Keszthely Festetics Palace

The Festetics palace at Keszthely was begun in the 1740s and extended into the 1880s into a long Baroque and neo-Baroque range with over a hundred rooms, and it is one of the very few Hungarian country palaces to survive the twentieth century with its furniture, fittings and collections in place rather than dispersed. The centre of it is the Helikon library, a hall of carved wood holding around a hundred thousand volumes assembled by a family who took learning seriously enough to fund schools and a literary festival on the estate. The state rooms, chapel, arms collection and coach house are all shown, and the park behind runs to the town. Keszthely sits at the western tip of Balaton.

What to look for

• The Helikon library - a carved hall of about a hundred thousand volumes.
• Rooms with original furnishings - a rare survival among Hungarian palaces.
• The arms and coach collections - the outbuildings and displays.
• The park behind the palace - the grounds running toward the town.

When to go

April to October, though the palace is open year round. Half a day. Concerts use the mirror hall. Closed Mondays outside high summer.

Practical notes

Ticketing is split into several separate exhibitions and the full combination is expensive. Summer queues are long. Photography inside costs extra. The town is a busy resort in July and August.

Nearby

Lake Heviz is north-west; Badacsony lies east along the shore.