Updated August 2026. What changed this year: after a decade of German, Austrian and Dutch buyers at the lake, agents logged a single foreign purchase in the first seven months of 2026, and Hungarian buyers now set the price. We brought in our grape harvest this...
We’ve just come out of a long weekend of remembrance for the 1956 Revolution, and I ended it with something more joyful - celebrating my mother’s 80th birthday at DNB Budapest, surrounded by family and the kind of food that makes you grateful to live here. The Danube...
It’s August, and while Andrew is still tinkering with projects at our Balaton house and I’m trying to keep the garden from crisping under the late-summer heat, the calendar has me looking ahead. Not to heating bills (yet), but to an entirely different challenge: the...
It’s early August, and across Europe, holidaymakers are settling into summer mode. Here in the Balaton Highlands, where we have a winehouse that doubles as a peaceful retreat from city life, I’m feeling especially lucky. Not just for the sunsets, the slower pace, or...
Let me just say this straight out: if I had a forint for every time someone asked me whether they could retire in Hungary, I’d have enough to buy a Balaton villa and still have change for a few bottles of Olaszrizling. Andrew and I have spent more time on the phone...
I’m writing this from the terrace of our little winehouse, with a fan working double-time and my laptop precariously balanced between coffee and sunscreen. It’s another scorcher in the Balaton Highlands, but a cool front is (thankfully) on its way. I’m heading back to...
When you think of Hungary in summer, you might imagine sunset cruises along the Danube, paddleboards gliding past the Danube Bend or a leisurely swim in one of Budapest’s riverside coves. Unfortunately, you’ll need to shelve that vision for now - because the Danube's...
Waterfront Holiday Homes in Hungary: When we bought our house in the Balaton Highlands, it wasn’t exactly a calculated investment. More of a wild flirtation with a view and apple trees. It had good bones, a solid roof, indoor plumbing and electricity, but my husband...
Of course we chose next week to stay in Budapest. While much of the city decamps to Lake Balaton for cooling swims and fröccs-fuelled sunsets, Andrew and I will be in Pest. Working. Sweating. Mostly wondering why our calendar is suddenly full of meetings when we could...
It’s Monday, and I’m still running on the quiet rhythm of a perfect Sunday. Andrew and I spent the weekend in the countryside, specifically Badacsony, which delivered its usual mix of volcanic hills, lake views, and just the right amount of wine. Back at my desk now,...
I’m Anikó Woods, a Canadian-Hungarian who’s been knee-deep in life here since 2017 - bureaucracy, culture, and everything in between.
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