Keszthely Flights:
Flights to Keszthely
The city of Keszthely is situated on the western shores of Hungary’s Lake Balaton, and is the second largest city on the lakeshore. Keszthely is best known for its Festetics Palace, and of course being on Lake Balaton there is plenty to do nearby.
There are no airports nearby for international flights to Keszthely, but the Graz Airport (airport code: GRZ) does handle traffic coming from Johannesburg. It’s about 140 kilometres away so you will want to plan on getting a rental car to get to Keszthely. Austrian Airlines and South African Airways both have 1-stop flights to Keszthely , arriving in Graz, that connect in Frankfurt, and Lufthansa makes their connection in Munich. A flight with British Airways will make 2 stop-overs in London and Berlin.
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The Tourist Attractions of Keszthely:
Keszthely is a historic city that was first mentioned in 1247, and became a market town in 1421. It’s an attractive city with lots of greenery and open spaces both within the city and on its outskirts, and despite the city designation it’s actually really quite a small place with a population of only around 21,000 people.
The town centre has some lovely older buildings and streets where you can sit outdoors in a restaurant or café during the summer months, and there is a selection of shops to enjoy too.
The market square is full on Wednesdays and Saturdays when a variety of foods and goods are sold, and there is another square within Keszthely where you’ll find a 12th to 13th century parish church, made into its current gothic style in the 19th century.
Festetics Palace
The main attraction of Keszthely is Festetics Palace; a beautiful baroque palace set within well manicured and landscaped grounds, basically right in the heart of Keszthely.
The palace was built over the foundations of an earlier castle and was started in 1745 by Kristof Festetics, but it took over a hundred years before it was finally completed. This was probably due to the fact that they kept enlarging the building quite substantially from the original plans, making it ultimately one of the three largest country houses in Hungary.
The interior of the palace is open as the Helikon Castle Museum, and you can get to see some beautiful rooms and halls as you wander around. The stable block now has on display a collection of coaches and carriages, and during the summer the palace grounds are used for outdoor concerts so check the schedule while you’re in town as this really is a beautiful place to enjoy a concert.
Lake Balaton
Lake Balaton is an attractive in its own right and there’s some lovely scenery to enjoy all around this large lake. On the shores of Lake Balaton at Keszthely you can experience the only remaining Lake Baths, and being the only ones left this is quite a unique experience!
When Should You Visit?:
For sightseeing Keszthely is best visited in the summer months, particularly August as temperatures are warm (average high is 25C) and rainfall is quite substantially lower than in the months preceding and following. Rainfall should be expected anyway, as this region around Lake Balaton is wetter than the rest of Hungary. During the winter temperatures drop to an average high of 2C in January, and when it’s cold enough the lake can freeze.