Long time, no see, guys! I cannot believe it’s been half a year since my last entry on the National Blue Trail – although, to be fair, I always share our adventures on Instagram Stories, but it’s high time I write about them in detail!
If you’re new to the concept of the National Blue Trail, click here to learn more about it. The linked post also shows you our first hike along the trail in the Bakony region! To give you a quick overview, so far we’ve hiked along the following sections:
- 05 Tapolca – Badacsonytördemic: We completed the Szigliget-Badacsonytördemic subsection. A short but sweet one, which we’ll probably continue in the summer when we’re at Lake Balaton. Read about it here!
- 09 Zirc – Bodajk: On our first hike, we did the Bakonynána-Jásd-Csőszpuszta subsections (there and back, with a little detour). Click here to see where it took us!
- 11 Szárliget – Dorog: I went without M on this one in the Gerecse mountains, and completed the Mogyorósbánya-Tokodi pincék-Tokod-Dorog subsections. It’s only a small fraction of the 67,7 km section, and we’ll continue with this one soon.
- 12 Dorog – Pilicsaba: It’s a one-day section you can easily do, and it’s really close to Budapest with great public transport options! Also, Kesztölc was a favorite walk of mine.
- 13 Piliscsaba – Hűvösvölgy: We did this one on a beautiful fall day. It goes through Nagy Szénás, a beautiful peak, and ends in the city and takes you to Náncsi néni, one of my go-to places for a post-hike hearty meal!
- 14 Hűvösvölgy – Rozália téglagyár: This is one of the most popular sections due to its proximity to Budapest, and there are some lookout points that well deserve the hype (and the hike).
And now: 16 Dobogókő – Visegrád
This can be perfect for a quick-paced one-dayer – the whole section is 24,7 kms – or you can take it slow and cut it in half. Either way, you start and end the hike with two really popular sights, so make sure you spare some time for both!
We decided to cut it in half, and did the second part of the hike first, but I’ll show you the sights in the logical order.
Let’s go!
Dobogókő
Dobogókő is a really popular place. Why? It’s a pilgrimage site believed to be the heart chakra of the Earth, and it provides a breathtaking view over the Danube river and the surrounding hills and mountains. We started the year hiking up here, and here we were, three months later, with a lot more to see that day.
We continued our way from the lookout past the remains of a Hotel Nimród. It’d already been vacant for 8 years when it all burnt down in 2017, presumably due to arson. It stands in stark contrast to the beauty of nature around it, but if you’re into this kind of catastrophe tourism, you’ll probably like its haunted house vibes.
We walked on the road for a while, past a ski lodge designed by the famous Hungarian architect Imre Makovecz, then turned right into the woods. Even though spring is already here, the colors up in the mountains have not yet followed up. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the sunshine and the bird songs, as we climbed down the really steep path to the valley of Bükkös creek.
The trail runs along the creek for a while, then heads out to Sikáros meadow, where we got a bit clueless as to where to next. The blue sign was on a tree hidden from plain sight, so we walked around for a while before getting it right. Anyways, soon we reached Sikárosi erdészház (the forest ranger’s house), where we collected our first stamp of the section. (We already stamped at Dobogókő on our January hike).
The trail then goes back to the woods and follows the creek, eventually crossing it on a small bridge. It was so beautiful, the edges of the creek were still frozen, but you could see the forest slowly coming back to life after the coldness of winter. We took a lot of photos here, then headed to Pilisszentlászló, where our day ended. But yours doesn’t have to!
Pilisszentlászló
You reach the edge of town just at the right place: Kis Rigó Vendéglő, a homey restaurant similar to Náncsi néni, where we stopped after our trip to Pannonhalma. I always wanted to visit but we were out of luck this time due to the pandemic, and even takeaway wasn’t an option on the day we went. You can get your stamp at the restaurant, or at the bus station in the town centre. We started there on our second (technically first) day of hiking, and got lost right away.
There’s a really popular trail nearby called Spartacus-ösvény (the Spartacus Path), and the green sign takes you there from Pilisszentlászló. Now for some reason, after collecting our stamp, we just followed the crowds heading out of town, mindlessly chatting as we spotted the blue sign every now and then. And then… the blue got green. Oopsie. So it turns out, it’s been green all along, just a tad darker than usual, and we mistook it for the blue in the harsh sunlight. Lesson learned: Always pay attention and check where you enter the trail in advance, just to make sure you walk in the right direction!
So the first few kilometers of this subsection follow a really steep path upwards, but soon you get to your usual beautiful forest, allowing you to switch off and enjoy the day.
The stamping station comes at Pap-réti erdészház (another forest ranger’s house), where we also stopped for a quick bite.
This is where it gets interesting: soon after you leave the meadow behind, you reach the path along Urak asztala (Lords’ Table – I really love translating all these places for you, some of them have well-known English alternatives, but I swear sometimes it seems like I’m the first one trying to give them a proper translation), with the first panoramic views since Dobogókő, then get back into the woods and find yourself among hundreds of stones overgrown with moss – something my friend captioned as “similar to the stone trolls in Frozen”.
This is a really lovely part of the hike, but once you arrive at Moli pihenő (a rest stop), you’ll know this is the real deal. Just sit down and admire the view over the Danube river running around Szent Mihály-hegy (St. Michael Mountain), you’re not so far from the end of the section now.
We continued our way past marsh-like scenes, then arrived at our last stamping station before Visegrád: the peak of Nagy-Villám (Great Lightning Bolt). You can collect your stamp either at Nagyvillám restaurant or at Zsitvay-kilátó (a lookout). We skipped the lookout for no good reason, but I’d recommend going up there, because the panorama is amazing! You can see the Visegrád Castle and the Danube river from up there.
Speaking of Visegrád Castle, the trail takes you right to the doors of the castle, so make sure you spare some time and energy for a quick tour (just bear in mind that it’s temporarily closed due to the pandemic).
Now the only thing left to do is to walk down to the ferry station, collect your Visegrád stamp and reward yourself with a well-deserved meal. Or, as in our case, eat your leftover sandwich watching the ferries come and go between Nagymaros and Visegrád. Nagymaros, we’re coming soon!
I hope you enjoyed my little hiking diary, let me know if you end up on this section of the National Blue Trail in Hungary!
