You guys! I never knew I’d say this, but I’m super excited about exploring my own country. Seriously!
Ever since we got back from the US, I’ve been trying to figure out how to enjoy traveling without crossing the borders. It’s not that I don’t love Hungary, I really do, but we’re usually on the road anyways, visiting our families who live scattered across the country, and for some peculiar reason I never thought this was also something that constitutes traveling – my everyday life, that is.
During lockdown, however, my mindset about travel changed a lot, and I started to look into ways to explore Hungary a bit more, because I’ll be honest – I may consider myself a seasoned suitcase traveler, but I’m still a novice when it comes to my own country.
This is where the National Blue Trail comes in the picture!
The National Blue Trail
The National Blue Trail is a hiking trail that stretches across the northern part of Hungary for 1168 kms. It includes some of the most beautiful parts of the country, touching a hundred peaks and even lake Balaton.
A thousand kilometers might sound scary, but fear not – the trail is designed to fit the needs of long-term hikers and weekend wanderers, too, such as yours truly. It is divided into 27 sections, varying between 14-73 kms, and even these sections have multiple subsections, so you can do a hike as short as 3 kms.
To start your National Blue Trail hiking journey, you can buy a blue booklet that contains all the necessary information and a very detailed map of each section. You don’t have to do this, of course, I hiked along the trail even before owning the booklet, but this is the only way to verify that you completed the trail. There are little stamping stations at every subsection, so you get to put a stamp in your booklet to mark your progress, which I think it’s both motivating and fun!
We officially started our NBT hiking journey last week, and I thought I’d take you along every section we complete. Hope this will inspire you to explore more of what Hungary has to offer!
Bakonynána – Jásd – Csőszpuszta
This trail is under Section 9 that goes from Zirc to Bodajk (including 8 stamping stations altogether). We chose this section because of its close proximity to Balatonakarattya, where we often spend our weekends. It took us about an hour to get to Bakonynána in the morning, where our hike started. Initially we wanted to park our car there, do the hike and go back by public transport. But the thing is, it can get tricky on the NBT, as sometimes there’s just no way to go back to your car other than on foot. So, when you plan your hike for the day, first check your options, then brace yourself that maybe you’ll have to walk the trail there and back.
The trail from Bakonynána to Jásd is 6.1 km long, while from there to Csőszpuszta it’s another 4 kms.
First section: Bakonynána – Jásd
When you start your hike in Bakonynána, your first point of interest will be János-árok, a little valley or ditch (I don’t wanna say ditch, though). It is just a few minutes’ walk away from Római-fürdő vízesés (Roman bath/ waterfall) that we really wanted to see, but we managed to go in the wrong direction right away. When you’re at János-árok, you’ll see a sign showing you the way to Jásd, which was our first stamping station, so we went ahead and left the forest to climb up on a hill. We met several people who went the opposite direction and asked them where the waterfall was, to which they responded, puzzled, ‘You’re coming from that way”.
Turns out, the waterfall is right behind János-árok, so when you’re there, continue your way along the Gaja-creek and you’ll get there in no time.
I didn’t mind that we left the trail for a while, though, because we saw a beautiful meadow and took some photos I’m proud of.
Second section: Jásd – Csőszpuszta (Tés)
We only stopped in Jásd to get our booklet stamped – the stamp is in front of a local convenience store which you’ll find easily -, then continued our way to Tés. Now this part was a little tricky, as we managed to get off-path for a while again, and when we climbed a steep hill, there was no sign whatsoever. We went back-and forth along the pebbly road to figure out if we should go left or right (The correct answer is left. You’re welcome). If you’re in the mood, there’s a lookout nearby called Széchenyi Zsigmond kilátó, where you can enjoy the views for days.
After a while, we reached a glade that had an eerie vibe to it as a lot of trees were damaged by previous storms, and there’s also a lot of logging in the area.
We thought we had some more distance to go, but we actually reached Tés, where we had a little lunch break at Erdei Büfé, which is right on your left when you enter the village from the trail.
The windmills in Tés
We were on a quest here, guys: Tés is home to two beautiful windmills, one of which operated up until 1951 (the Helt windmill, built in ca. 1840) and you can still visit. The Ozi windmill was built in 1924 and copied the technology of the former. You can reach the Helt windmill by entering the property at 20 Táncsics Mihály street – even though now the state owns the windmill, the family living here is its official keeper.
The entrance fee is 300 HUF (ca. 1 USD), for which you’ll get the beautiful key that opens the windmill and you can roam the grounds and take as many photos as you wish – you can ask for a guided tour, too, which takes ca. 30 minutes. There’s a little blacksmith museum as well in the garden, so I’d highly recommend to stick around for a while even after you’ve visited the windmill. Opening hours: 9 AM – 5 PM/4 PM in wintertime.
After our detour (the windmills are not on the trail per se, but they are within a short walking distance), we headed to Csőszpuszta to collect our next stamp. The station is at the entrance of the Alba Regia Barlangkutató Központ (a cave research station). It’s a bit hidden from the prying eyes, but all the more rewarding to find and mark the end of your hike.
Ha! Joking. You have to get back to your car, remember?
For us, it was actually a good thing, because we finally managed to stay on the trail and thus walked by Szentkút, a beautiful shrine, and finally found the Roman bath waterfall we’ve been chasing all day. And what a day it’s been!
I don’t know where we’ll continue our hike on the National Blue Trail, but stay tuned if you’re interested in seeing more of Hungary! 🙂