Hiking in Budapest – Harmashatar hill

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Budapest in winter, Budapest outdoors, hiking tips

Budapest offers a great variety of hiking trails, which means that everyone can find a suitable one. In this article I recommend you a four hours long hiking tour featured by great views of Budapest’s Hármashatár hill.

The tour starts in Óbuda and ends in Pesthidegkút. To get to the hiking trail take bus nr. 65 from Kolosy tér. Make sure you check the schedule of the bus as it runs quite rare. Avoid confrontation by boarding the front door and flashing your ticket, or pass to the driver. You will be at Fenyőgyöngye in no time.

The trail starts right at the bus terminal, right from the tar road running uphill. Just follow the blue stripe. The trail is both well-marked and well maintained, frequently used by runners as well.

After about 700 metres of slightly gradient hike the trail crosses the tar road and continues on the left hand side. Having pike and oak trees on your left and the road on the right, it is very easy to stay on the right track. This goes on for another 1000m when you arrive to a crossroad. In case you would like to continue to the peak to enjoy the view here you need to take the right to cross the tar road again. Those who would like to do a circle pattern hike shall take the left and follow either the green stripe back to Fenyőgyöngye bus terminal, or the blue circle to the Szépvölgy bus terminal. My advice is to follow the green stripe as only every second bus goes to the Szépvölgy terminal.

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Hiking trail crossroad on Harmashatar hill

Where the trail marked with blue stripe crosses the tar toad again take the right and walk a few hundred meters on the tar road. Soon you will see a narrow trail on the left. Follow that and in no time you arrive to the landing zone of paragliders.

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If the weather conditions are good several paragliders will gather here for take off and landing. While you enjoy their show make sure you spare a moment for the view as well.

When you are good to go simply walk back to the tar road and follow it to the parking lot. Once you are there walk by the barrier and continue uphill. Soon you will see the brand new Guckler Károly lookout tower.

In good weather conditions this wooden platform offers a splendid view to the hills surrounding Budapest. This is also an excellent vantage point to enjoy the sunset during the summer. Keep in mind that the trail is not illuminated during the hours of darkness, after sunset either call a taxi, or bring your own flashlight.

If you wish to extend the tour follow the blue stripe signs just below the lookout tower and walk down the dirt stairs to the former airfield.

The buildings that once served the airfield today serve as a shelter, an event hall and a restaurant. It is relatively easy to miss the path, look carefully at the trees for the blue stripe sign. It will get obvious again once you walk across the parking lot and the gate.

At the crossroad take the left for breathtaking views. From the so-called Northern viewpoint you can see the airfield to the left where this hiking tour continues and some of the less populated neighbourhoods of the 2nd district like Gercse and Kővár.

Carefully decent from this viewpoint as the trail is not marked by the blue stripe any longer thus it receives less care. Once you arrive to a crossroad at the bottom of the hill, take the left. Shortly another crossroad will follow, where you need to take the right and follow the yellow stripe.

Be carefull while you cross the paragliders landing zone. There are several unmarked dirt roads here, follow the one you prefer and aim the residential houses across the field. Once you managed to cross safely follow Arad utca towards the main road. Time to put your shoulder, you made it!

The bus stop is at the corner of Kossuth Lajos utca and Hidegkúti út. All buses will take you to the Hűvösvölgy terminal where you can change to tram line 56, 59 or 61 to get back into the city centre and to the subway.

We recommend to check the following websites before heading out:

BKK Futar route planner

Openstreetmap