lauren1983

Hi backtobasics,

Thank you for your reply.

We are hoping to visit hungary around christmas time (fingers crossed!)
You say you are buying a property there! Did you find it yourselves or did you use agents to help you with regards to viewings and the legal ins and outs?
I bet you are realy excited. Hope everything is going to plan.

Thank you for the offer of help i will pm you as soon as im able to

Notalab

Hi Lauren1983, I have emailed you.

stromnessdundee

Hello
I live by Lake Balaton but am not retired either. Could we start a new thread- just calling it Hungary and we could use it for anything. Until we get our own country bit this might do the trick. Chime in with any suggestions. : )

Notalab

MOD's??????

jdr

You would be better starting more threads, as one thread won`t convince admin to open another sub forum.
To get an idea of what is needed have a look at the other European sub forums and the amount of usage they have.
But by all means start a thread like that if you wish.

rangoon

Hello everybody!
I've just read through the seven pages of this thread and found it really interesting. I have a question that someone might be able to answer.

I'm planning on flying out to Balaton with my wife and daughter to look for a property and explore the area. However Balaton is a big lake so I wondered if somebody could give me an idea as to which part of the lake to look at most. Is the geography pretty much the same all around the lake or are some parts wilder and less touristy? Are some parts more expensive then others or are things pretty much equal? And where have most of the expats re-located to?

I know it's a lot of questions but there does not seem to be too much info out there on moving to Lake Balaton ( in English anyway ).
Thanks....ben

Notalab

Hi Ben,
I perceive that most Brits have gravitated towasrds the West end of the lake. Pehaps it's psycological [Nearer the "West"?]
The Balaton Britons club has a membership of over 90 bods who live in various locations around the Western end of the lake. Not sure if anywhere is more expensive than another [Budapest being a capitol city will always be more expensive for all things]. Genral rule of thumb is that the nearer the lake the more attuned to the tourist.

Mustin

Hi Cathyg,

Thanks for your reply. I'm still searching for a list of routes that Ryanair are cancelling for the winter and can't confirm that this route will be postponed. However, when you go onto the Ryanair website, there are no flights available from 1st november onwards, which sounds ominous or maybe they haven't calculated prices yet..?!?

On another note, it's good to see the amount of replies to this thread every day. I have been flying back and forwards to Balaton for a couple of years now to the south side of the lake. At the moment it is very busy with tourists as it always is around July and August, but the transformation in the winter is amazing - it is so quiet and everything shuts down!

Viszlat!

OGSG

Absolutely valuable information, thanks.

OGSG

We flew back to Stansted yesterday and asked a slightly embarassed RyanAir worker at the Balaton booking desk about winter flights (wanting to take advantage of the current RyanAir offer) as we have one going out on Oct 21 BUT can't find anything after Oct 25 coming back ;-( He said that at present he does not know but that last year though RyanAir announced it at the last minute - so here's hoping we get a flight back in October and one over at Christmas!

OGSG

We are also looking. If you PM me we can recommend a small agency with a more personal service than the bigger "estate agents." Tip - don't be pushed into a decision, there are plenty of properties available.

BTW we made contact with some of the "Balaton Brits" whilst over there this summer - a great bunch also with useful tips. Thanks!

cathyg

Hi Everyone

Just to let you know that we have been on our summer vacation to Hungary, drove down in our motorhome. Went to a friends wedding just outside of Budapest near Godollo and then went down to the Balaton for a few days. We prefer the Northern shore as it is less touristy and more picturesque. We stayed at Balatonalmadi and had a brilliant time on National Day, august 20th. There was a wine festival taking place, this involved about twenty different wine makers and you bought a glass for 350 Forints (about £1.20) than filled it up with different wines ranging from 300 forints to 600 forints a glass. Some of the best wines in the local area and beyond. On National day there was a free concert and fireworks at the same venue. Needless to say a good time was had by all. I am not sure about house prices around the Balaton but I guess the further back from the lake you are the cheaper it will be. We have noticed a difference in the value of the pound but it is still good value especially food and drink. A note for anyone considering driving across Europe the fuel prices are significantly higher this year and our fuel costs were several hundred pounds.
Szia

Cathy

backtobasics

Just an update on our venture. We're returning to Hungary towards the end of September, our house purchse is progressing well. We're using the guys from www.hungarianandslovakianhouses.com they have been brilliant to date.

Nothing is too much trouble for them, one of their guys even got photos of arga's from a shop and emailed them to us as he knew we were considering such an option for the kitchen. They've kept us informed at each stage of the process and unless something really evil happens these guys I would highly recommend.

Our destination is a village 80kms east of Budapest and is nearer to the Tiszsza fured region as we're more inclined to nature and bird watching.

I would recommend anyone considering buying a seemingly bargain property in a village, to go and check the area first as some villages look quite daunting or are near ruin with no infrastructure.

The village we have chosen is friendly, has thriving camp site with thermal baths and large swimming pool, a police station, garage, local shops and winery plus a bar and within 10kms is a large 24 hour Tesco yet it retains all the character and relaxed pace of the region and we fell in love with it!

backtobasics

When we last went to Hungary in May 08 we drove from Zeebrugge and took a leisurely route via Germany and Austria sleeping in our tent at various camp sites enroute culminating in 11 days of camping at a wonderful Hungarian camp site boasting a large thermal pool and very large swimming pool.

When we return in September to complete on our house we are travelling by air, we're not keen on hotels and pondered on accommodation until we remembered that the camp site we used had chalets for 8,000Huf per night. They sleep up to 4 people chalet is fitted out with tv, price includes electric, cooking facilities, crockery, showers etc all you need for self catering included in price!

So if you're heading to Hungary and feel a little bit adventurous check out some of the camp sites and see what they have on offer.

Notalab

..... Asked Newcastle by phone to send us E121's 10 weeks ago and after 4 weeks phoned again to ask WTF? They only seemed interested in the fact that a new department would now pay our pensions [jobsworth] as we were living abroad but said they would send the E121's. Needless to say another 4 weeks and no joy so phoned again and they said "We use a courier service for mail and it could take some time" [Mail service here is excellent and letters only take 2 days from or to UK]. Phoned again about 2 weeks ago and was told that they would send them by registered mail and they eventually arrived yesterday. Today we took the forms, passports, residency cards, address cards and blue NHS emergency treatment cards to the district capitol offices where an English speaking lady filled in the forms for us and there and then issued us with our Hungarian NHS cards and our new EU blue cards.... all done and dusted within an hour. [The Newcastle blurb said be prepared to wait some weeks for the paperwork to clear - that may be the case in UK but not here!] Beaurocracy is something everyone has to live with but nice to see it done efficiently.