Szent Gyorgy Hill

The Tapolca basin north of Balaton is scattered with flat-topped hills that are the hard basalt cores of old volcanoes left standing as the softer rock around them wore away, and Szent Gyorgy-hegy is among the finest of them: a plateau at 415 metres whose southern and western flanks carry ranks of basalt columns, the bazaltorgonak, standing in vertical bundles up to twenty metres and more, exposed by erosion and by old quarrying. Vineyards and press houses cover the lower slopes, some of them working cellars offering tasting, and marked paths climb through them to the columns and on to the plateau, where the view takes in Badacsony, the basin and the lake beyond.

What you actually see

• Basalt organ columns - vertical bundles on the southern and western flanks.
• A volcanic witness hill - the hard core left standing above the basin.
• Vineyards and press houses - the working slopes below the rock.
• Views to Badacsony and the lake - the basin from the plateau edge.

When to go

May to October; September and October combine harvest and clear air. Half a day. The climb takes about an hour with steep sections and loose rock near the columns.

Honest expectations

The paths are steep and stony and the scree near the columns is genuinely unstable. There is no shade on the upper slopes and summer heat is heavy. Parking in the villages is limited. Cellars are open irregularly.

Nearby

Badacsony is south-east; Tapolca lies south-west.