The Lake Héviz, located in the Hungarian region of Balaton, is considered to be the largest thermal lake in the entire world. This lake has an area of approximately 47,500 m2, and the flow of its water is so powerful that some experts affirm that every day the lake is completely refilled. This factor, along with the fact that it is also believed that its waters have curative effects, turn Lake Héviz into one of the most attractive destinations tourists could choose when going to Balaton during a vacation in Hungary.
According to experts, Lake Héviz has a very peculiar flora and fauna. This is due to the fact that this lake has a unique combination of chemical components such as sulfuric elements or oxygen and solution, which combined with its temperature, create the perfect habitat for a variety of unique species. This way, those visitors who are interested in biology, should not miss meeting this lake when traveling to this area of Hungary, since in it they could find species which hardly exist in other parts of the world.
The life form that predominates in the lake Héviz is the bacteria. This lake has several different types of bacteria, such as the Chlorina, Oscillatoria Princeps, O. Tenius, and O. Jasorunesis, being these different types of green-blue alga. Besides this, there also are other alga species such as the Pseudanabaena Crassa and the Pseudanabaena Papillaterminata, and it is believed that these species are the main factor causing the lake to have curative effects.
Located on the Lake Héviz, there is the Héviz Spa, an area of natural treatment. This spa, in combination with the Szent András Hospital, is renown throughout the world as a great complex of natural medical care, and receives people from a wide variety of places on a constant basis.
The origins of the Héviz spa could be traced back to as long ago as the ancient Romans times. Archaeological discoveries have brought to light objects and coins dating from those times and therefore allowing affirming the belief that the curative effects of the lake’s waters were already known back then.