On the western border of Hungary near Lake Fertő and the city of Sopron, the village of Balf seems like a fairly ordinary town at first glance, but below the surface lies some of the country’s most mineral-rich spring waters, flowing freely in this bucolic community surrounded by lush vineyards, forests, and gently rolling hills. Balf is an excellent starting point for countryside bike excursions – and in the next episode of our video series highlighting diverse destinations to discover across Hungary, we can admire many of the attractions of this hamlet with a history dating back centuries.

In the English-subtitled video below, provided to We Love Budapest by the Hungarian Tourism Agency as part of their “Hungary Awaits You” campaign to showcase the wide assortment of attractions to discover across the country, we can virtually visit Balf, a quaint village famed for its health-boosting mineral water and a long history (past visitors include Napoleon’s troops), while the surrounding vineyards make this a delightful destination for wine lovers, especially those who like Hungary’s distinctive Kékfrankos grape variety:

To learn more about the Balf region, check out this information provided by the official Hungarian Tourism Agency website, and keep reading We Love Budapest for more installments of our “Reel Hungary Videos” series, coming soon!

How to get there from Budapest: by car, take motorway M1 west of Budapest (make sure to buy a motorway pass) until reaching exit 129 to main road 85 towards Sopron. At the end of the off-ramp, take a right towards Sopron, and continue following main road 85 until reaching the town of Nagycenk, when the road changes into main road 84. Continue following main road 84 towards Sopron until reaching the town of Kópháza, and take a right on Ikvasor Street (look for the sign pointing right to Balf; the turn is just after a small bridge), and follow Ikvasor as it changes into Béke utca, then Akácfar sor, and then Alsódomb sor, which takes you right into Balf.