Twelve km (71/2mi.) north of Szigliget, in the Tapolca Basin between the Bakony Forest and the Keszthely Mountains, lies the up-and-coming industrial town of Tapolca (415m (1362ft), pop. 17,000), where large basalt and bauxite deposits have been found in the surrounding countryside. The town developed from a medieval settlement of which the first records are dated 1272; from the 19th C it was a trading center for the regions round about, and more recently has become a popular spot with tourists in the Balaton region. Worth a visit is the Catholic parish church on the church mound, which embraces styles of building ranging from Romanesque to Baroque.
Fragments of 15th C frescos can be seen on the outer walls of the Gothic choir. All around the church lies a "Garden of Ruins" with remains of a Roman estate. Later a manor house was built on the same foundations, and in the second half of the 15th C this was extended by Carthusian monks into a castle and surrounded by walls and fortifications. Remains of the castle walls can still be seen. The school at the foot of the church mound as well as the "choir house" nearby, which now houses the municipal museum, are basically medieval buildings. Near the mill-pond (Malom tó) the wheel of a 200 year-old water-mill still turns.
The main attraction of Tapolca is the "Tavasbarlang" underwater grotto, part of an extensive network of limestone caves. The cave can be visited on foot daily; the entrance lies in Kisfaludy utca.
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