvilágos is 92km, so it takes an hour by car, assuming there are no delays on the motorway.
You can get there by train, leaving from Déli Railway Terminal (Déli pályaudvar).
The history of Balatonvilágos:
After the construction of the Déli Railway in 1863, during the first years of the XX. century, the measurement of Balaton’s beach, the filling of the area and the construction of the holiday town begins for the first time at the banks.
By the turn of the century it already had two stations – Balatonaliga, Balatonvilágos.
There were only 12 buildings and a small restaurant in the town at first. However, it built up in 10 years, mainly the richer built holiday houses for themselves. They were mainly richer citizens, civil servants. With time, Balatonvilágos grew in number of buildings from more modest citizens, like teachers, railroaders, engineers.
The first women’s sailing race
The Balaton Yacht Club (BYC) established in 1912, was the first civilian association that gained greta credit in the development of sailing sports at Balaton. This is where they held the first women’s sailing race.
At the request of BYC, the Hungarian Royal Ministry of Agriculture promised in 1913 to build a harbor. The harbor was built by the end of the Second World War.
The light coloured ground
Balatonvilágos became an independent town on the 1st of March, 1961, until then it belonged to Balatonfőkajár.
The name of Balatonvilágos is special: It first mentions the town as Világos manor in a study regarding the surrounding towns from 1857 in the details about the land’s owners. And Világos manor got its name from the light ground here. Világos means light coloured in Hungarian.
In the seventies the town began to develop significantly due to the large-scale plot development. After the change of Regime, today’s Club Aliga area became open, providing a cultured, well-equipped beach and harbor to the community.
Smaller community – more peace
Balatonvilágos isn’t a busy town beside the summer season, when thousands of people spend their holidays here. Currently about 400 families – 1200 people live here.
The bed of Lake Balaton is sandy, the water temperature is perfect, the depth is shallow, even people who can’t swim can enjoy the water for hundreds of meters. Thanks to this many people visit during summer, but way less compared to other, “more trending” places near the Balaton.
So I mainly recommend it to those who would like to relax a little, enjoy nature and don’t crave bigger crowds and parties, which characterizes the neighbour city, Siófok, for example.
Beaches at Balatonvilágos
In the seventies the town began to develop significantly due to the large-scale plot development. After the change of Regime, today’s Club Aliga area became open, providing a cultured, well-equipped beach and harbor to the community.
Paid beach:
The town has two beaches, a free and a paid beach. The paid beach is 5 minutes from the train station, so you can get there quickly even by foot.
Beautiful, well cared for, green grass welcomes the lovers of tanning. You can bravely sit in for lunch at its buffets. Swings and sandboxes provide carefree play-time for children.
The water is shallow on this section of the beach, so young people, elders, non-swimmers and children can all enjoy the refreshing waves of the Balaton. The beach is nice and sandy.
Free beach:
The public free beach shows a different picture, the open water is surrounded by reed on all sides.
You can enter the water at two locations, one of the footpaths take you to the shallower section, the other one is a bit more muddy and deeper, where swimmers can enter from the long pier. A buffet can be found here too, so you won’t be left without water or food if you pick the free option.
Events
The summer event season truly begins with the Village Day held in the middle of July, and continues with programs like the Hungarikum Festival, which revitalizes Hungarian cultural values and traditions, until the end of August. The nearby Siófok’s sparkling life brings many programs at arms length for younger people as well.
Attractions and sights at Balatonvilágos:
Panorama Lookout, Millenium Holy Crown Monument, Club Aliga Retro resort, Bridge of sighs, Monument of Géza Mészöly.
Millenium Holy Crown Monument 
Panorama Lookout 
Panorama Lookout:
Those who would like to admire the Bakony mountains, Upper Hungary, the East basin of Balaton in a calm quiet environment, must not miss this lookout at high-bank, which is the prettiest attraction of this town.
