Fun fact · Our own analysis of Google Trends data, not official statistics. How we measured it
Lake Balaton
Google search interest for “Balaton” by state (0–100), January–October 2026
Hungary’s Lake Balaton was a favourite foreign holiday for GDR citizens and a place where divided families met before 1989. It is still an eastern dream: searches are 2.7× as frequent in the East (71 against 27). Saxony scores 100, Hamburg 15.
Inner-German border 1949–1990 ·16 states · January–October 2026
Former West
27
excl. Berlin
Former East
71
excl. Berlin
Berlin
28
Figures in search index
The East's figure is 2.7× the West's (January–October 2026).
By state
- Sachsen100
- Thüringen70
- Sachsen-Anhalt62
- Brandenburg51
- Hessen44
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern42
- Bayern38
- Berlin28
- Baden-Württemberg28
- Niedersachsen22
- Rheinland-Pfalz20
- Schleswig-Holstein18
- Nordrhein-Westfalen18
- Saarland16
- Bremen16
- Hamburg15
January–October 2026
How we measured this
Google Trends, region Germany, resolution by state, web search for the term “Balaton”, January–October 2026, pulled on 4 November 2026 (one term per request; a repeat pull gave identical values). Google scales each state from 0 to 100 relative to the state with the highest share of searches for the term (100 = most interest), so the index reflects how often a term is searched relative to all searches in a state, not the number of people. East and West are averages of the state values weighted by population on 31 December 2025 (our calculation).
- Searches include news, weather and travel; Balaton is also a brand of Hungarian chocolate bar.
- A search index measures interest, not behaviour: searching for something is not the same as doing it.
- Google samples its data, so values can shift by a few points between pulls.
- States below Google’s reporting threshold are shown without a value.
Notes & caveats
- Other holiday searches, same period: “Ostsee” (Baltic Sea): East 49, West 21.8, Berlin 26 (2.2× East). “Nordsee” (North Sea): East 26.9, West 41.2, Berlin 26 (1.5× West). “Mallorca”: East 53.4, West 74.5, Berlin 83 (1.4× West). “Türkei Urlaub” (holiday in Turkey): East 75.6, West 59.1, Berlin 42 (1.3× East).
Show the table
| State | Side | January–October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Saarland | west | 16 search index |
| Berlin | berlin | 28 search index |
| Brandenburg | east | 51 search index |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | east | 42 search index |
| Sachsen | east | 100 search index |
| Sachsen-Anhalt | east | 62 search index |
| Thüringen | east | 70 search index |
| Schleswig-Holstein | west | 18 search index |
| Hamburg | west | 15 search index |
| Niedersachsen | west | 22 search index |
| Bremen | west | 16 search index |
| Nordrhein-Westfalen | west | 18 search index |
| Hessen | west | 44 search index |
| Rheinland-Pfalz | west | 20 search index |
| Baden-Württemberg | west | 28 search index |
| Bayern | west | 38 search index |