Romance on the Sió – turning your back on Lake Balaton – blue A/B

1. Route description, explanation of signs
A long tour with relatively few and easy climbs in the southern Lake Balaton area. A particularity of the route is that certain stretches run on the mostly grassy dams of the Sió Canal.
The tour is also very diverse in terms of road type, as cycle paths, low-traffic public roads, agricultural roads and water dams are alternating on the trail. The roads in the route are 60% paved and 40% unpaved.
The dashed line on the map indicates an unpaved path.

2. Difficulty factors in the tour
The tour includes public road sections between Siójut and Ádánd, Pélpuszta and Szabadhídvég, Mezőkomárom and Lajoskomárom as well as Kabókapuszta and Enying, please ride with extra caution on these sections.
Between Lajoskomárom and Ozora, the ruts in the sand become deeper in dry weather, making this stretch difficult to ride with slim bike tyres.
There are not many shady sections on the tour, so in hot weather it is recommended to plan the ride for the morning and late afternoon.
The dirt road between Enying and Balatonszabadi is completely unrideable in rainy weather.
Drinking water sources are limited on the tour so make sure you head out carrying full water bottles.

3. Ambience
From the water tower in Siófok you can admire not only Lake Balaton, but also the landscape in Mezőföld and Somogy, which invites you to a romantic trip. The almost 85 kilometre long route with a low total elevation gain starts right at the water tower and mostly leads on paved roads through three counties of Hungary. The round tour offers a variety of ambiance: on the banks of the Sió river a refreshing breeze blows and the cyclist is embraced by the landscape. Later you can find other treasures: a lonely medieval church tower, a bee-eater nesting place and in Ozora the Renaissance castle of the mysterious sounding Pipó of Ozora. Here, after a few minutes you might feel that you want to stop time, or even turn it back. Perhaps you can actually do this: on the way you pick up a leisurely pace, and with a stop at the wine cellars of Fülöp hill you can be sure that the wheel of time really does turn slower. As you ride back to Siófok, you can admit: sometimes it is not so bad to turn your back on Lake Balaton. This beautiful round tour, rich in natural and cultural heritage, can be easily completed in two days with an overnight stay.

Municipalities on the route: Siófok, Siójut, Ábánd, Oroszipuszta, Pélpuszta, Szabadhídvég, Ozora, Külsősáripuszta, Lajoskomárom, Mezőkomárom, Pusztaszentmihályfa, Kabókapuszta, Enying, Balatonszabadi