Lake Tisza (Tisza-tó), Hungary: What Is Open in Winter and How to Get There

Hungary’s Biggest Artificial Lake, After the Summer Crowds Leave

Lake Tisza was made in the 1970s, when a dam at Kisköre backed up the river Tisza into the floodplain. What you get today is not one big sheet of water but a maze of reed beds, willow islands, side channels and shallow basins, 27 km from end to end. The quiet northern part has been a bird reserve for longer than the lake has been full. Around it runs a flat, mostly car-free bike loop, and in the villages on its shore the fish soup comes straight from the water you are looking at.

In winter the beaches shut and the boats are tied up, but the lake does not close. Fish still pass the ladder at Kisköre, the nature trail at Tiszaörvény can be walked all year, the csárdas keep serving fish soup and the thermal pools nearby stay open. The 2026 drought shut the boats and the boardwalk early, and the train from Keleti still gets you to the shore in about two hours.

Photo: Texaner, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized. The cycle bridge at Poroszló.

📋 At a Glance

📍 Where	The middle Tisza, about two hours east of Budapest by train; the main bases are Poroszló, Tiszafüred, Kisköre and Abádszalók (Google Maps)
❄️ In winter	Fish ladder, nature trail, fish restaurants, museum and thermal baths; beaches, boats and the boardwalk are summer-only (season grid)
💧 2026	Winter water level since 28 August because of the drought; boardwalk closed since 24 August, Ökocentrum boats stopped 17 August (why)
🐟 Ökocentrum	Aquarium, otters and a lookout tower in Poroszló; adult 4,800 Ft in the main season; call +36 30 277 5314 for winter hours (details)
🚲 Cycling	Small loop 65 to 70 km, big loop 95 km, almost flat (route and rentals)
🎣 Fishing	Turista area ticket 9,000 Ft for 24 hours (tickets and rules)
🚆 Getting there	Keleti 08:00, change at Füzesabony, Poroszló 09:59, 2,830 Ft; last back 20:04 (trains)
🍲 Don't miss	Halászlé, the river fish soup, at a csárda in Poroszló (where to eat)

Why Go to Lake Tisza

Its official name is the Kiskörei-víztározó, the Kisköre reservoir. It was first flooded in 1973 and raised to its full level in 1978, to hold back floods, water farmland and feed the hydropower plant at Kisköre. At 127 km² it is Hungary’s second-largest lake after Balaton and its largest artificial one. It is 27 km long and at its widest, between Poroszló and Tiszafüred, 6.6 km across.

The lake is split into basins, each with its own character. The Tiszavalki basin in the north is the most protected; the Poroszlói and Sarudi basins lie on the west shore; Tiszafüred faces them from the east; and the Abádszalóki bay in the south is where the water sports happen.

Photo: Nixalsverdrus, CC BY-SA 3.0, resized. Reed islands and open water on Lake Tisza.

The bird reserve. About 3,400 hectares of the Tiszavalki basin have been protected since 1972 and managed as national park land since 1993. The protected parts are a Ramsar wetland and, as part of the Hortobágy National Park, fall under its UNESCO World Heritage listing from 1999.

Lake history and the bird reserve from the Hortobágy National Park Directorate (hnp.hu), read on 28 October 2026.

What Is Open in Winter

Lake Tisza changes completely between August and November.

Year-round	Summer-only	Call or book first
Kisköre fish ladder: open to visitors all year	Beaches: Abádszalók 20 June to 31 August 2026; Poroszló 15 June to 31 August; Sarud Kalandpart mid-June to end of August	Ökocentrum, Poroszló: hours published only to 1 November; call +36 30 277 5314 or email info@ttoc.hu
Szabics nature trail, Tiszaörvény: the operator says it can be visited all year	Ökocentrum boat trips: early April to end of October, and suspended since 17 August 2026	Ökocentrum leisure park: from end of October to early April some attractions and animal displays do not run
Fehér Amúr, Poroszló: fish dishes all year, heated closed terrace	Water Walkway (Vízi Sétány): April to October, and closed since 24 August 2026	Tisza Balneum spa, Tiszafüred: day guests admitted at weekends only if there is room
Kiss Pál Museum, Tiszafüred: 1 September to 31 May, Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 16:00	Nyúzó Gáspár potter’s house, Tiszafüred: 1 May to 30 September, by phone appointment	Fish ladder plant tours: on request by email
Berekfürdő thermal bath: open daily 8:00 to 20:00 from 28 March “until revoked”	Szabics scheduled boat service: weekends 27 June to 16 August 2026	Szabics nature trail: book through the operator’s form

Plan around the weekend. In winter the Kiss Pál Museum is closed on Saturdays, and the Balneum spa only lets day guests in at weekends if it has capacity. A weekday visit gets you more.

Seasons and hours from tiszataviokocentrum.hu, hnp.hu, szabicskikoto.hu, abadszalok.hu, poroszlo.hu, sarud.hu, kisspalmuzeum.hu, feheramur.hu, tiszabalneum.hu and furdo.berekfurdo.hu, checked on 28 October 2026.

Why the Lake Went Down Early in 2026

The water authority for the middle Tisza (KÖTIVIZIG) says the summer was extremely dry, and because of the drought the lake went down to its winter water level early this year, on 28 August 2026. On the morning of 26 October the gauge above the Kisköre dam read 634 cm. The authority has said it may hold a higher winter level than usual this year to keep any extra water it gets.

For a visitor that means a lower lake than in the summer photos, and two early closures: the Ökocentrum stopped its small boat trips and GPS boat hire on 17 August, and the national park closed the Water Walkway on 24 August for extremely low water. Both are seasonal anyway, so in winter you would not have had them.

Water level from the MOHOSZ Tisza-tó office (sporthorgasz.eu), republishing KÖTIVIZIG, read on 28 October 2026; closures from tiszataviokocentrum.hu and hnp.hu, read on 28 October 2026.

The Ökocentrum in Poroszló

The Tisza-tavi Ökocentrum (Kossuth utca 41, Poroszló) is the lake’s main visitor center and the place most people come for. The operator bills its aquarium as Europe’s largest freshwater aquarium.

Photo: KovacsDaniel, CC BY-SA 3.0, resized. The Ökocentrum and its lookout tower.

The aquarium. Two underground floors hold almost a million liters of water. The biggest tank alone takes 535,000 liters, and you walk through it in a tunnel about 5 m below ground while sturgeon glide overhead: beluga, Russian and stellate sturgeon and the smaller sterlet. Around them swim the fish of the river itself, carp, pike, asp, zander, wels catfish and bream, the same species that end up in the soup at lunch.

Upstairs and outside. Asian small-clawed otters are fed twice a day. A dark “night forest” room shows Hungary’s amphibians and reptiles, and a satellite map of the lake on the floor lets you walk from Kisköre to Tiszavalk in a few steps. The lookout tower rises to the height of a seventh floor and has a lift, so anyone can get the view across the basins, and on a clear day north to the hills. The 12-minute 3D film about the lake through the seasons is in Hungarian; English is offered only to foreign groups who book ahead.

The leisure park. Outside, 7 hectares hold fallow deer, jackals, and in aviaries pelicans, cormorants, owls and white-tailed eagles, plus a Poroszló farmhouse from 1884. From the end of October to early April, the operator says, some of these attractions and animal displays do not run.

Tisza-tavi Ökocentrum	2026
Hours, 1 September to 1 November	Daily 9:00 to 17:00, last tickets 16:00
Hours, 2 November to 12 March	Not published: call +36 30 277 5314 or email info@ttoc.hu
Basic ticket, 3 April to 2 November	4,800 Ft (about $14.80); ages 3 to 18 and 65+ 4,500 Ft
With the 3D film	5,500 Ft; reduced 5,200 Ft
Boat package and All-in ticket	Currently not available
Under 3	400 Ft
Paying	Cash, card or SZÉP card; online through the ticketbase.eu link on the operator’s English site
Parking (gate 1)	1,200 Ft a day if you arrive 8:00 to 15:00, 600 Ft from 15:00 to 18:00

Good to know. Basic and 3D tickets are single entry, so you cannot pop out for lunch and come back in. Dogs are not allowed. Gates 2 and 3 are seasonal entrances with their own ticket offices, open from April to the end of October. Next to gate 2 there is a separate car park run by an outside contractor, at 1,200 Ft a day.

Hours, prices and rules from tiszataviokocentrum.hu (visitor rules, prices and opening hours, main building, leisure park and access pages), checked on 28 October 2026.

Boat Trips and the Water Walkway

In a normal summer the backwaters are the reason to come. The Ökocentrum runs 12-seat boats for 45 to 50 minutes every hour from its own harbor, and rents GPS-guided rowing boats on 12 routes of different lengths for 8,500 Ft per boat per hour plus a 10,000 Ft cash deposit. The national park’s Water Walkway (Vízi Sétány) is a 1,500 m boardwalk through reeds, flooded willow forest and water-lily fields, with hides and a tower, reached only by a small boat that leaves every 20 minutes from the Fűzfa harbor in Poroszló (adult 2,500 Ft, child 1,500 Ft).

The boats and the boardwalk are seasonal, April to October, and in 2026 they all stopped in August for low water. If you are planning for next year, they are the summer half of the lake.

Boat and boardwalk details from tiszataviokocentrum.hu and hnp.hu, checked on 28 October 2026.

Tiszafüred

Tiszafüred on the east shore is often called the capital of the lake. It has the spa hotel, the museum and the lakeside district of Tiszaörvény.

Kiss Pál Museum (Tariczky sétány 8) is one of Hungary’s oldest provincial museums, founded in 1877 by a local archaeological society, in the classicist Lipcsey manor house with an old park around it. Inside: 7,000 years of local archaeology, an ethnographic exhibition that traces the area from its resettlement in the late 17th century, with crafts such as saddlery and pottery, an Ice Age exhibition and a room on the 1848 to 1849 revolution.

Kiss Pál Museum	2026
Winter (1 September to 31 May)	Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 16:00
Summer (1 June to 31 August)	Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 16:00
Adult	1,000 Ft; student or pensioner 500 Ft
Three-museum ticket, valid 3 days	2,000 Ft; reduced 1,000 Ft
Photo permit	2,000 Ft

The potter’s house. Tiszafüred was a pottery town, and the Nyúzó Gáspár Fazekas Tájház (Malom utca 14) keeps a potter’s original workshop and home. It opens only from 1 May to 30 September, Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 16:00, by phone appointment (+36 59 696 005).

The Szabics nature trail. At Szabics Kikötő in Tiszaörvény, the lakeside district of Tiszafüred, a 2,000 m nature trail with bird towers runs through the floodplain, themed on the mayfly. You reach it by a short boat ride, and the operator says it can be visited all year: adult 2,500 Ft, student or pensioner 1,600 Ft, booked through the form on its site. In summer the same harbor runs guided rowing and birding trips.

Museum history, exhibitions, hours and prices from kisspalmuzeum.hu (about, exhibitions, contact and price pages); nature trail from szabicskikoto.hu, both checked on 28 October 2026.

Kisköre and the Fish Ladder

Kisköre sits at the southern end, where the barrage and the hydropower plant hold the lake in place. Next to them, on the border with Abádszalók, the fish ladder (Hallépcső) lets fish swim between the lake and the river all year: a channel almost 1,400 m long, in which more than 40 species have been recorded. A viewing window under the weir lets you watch them pass. Abádszalók bills it as Central Europe’s largest ecological corridor.

It is open to visitors all year. Walk or cycle there along the dike; drivers coming from Kisköre need a dike permit (gátközlekedési engedély), sold at tackle shops and harbors and online through MOHOSZ. There is a refreshment point for cyclists. For a tour of the power plant itself, write to kiskore.szmg@kotivizig.hu. GPS: 47°29’31.5“N 20°31’10.5”E.

Photo: Lajos Gál, CC BY-SA 3.0, resized. The bay at Kisköre.

Abádszalók, just north, is the most built-up resort on the lake, with the main beach and the bay for water sports.

Fish ladder details from abadszalok.hu, checked on 28 October 2026.

Cycling Around the Lake

The lake is now ridable all the way round, and it is about as flat as cycling gets: the Ökocentrum puts the height difference at roughly a meter, on a route that is almost entirely asphalt. Its figures:

• Small loop: 65 to 70 km, a full day in the saddle.
• Big loop: 95 km.
• The cycle bridge at Poroszló joins the two shores, and the route has ferries and rest stops along the way.

Where the route runs on the flood dikes, cars need a permit to use them. The Ökocentrum also links a free downloadable adventure map of the lake.

Bike hire. E-bike Tisza-tó in Poroszló rents normal bikes for 7,100 Ft a day, e-bikes for 14,600 Ft a day or 8,800 Ft for three hours, tandems for 12,000 Ft and children’s bikes for 5,200 Ft.

Short on time? An hour out to the cycle bridge at Poroszló and back gives you the view of the river and the lake without committing to the loop. The full loop needs a night at the lake (see Day Trip or Overnight?). Our cycling guide puts the lake alongside Hungary’s other long-distance routes.

Route figures from tiszataviokocentrum.hu; rental prices from ebiketiszato.hu; dike permits from abadszalok.hu and sporthorgasz.eu, all checked on 28 October 2026.

Beaches (Summer Only)

Every beach on the lake is a summer affair. Their seasons:

Beach	Season	Good to know
Abádszalók Tisza-tó Strand	20 June to 31 August 2026, daily 9:00 to 19:00	Adult 1,800 Ft, reduced 1,500 Ft, family 6,000 Ft; parking 1,500 Ft a day
Poroszló Tisza-tavi Strand	15 June to 31 August, daily	Shallow, sandy entry; pedal boats, kayaks and SUPs; parking 1,200 Ft a day
Sarud Kalandpart Élménystrand	Mid-June to end of August	Inflatable water park and trampolines, separate ticket

In winter the warm water is in the thermal baths below.

Beach seasons and prices from abadszalok.hu, poroszlo.hu, tiszataviokocentrum.hu and sarud.hu, checked on 28 October 2026.

Fishing at Lake Tisza

The lake’s fishery is run by the MOHOSZ Tisza-tó office in Tiszafüred, the regional branch of the national angling federation. Its rules for foreign visitors:

What you need. A state fishing ticket with its catch log, a Tisza-tó area ticket and a photo ID. Foreign anglers need no Hungarian angler card to buy area tickets, and no club membership for the higher-priced ticket types sold to them.

Tisza-tó area ticket, Turista	2026
24 hours	9,000 Ft (about $27.80)
48 hours	14,500 Ft
72 hours	19,500 Ft

Area tickets are sold online (horgaszjegy.hu) and at the sales points listed on the office’s site.

Rods and hooks. You may fish with the number of rods printed on your area ticket, with up to 3 hooks per rod.

Winter rules (15 November to end of February). Fishing is allowed only from 6:00 to 18:00. In the Tiszavalki and Poroszlói basins only stationary rods with a single hook are allowed, and spinning is banned there, except on the Óhalászi, Füredi and Hordódi Holt-Tisza, the Örvényi-morotva, the IX and VI channels and the Szartos-árok. The Vermelő protection area, including Dühös-lapos and parts of the river, is closed to fishing and to staying there at all. Live-imaging sonar is banned on boats. Ice fishing is allowed only where permitted, on ice at least 10 cm thick, with holes no larger than 30 by 30 cm. Pike has a closed season from 16 February to 16 April.

Contact. The office (+36 30 111 0927, tiszato@mohosz.hu) is open Monday to Friday 8:00 to 16:00.

Tickets and rules from the MOHOSZ Tisza-tó office (sporthorgasz.eu, ticket and fishing-rules pages), read on 28 October 2026.

Thermal Baths Nearby

A long soak is the natural end of a cold day at the lake.

Tisza Balneum spa, Tiszafüred. The lakeside hotel sells day tickets: adult 6,500 Ft (about $20.10) including the sauna, child aged 5 to 12 4,200 Ft. The spa is open Sunday to Thursday 8:00 to 20:00 and Friday and Saturday 8:00 to 21:00. Outside guests are let in at peak times and at weekends only if there is room, so on a Saturday call ahead.

Berekfürdő. About 30 km south of Tiszafüred, on the branch line that runs from Tiszafüred to Karcag, Berekfürdő’s thermal bath is open daily 8:00 to 20:00 from 28 March until further notice, with the pools open to 19:45. A post-season adult wristband is 3,800 Ft, every day of the week. Our Berekfürdő guide covers the water, the ticket bands and the trains.

Balneum prices and hours from tiszabalneum.hu; Berekfürdő hours and prices from furdo.berekfurdo.hu, both checked on 28 October 2026.

Eger, the Hortobágy and Debrecen

Lake Tisza sits on the same rail lines as three bigger names, so it slots into a longer trip east.

• Eger. The train you take from Keleti is the Eger InterRegio: stay on past Füzesabony and you are in Eger, the castle and wine town.
• The Hortobágy. The line through Poroszló and Tiszafüred carries on east across the puszta, and road 33 from Tiszafüred runs the same way. Our guide covers the autumn crane season and the park’s tours.
• Debrecen is the end of that line, Hungary’s second city.

For the wider picture, the Eastern Hungary and Great Plain guide maps the whole region.

Where to Eat

The dish here is halászlé, the paprika-red fish soup of the Tisza, made from carp or catfish and often cooked hot. The Tisza version is on Hungary’s official Hungarikum list, and our Hungarian food guide explains what to order with it.

Place	Where	Hours	Good to know
Fehér Amúr Halászcsárda	Poroszló, at the Tisza bridge on the live river	Daily 11:00 to 20:00, Friday and Saturday to 21:00	Fish all year, heated closed terrace. Its menu lists carp halászlé at 3,990 Ft (about $12.30), catfish 4,390 Ft, mixed 4,190 Ft and the sour “korhely” fish soup 4,290 Ft. +36 70 772 2698
Kormorán Étterem	Poroszló, Fő utca 58	Daily 11:00 to 20:00	Restaurant with rooms; takes SZÉP card
Hableány Étterem	Tiszafüred-Tiszaörvény, Hunyadi János út 2	Not published; call +36 59 353 333	Hotel restaurant; halászlé and family platters for family and friends’ events
Platán Étterem	Tisza Balneum Hotel, Tiszafüred	Daily 7:00 to 22:00	Dinner buffet for outside guests 8,900 Ft

November and December in Poroszló. On 7 November Poroszló’s restaurants hold a St Martin’s (Márton-nap) celebration with goose and new-wine dishes, and also on 7 November the cultural house hosts a costume “witches’ ball” (Boszibál). The Advent season opens on 29 November at the Ökocentrum and Millenáris Park, and Advent Sunday markets with mulled wine and crafts run in Millenáris Park from 6 to 20 December.

Restaurant details from poroszlo.hu (Poroszlói ízek), feheramur.hu, kormoranetterem.hu, hableanyhotel.hu and tiszabalneum.hu; events from the Ökocentrum’s 2026 program booklet. All read on 28 October 2026.

Getting There

To Poroszló and Tiszafüred. Take an Eger InterRegio from Budapest-Keleti and change at Füzesabony to the local train toward Debrecen. InterRegio trains to Eger leave Keleti through the day; the departures in the table are the ones with a good connection at Füzesabony to Poroszló and Tiszafüred. A one-way second-class ticket is 2,830 Ft (about $8.70).

Keleti	Füzesabony (arr / dep)	Poroszló	Tiszafüred
05:25 (3,480 Ft)	06:49 / 06:55	07:16	07:26
06:00 (7 and 8 Nov: 05:55)	07:33 / 08:31	08:53	09:03
08:00	09:33 / 09:38	09:59	10:09
10:00	11:33 / 11:38	11:59	12:09
12:00, 14:00, 16:00	same pattern	:59	:09
18:00	19:33 / 19:40	20:01	20:11

The 08:00 is the one to take: a five-minute change and you are at the lake just before 10:00. The 06:00 (05:55 on 7 and 8 November) sits for almost an hour at Füzesabony.

Coming back. Trains leave Poroszló at 15:01, 17:01 and 19:01 and Tiszafüred at 14:51, 16:51 and 18:51, reaching Keleti at 17:05, 19:05 and 21:05. The last useful trains are the 20:04 from Poroszló and the 19:49 from Tiszafüred, both into Keleti at 22:05.

To Kisköre and Abádszalók. These are on a different branch: change at Kál-Kápolna. Trains leave Keleti at 05:00, 08:00, 11:00, 13:00, 16:00 and 19:00 and reach Kisköre 2 hours 20 minutes later (the 08:00 arrives 10:20), for 2,830 Ft. Back, Kisköre has trains at 13:29, 15:29 and 18:29, the last useful one, into Keleti at 21:05. The 08:00 also reaches Abádszalók at 10:44. Back from Abádszalók, the 18:08 gets you to Keleti at 21:05 with one change at Kál-Kápolna; the 18:34 takes two changes, at Kisújszállás and Szolnok, and arrives between 21:50 and 22:00, depending on the day.

Engineering works, 9 to 25 November 2026. MÁV lists changed timetables on the Miskolc main line, which you ride as far as Füzesabony, and replacement buses between Füzesabony and Eger for some early and late trains. If you travel in that window, check your exact train.

Locally. Local buses link Poroszló station with the “Poroszló, Ökocentrum” stop, and the MÁV app shows them alongside the trains.

Train times and fares from the MÁV journey planner for Wednesday 4 and Saturday 7 November 2026, checked on 28 October 2026; works from mavcsoport.hu, read on 28 October 2026. These are November times, and the MÁV app shows the times for your day.

By car. Take the M3 to Füzesabony, then road 33 toward Tiszafüred and Debrecen. For a car hired in Budapest, see the car rental guide.

Road directions from tiszataviokocentrum.hu, read on 28 October 2026.

Day Trip or Overnight?

A day trip works if you pick one base. Two that fit the train times:

• Poroszló. The 08:00 from Keleti gets you there at 09:59. Spend the morning at the Ökocentrum (once you have phoned to check it is open), have halászlé at Fehér Amúr, give the cycle bridge an hour, and take the 15:01, 17:01 or 19:01 back.
• Tiszafüred. Arrive 10:09, see the Kiss Pál Museum on a Tuesday to Friday, spend the afternoon in the Balneum spa, and head home on the 16:51, 18:51 or 19:49.

Stay the night for anything bigger. Riding the 65 to 70 km loop, pairing the Kisköre fish ladder with Poroszló across the water, or being out on the dikes at first light for birds all need a night at the lake, or a car. Tiszafüred has the Tisza Balneum and the Hableány; Poroszló has rooms at the Kormorán.

The Verdict

Lake Tisza is a summer lake that most visitors only know in summer, and in 2026 the drought made that summer shorter than usual. In November it is a different place: quieter, lower, wide open under a big sky, and still full of things worth the trip. Phone the Ökocentrum, take the 08:00 from Keleti, watch sturgeon over your head and the lake from the tower, eat a bowl of hot fish soup by the river at Poroszló, and if the museum or the fish ladder pulls you further, stay the night and end it in thermal water. The boats, the boardwalk and the beaches belong to summer.

Sources: Hortobágy National Park Directorate: Lake Tisza history, Water Walkway and Water Walkway prices and hours; Tisza-tavi Ökocentrum: visitor rules, prices and hours, English prices page, main building and aquarium, leisure park, leisure park in winter, boat trips, GPS boats, low-water notice, cycling, beaches, access and 2026 program booklet; MOHOSZ Tisza-tó office: water retention notice, tickets and fishing rules; Kiss Pál Museum: history, permanent exhibitions, contact and hours and prices; Szabics Kikötő: boat trips and nature trail; Abádszalók: fish ladder and beach; Poroszló: beach and Poroszlói ízek; Sarud Kalandpart; E-bike Tisza-tó; Tisza Balneum: spa and restaurant; Berekfürdő bath: hours and prices; Fehér Amúr and its menu; Kormorán; Hableány; MÁV engineering works; MÁV journey planner, all read on 28 October 2026.

Prices are in HUF, which is what you pay at the counter. Converted at 1 USD = 324 HUF, the ECB rate on 15 October 2026. Rates move, so treat the converted figures as indicative.

📱 Been to Lake Tisza This Winter?

Opening hours, water levels and train times all move with the season. Tell us what you found at the lake and we fix the page.

Related Articles

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• Eastern Hungary and the Great Plain
• Hungarian food guide