Lake Balaton

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Lake Balaton
Landsat satellite photo
Location	Hungary
Coordinates	46°50′N 17°44′ECoordinates: 46°50′N 17°44′E
Lake type	Rift lake
Primary sources	Zala River
Primary outflows	Sió
Catchment area	5,181 km²
Basin countries	Hungary
Max length	77 km
Max width	14 km
Surface area	592 km²
Average depth	3.2m
Max depth	12.2m
Water volume	1.9 km³
Shore length¹	236 km
Surface elevation	104.8 m
Settlements	see article
¹ Shore length is an imprecise measure which may not be standardized for this article.

Lake Balaton, located in Hungary, is the largest lake in Central Europe. Since Hungary is landlocked, Lake Balaton is sometimes called the "Hungarian Sea". The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and the canalized Sió is the only outflow.

With a surface area of 592 km², Lake Balaton lies approximately at the coordinates 46°50′N 17°44′E, and has a length of 77 km and a width ranging from 4 to 14 km. The lake's surface is 104 m above sea level, and its depth varies up to 12.2 m (mean depth is 3.2 m).

1 Name
2 Climate
3 Tourist information
4 Towns and villages
- 4.1 North shore
- 4.2 South shore
5 History and Trivia
6 See also
7 Gallery
8 External links

In Hungarian, the lake is known as Balaton; in Latin as Lacus Pelso, in German as Plattensee, in Slovak as Blatenské jazero and in Serbian as Blatno Jezero or Блатно Језеро.

Its name means approximately "muddy lake" in Slavic ("blato" means "mud" in Slavic). The Hungarian name Balaton also derived from the original Slavic name, but it has no concrete meaning today in Hungarian.

The Romans called the lake Lacus Pelso, that is to say shallow lake in Latin language. Germanic peoples that have been living in the area through the centuries called it Plattensee, with the same meaning as in Latin.

Lake Balaton affects the local area precipitation. The area receives approximately two-three [or more] inches more precipitation. More cloudy days, less extreme temperatures, and more precipitation than most of Hungary are all because of Lake Balaton. The lake's surface freezes in winter.

High tourist season extends from June until the end of August. The average water temperature during the summer is 25° C, which makes bathing and swimming very enjoyable. Other tourist attractions include sailing, fishing and other water sports as well as visiting the countryside and hills; wineries on the north coast and night life on the south. The Tihany Peninsula is a historical district.

Although the peak season at the lake is summer, the lovers of Balaton think that it is also worth visiting the huge lake in winter, when you can go fishing in the ice-holes, or if the ice is thick enough, brave visitors can even skate, sledge or ice-sail on the lake.

Balaton is served by Sármellék International Airport [1]. There are scheduled flights from Berlin, Stuttgart, Copenhagen, Zürich and London Stansted. The lake is also accessible via charter flights from Frankfurt, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Billund and Moscow.

Chief resorts include:

Badacsony - Balatonalmádi - Balatonboglár - Balatonfüred - Balatonlelle - Fonyód - Keszthely - Siófok - Tihany - Vonyarcvashegy

Towns and villages alongside Lake Balaton.

From east to west:

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

From east to west:

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

Operation Frühlingserwachen was conducted in the region of Lake Balaton in March 1945, being referred to as "the Lake Balaton Offensive" in many English histories of the Second World War. The battle was a German counterattack by Sepp Dietrich's 6.SS-Panzerarmee between March 6, 1945 and March 16, 1945 and resulted in a Red Army victory.