Walking in Hungary

Guidebook with 32 walks throughout upland Hungary, with its landscape of rolling hills, high karst meadows, vineyards, crags, castles and villages. The ancient trails of the country are now a network of walking paths with a good system of coloured waymarks. Background information on preparing for walking in the country.

View Sample Route Map

Walk 1: Jósvafő–Aggtelek Circuit

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Route: Jósvafő – Tó-hegy – Aggtelek
Distance: 12km (7.5 miles)
Map: 1 Aggteleki-karszt és környékének 1:40 000
Transport: Regular buses between Aggtelek and Jósvafő
Refreshments: There are restaurants and snack bars around the Jósvafő and Aggtelek cave entrances but the prices in the village bars are better. There is a cheap and friendly canteen at the back of the pub in Jósvafő village proper where the locals eat. Find the little passage on the right of the bar leading to the door.

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There are two ways to walk between the villages of Jósvafő and Aggtelek. One is via the Baradla cave, and if this is your preferred route contact the booking office above Jósvafő near the Tengerszem Hotel for details of the five-hour guided tour through a labyrinth of stalagmites and stalactites. Otherwise the overground route is a pleasant walk through forested hills and over some typical karst landscape. The walking also follows a geological study trail (tanösvény út) with a series of yellow information boards marking places of interest along the way. The waymarking is fine through the forest section on the approach to Aggtelek village, but the return to Jósvafő over meadow and karst requires concentration. When waymarks are missing on tree-less meadow, wooden posts with a white flash signify a turning. The route description assumes the walker is starting at Jósvafő but the circular nature of the walk allows an Aggtelek start.

Starting at central Jósvafő at the bar turn right and follow the main street over the bridge. As the street bends left take the second street right over a smaller bridge. On the other side turn right to follow the street along the stream for a few paces and then turn left up the little road passing between the recently renovated water mill and the village museum (Tájház). Veer right, passing the traditional Palóc style cottage (the oldest house in the village) and continue uphill past the bell tower and the footpath up to the Protestant cemetery. Continue straight towards the wall of the Protestant church and turn left up a narrow path with blue waymarks through the trees until the wooden arch of the forlorn little Jewish cemetery. Head diagonally left across the grass and pick up a little path through the woods to a wider track. To stay on the blue waymarks turn right and at the next fork keep left passing a small waterworks. The track eventually meets the green route coming up from the Tengerszem Hotel visible below. Continue on the Blue Route as it contours right. The blue-waymarked path meanders through mature forest gradually gaining height to reach a saddle and little clearing. Ignore the blue (triangle) turning for the summit of Baradla-tető on the right; the top is overgrown. The descent down the other side of the saddle brings the route out of the woods and to a meadow where the grassy track forks.

Alternative Route
For a direct route to the Aggtelek cave entrance and campsite take the right branch of the fork. The track narrows to a footpath contouring a hillside with scattered juniper bushes and rocks. Visible down to the left are the karst slope on Tó-hegy and Aggtelek village. The blue and yellow waymarks take the route around a hill rising a little and then dropping down to the look-out point above the Aggtelek cave entrance. Turn right and the trail eventually picks up the concrete steps and walkway leading down to the tourist complex.

At the fork of grassy tracks in the meadow take the left track which descends gently down to a fence. Aggtelek village is visible straight ahead but turn left to follow the yellow-waymarked path along the layered fence. For a short cut to the village and refreshments continue along the fence until the path swings right past old houses and climbs a steep rough street up to the main square and the village bar. Otherwise press on and pick up the yellow waymarks rising left past walnut trees and up the karst slope of Tó-hegy. Climb no higher than the information board before turning right. The waymarks, now painted on rocks, thin out but try to keep to the indistinct footpath. If the path is lost continue to contour until the trail picks up again, eventually traversing down through the bleached stones to the little pond at the back of the village. Follow the pond edge until the trail rises to a slip road with another information board.

Cross the main road and turn right for Aggtelek village and refreshments or, to continue with the return route to Jósvafő, cross straight over the main road and pick up the little path dropping down the other side into the depression of Zomboly-lyuk víznyelő. The grassy track passing vegetable plots is obvious for a while but peters out as it begins to traverse up the hill to the left. There are no waymarks in this open country but a stake with a white patch guides the route as it contours some bushes. If the main road is reached you have climbed too far. Try to find the beginning of a track dropping steeply down through a grove of fruit trees and bushes. At the bottom where it comes out of the trees and joins a more significant track turn to pass through meadow with scattered bushes. At the next fork keep left, and continue on the track across the meadows.

When the route splits into yellow and yellow (+) branches it is not very obvious but a white-flashed post marks a left turn down along a trail flanked by electricity pylons. An embankment with red soil and exposed chunks of limestone, Kőnyerő hely, is reached. Continue straight uphill towards a little saddle guided by the electricity pylons. The red soil of a path appears ahead as it climbs up through a patch of woods. On the other side veer right on the trail dropping down to a landscape of sink-holes, meadow and scattered juniper. The Hungarian for this landscape is borókás töbrök. The path soon joins the red gash of a track cutting through the rough grassland and scrub. Follow it as it swings left but do not continue all the way back up to the main road. Again, the waymarks are unhelpful, but a white-flashed post marks the point where the route turns away from the track and heads for the woods on the right. Once in the trees there is a good trail with yellow waymarks passing an information board listing the flora and fauna of the region. The walkway to the Vörös-tó cave entrance appears down on the right and eventually there is another information board. Join the asphalt cave access road and continue up to the junction. The main road is up to the left, but turn right for a few paces and turn left indicated by the yellow waymark on the concrete post. Pick up the path as it drops steeply down through bushes and over rough grassland to pass a reed-clogged pond called Vörös-tó.

After the pond the path becomes a rough track. At the rain hut turn left to gain the main road and follow it for a short while until the yellow waymarks indicate a path going left up the embankment back into the forest. The woodland trail with scattered rocks eventually descends back onto the road but veer away left to pick up a green route. Follow the forest trail and it will come out onto the Jósvafő cave approach road. Turn left for the cave entrance and the welcome sight of a restaurant. If continuing down to Jósvafő village, turn right to descend the steps to the car park and pick up the yellow trail through the woods. After passing the Tengerszem pond stay on the path along the stream, past a guesthouse, and over a bridge into Jósvafő village.