2 Best Sights in Balatonfüred, Hungary

The center of town is this small square, where the bubbling waters from five volcanic springs rise beneath a slim, colonnaded pavilion. The square’s centerpiece is the neoclassical Well House of the Kossuth Spring; from here you can sample the water, which has a pleasant, surprisingly refreshing taste, despite the sulfurous aroma. Note that there's a strict, 30-liters-per-person limit (good luck trying to break that rule). All the buildings on the square are pillared like Greek temples. At No. 3 is Horváth Ház, a former sanatorium that hosted the first of what was to become the Anna Ball in 1825. The ball now takes place every July in another colonnaded building on the square, and also a former sanatorium, the Anna Grand Hotel. On the north side of the square is the Füredi Panteon with aesthetically interesting tablets and reliefs honoring Hungarian and foreign notables who took the waters here. From Gyógy tér, you can stroll east along Blaha Lujza utca to see several landmarks, such as the Blaha Lujza Ház, a neoclassical villa built in 1867 (and, later, the summer home of the eponymous actress), and the sweet little 19th-century Kerek templom (Round Church).

Trees, restaurants, and shops line this busy waterfront promenade, which is named after the Nobel Prize–winning Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore: he came to one Balatonfüred's sanitoriums in 1926 to get treatment for a heart condition. You will find a bust of Tagore in front of a lime tree along the promenade; the poet planted it himself following his recovery. The promenade begins near the boat landing and runs for nearly a kilometer (½ mile) to the east.