Badacsony Hill

The hill (437 m) is an extinct casket-shaped volcano. Its slopes are covered with some very strange geological formations, fossilised lava columns called basalt organs as well as vineyards which produce the excellent wine of the Pauline monks called Grey Friar (Szürkebarát). Of the two hundred-year-old press houses, the two finest are the House of Róza Szegedy, housing the Literary Museum with memorabilia of literature and viniculture, and the Baroque Kisfaludy House, the most popular wine cellar along the shore.

The highlights of the Badacsony Nature Reserve, with superb panoramas, are the volcanic hills called Witness Hills, including Gulács (393 m), Csobánc (376 m), St. George Hill (415 m). The reason they are called witnesses is that they bear witness to the once much higher water level of the extinct Pannonian Sea. Visitors following the geo-botanical trail will soon recognise the immense heritage of the place. The Folly Arboretum in Badacsonyörs displays 400 types of evergreens.

Extinct volcanoes surround the villages, inhabited since time began, in the protected Káli Basin. The mineral water source on the outskirts of Kékkút, producing the famous bottled water, Theodora, was known to the Romans. Ruins of medieval palaces and churches and unique geological formations further enhance the appeal of this region. Clusters of basalt columns and small crater lakes like Lake Kornyi of Hegyestű Hill, the basalt columns of the Fekete-hegy (Black Hill) and, unique to this region, the winderoded stones of bizarre shape at Szentbékkálla, Kővágóörs and Salföld are true curiosities. On the nature reserve farm of Salföld grey cattle, long-coated sheep and buffaloes, once indigenous to this area, have received a new lease of life in their protected habitat.

Tapolca

14 cone-shaped basalt hills, covered with vineyards, encircle the small town. Its features a geological rarity in the form of the 4-km Tavas Cave in which you can go boating.

In the heart of the town there is a 200-year-old watermill on the shore of the picturesque Malom [Mill] Lake.

One of the oldest elementary school buildings in Central Europe contains the town's library and museum, housing an exhibition on the history of education.