Hegymagas sits in the Tapolca Basin at the foot of St. George Hill (Szent György-hegy), just 3.1 miles from Lake Balaton, and it knows how to show off. From spring to autumn, the tiny village swells with visitors chasing wine, food, views, and tradition. The colder months don’t slow it down either: markets, tastings, and St. Martin’s Day (Márton-nap) indulgences keep the calendar packed straight into winter.
Dates, stays, and bites
The 2025–2026 season here looks busy. Anchor your visit around the weekly Hegymagas Market (Hegymagasi Piac), then weave in wine cellar tours and tasting menus, seasonal goose specialties, and a few low-key surprises. Accommodation is straightforward and local, and the food is laser-focused on what the countryside does best: volcanic-terroir wines, homey plates, and produce that tastes like the hillside it came from.
November takes over
November is prime time. The Hegymagas Market runs on November 15, 22, and 29, bustling with producers, bakers, and vintners. The headline act, though, is the Goosebumps Festival (Libabőr Fesztivál) — a full-on St. Martin’s Day culinary series from November 1 to 17 that turns goose into an art form and wine into a seasonal companion. Nyári Cellar (Nyári Pince) hosts its Tuned to Goose (Libára Hangolva) program, syncing festive plates with house wines and a view that does half the talking. Szászi Estate (Szászi Birtok) rolls out discounted Autumn Wine Packs specifically for St. Martin’s Day, so your suitcase may leave heavier than it arrived.
Winter markets keep it warm
After November, the Hegymagas Market doesn’t quit. You’ll find it on December 6, 13, 20, and 27 — then again on January 3, 2026. Think hot cups, hearty bites, and enough local energy to feel like the village is your own. If you prefer browsing bottles to braving the chill, several cellars keep their vinotheques open year-round.
Book a bed, stay a while
For a low-key base, Kovács Guesthouse (Kovács Vendégház) in Hegymagas opens its doors all year. It’s the kind of stay that makes a wine weekend feel like a simple ritual: walk, taste, nap, repeat. A handful of wineries offer guesthouses too, so you can put your feet up within cork-popping distance of the vines.
On the hill: small plots, big character
The St. George Hill (Szent György-hegy) landscape is stitched together by family wineries and artisan producers working everything from petite plots to 49.4-acre spreads. One boutique estate cultivates what it calls 2×2 hectares (about 9.9 acres) across the basalt-rich slopes — tiny by design, with attention dialed up and a rare regional emphasis on reds. Book ahead for a cellar tour and a six-wine tasting flight that runs about two hours and covers the estate’s best bottlings.
Vine to glass to guestroom
Agrotourism is alive and well on the southern slopes, where a family-run operation tends roughly 49.4 acres and pairs its cellar with several guesthouses. It’s the full arc: sunrise in the vines, midday market finds, sunset tastings. Another micro-cellar, possibly the smallest on St. George Hill, leans hard into handcrafted, elegant wines from distinctive local varieties — the sort of intimate tasting that lodges in your memory long after the last swirl.
Volcanic souls and steady hands
Gilvesy, founded in 2012, bottles the hill’s volcanic character with modern clarity. The Vinotheque opens daily during posted hours and also by appointment; they deliver, and they’ll arrange tasting programs if you call ahead. If your palate skews classic, one long-established cellar, operating since 1996 on the south-facing side, farms about 44.5 acres and blends modern processing with extended barrel aging for select wines — a nod to patience and texture.
Grapes that tell the story
Expect a who’s who of local and regional varieties: Welschriesling (olaszrizling), Müller-Thurgau (rizlingszilváni), Zengő, Traminer (tramini), Rhine Riesling (rajnai rizling), Chardonnay, and Rózsakő. Whites dominate much of the hill, but that bold small estate backing reds keeps things interesting. At Nyári Cellar, just 656 feet from both the Tarányi Wine Cellar (Tarányi Pince) and the Polish Chapel (Lengyel-kápolna), the list swings from fresh wines on tap to bottled selections. Tastings are by reservation, and the panorama is the kind you’ll brag about later.
Open doors, hungry travelers
The St. George Hill Vinotheque is open every day, all year. When the weather turns friendly, the Viridárium kitchen at the revamped estate center cooks for both gastro and wine tourists from spring to autumn — a neat funnel for anyone chasing a seamless lunch-and-tasting combo before hiking onward or drifting back to the market.
Save the late-night summer note
Bookmark this one for later: St. George Hill Until Dawn (Szent György-hegy hajnalig) returns June 6–7, 2026 — the hill’s cult-favorite night that runs until dawn, where wine cellars glow and the basalt holds the day’s warmth while music and murmurs weave between vines.
Plan, but roll with it
Hegymagas likes a plan as much as a good improvisation. Organizers reserve the right to change dates and programs, so check in before you go — then show up ready to chase markets, sip the hill’s volcanic heartbeat, and let St. Martin’s Day linger well past November.
