Keszthely is the oldest of the towns around Lake Balaton. Many of its small streets faithfully preserve the small-town atmosphere of the 19th century. For centuries, a decisive factor in the development and culture of Keszthely was the presence of the Festetics family, one of the richest Hungarian aristocratic families. Their Baroque stately home, today a museum, is one of the finest monuments in the Balaton region. Each week in the summer concerts are held in the park and the splendid rooms. The Balaton Museum is also a delight: its dioramas and show cases present the formation of the lake, the natural world, archaeological finds, the region's folk culture, and the history of the bathing culture. The nave of the Roman Catholic church is from Medieval times, and the frescos are held to be the finest creations of Hungarian Gothic. The city hosts the summer Balaton Festival and the Balaton Autumn.

The Festetics Palace is a Baroque palace located in the town of Keszthely. It's construction, started by KristĂłf Festetics in 1745, lasted more than a century, during which the palace, built at first on the foundations of a ruined castle, was tripled in size, in two subsequent building campaigns, most recently in the 1880s, to designs by Viktor Rumpelmayer, living in Vienna. When Rumpelmayer died in 1885, the work was carried to completion by architects Gusztáv Haas and Miksa Paschkisch. The result is one of the three largest country houses in Hungary. The counts Festetics were progressive landowners: Kristóf Festetics founded a hospital, Pál Festetics established a school in the town, and in 1797, Count György Festetics opened an Agricultural University, the Georgikon, Europe's first agricultural college, which is still in operation as a faculty of the University of Pannonia.

The library wing was built by Gyögy Festetics in 1799-1801, with guidance from András Fischer of the Vienna Academy. Execution was entrusted to local artisans. The dining room (now a concert hall) has stucco decor by Mátyás Vathner from the town of Pápa. The book collection was made available to students of the Georgikon. The great book collection that remains in the castle is the only extensive aristocratic library that survives in Hungary. The result is that the central axis of the garden front is centered on one pavilion of the corps de logis, rather than on the prominent central tower of the extension built in the 1880s, with prominent mansard roofs and richly framed dormer windows typical of the neo-Baroque French Second Empire style, and neo-Renaissance woodwork in some of the interiors.

On the entrance side facing the town the axis remains centered on the original baroque structure, now a flanking wing. Unlike the surrounding area, the palace was not damaged during World War II. The palace has housed an independent museum (Helikon Castle Museum) since 1974; it is visited by 200,000 people each year. The parterres in which the palace stands were extended in the nineteenth century with a naturalistic landscape park in the English fashion. There are concerts in the summer seasons. The stable block now houses a collection of coaches and carriages.