AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Tucked into the quiet Oldtown quarter of Balatonfüred, just a short stroll north of the waterfront promenade at Vitorlás tér, the Mór Jókai Memorial House preserves the summer villa where Hungary's most prolific 19th-century novelist wrote some of his best-loved works. The early eclectic-style home, built in 1870, offers an intimate glimpse into the daily life of Jókai and his famous actress wife, Róza Laborfalvi, who together made this lakeside retreat their sanctuary for nearly two decades.↗↗↗↗
The Writer's Lakeside Retreat
Mór Jókai first visited Balatonfüred in 1857, and both he and Róza Laborfalvi fell so deeply under the spell of the lake's beauty and the spa town's social energy that they returned every summer. On the urging of his brother-in-law, the local spa physician Dr. István Huray, Jókai purchased a plot behind the Round Church in 1867 and commissioned a villa that would capture the views he loved. The house was completed in 1870 in the early eclectic style, with a spacious entrance hall, six rooms, a kitchen, and a cellar below. From the upper terrace—framed by a stone balustrade and decorative bust sculptures—the couple could gaze across the shimmering expanse of Lake Balaton toward the silhouette of Tihany Peninsula.