Above the forests from Buda's pinewoods

Itinerary

• From the bus stop, head south along Berzsenyi Dániel Street, then turn right onto Kazinczy Street. Continuing along this, cross the path onto Fenyő Street. Then go straight ahead past the houses where the path joins the Z hiking trail. Turn left and follow the signs. 
• After 600 m on the Z trail, turn right onto an unmarked path leading to the Kerekhegy lookout point. We must return the same way to continue the route. 
• From the Z trail, take the right fork on the ZΩ trail to reach the Ördöglyuk cave. 
• Returning again to the Z trail, reach the meadow beneath Alsó-Zsíros Hill where we change to the K▲ trail. After 30 meters, a right unmarked path leads to the ruins of the Zsíroshegy hikers' lodge. 
• Returning to the K▲ trail, continue for another 100 m, then turn right onto an unmarked path that leads to the István Kauzál memorial. 
• Continuing on the K▲ trail, we reach the Sziklás Hill lookout point. 
• Walking back along the same trail to the meadow under Alsó-Zsíros Hill, we follow the K markers all the way to Nagy-Szénás. From here, the Z trail leads us to the Nagykovácsi bus stop. 

Detailed tour description

We start from the stop of bus 157 heading towards the forest. From Berzsenyi Street, we turn onto Kazinczy and then step onto the path through the trees at the end of the street. Under the forest on the sloping valley side, we arrive at another part of Solymár. Thanks to its favorable hillside location, more and more people seem eager to enjoy it: from the terraces of the topmost and newest row of houses, there is a wide panorama towards the Kevély Hills. Hopefully, construction desires will not further harm this undoubtedly idyllic area of nature!

We walk along the street for a few more minutes; on a popular dog walking path, we reach the Z trail. Beautiful forests surround us; while ascending intermittently, we circle around the Disznós-ditch erosion. On our right, behind the trees, we can see the color of the sky, hinting that the landscape opens up behind the forest. At this section, from a left curve of the road, a clearly noticeable path leads to the ridge on the right side. It is worth detouring for the view: from the viewpoint developed on the edge of the former limestone quarry pit, we can observe the Pilis hills undulating beyond the Pilisvörösvár valley from behind a railing. From the double branch of Kevély to Pilis-tető, we can follow the mountain line. 

Returning to the path, we continue uphill. At a fork, the ZΩ trail leads to the Ördöglyuk cave. The panorama from the cave is the same as before, just a bit lower. At the top of the climb, we reach the clearing of the former Zsíroshegyi hikers' lodge. We have to find the K▲ trail among the trees: it leads to one of the most surprising lookout points in the Buda Hills. It is already an unusual feeling to walk through these pine forests with a Mediterranean atmosphere, but when we step out from among the trees and glimpse the path leading to the peak of Sziklás Hill along the steep mountain ridge, backed by the Pilis-tető block, it's like entering another world. Although these pine forests were planted for forestry purposes on the logged hillsides in the 20th century, we can be very grateful for them: it feels like we are not in the Buda Hills but somewhere else, for example, in the Low Tatras.

Many small elements contribute to the atmosphere: rocky mountain slopes and dark, extensive pine forests, plus the mountain ridge itself stands out completely from the environment typical to the Buda Hills. Behind the basin settlements between Pilis and the Buda Hills, the Danube Bend mountains appear, and in the middle rises the massive Pilis-tető block. I first visited here in the second half of the 2000s. Since then, the young pine forest on Sziklás Hill's side has grown significantly – hurry if you are curious about the panorama, because it opens to a more limited angle every year! To the left, we see the Szénások block; its shape is also sharpened by pines.

Returning to the Z trail, we can visit the István Kauzál monument, and at the edge of the settlement, the Muflonitató pub can be found. We turn right and walk a long stretch on the dolomite gravel road. At a fork, the Z trail turns towards Nagykovácsi center, the S trail goes into one of the drainages of the Szénás group renowned with the Europe Diploma, and we set off on the K trail to ascend the 550-meter-high Nagy-Szénás rounded hill resembling an inverted satellite dish. To the left, the forest occasionally opens up; we are already below the peak. Unfortunately, tourist lodges around Budapest have suffered quite a bit in the past... We arrive at the place of a former building; whoever has seen the relevant episode of the original "One and a Half Million Steps in Hungary" series might remember the building, which now has a monument and resting spot in its place.

The path ascends the grassy hill and reaches above the trees. It is an unusual experience to reach a peak in Hungary without forest at the top, and not even rocky. Although not an alpine pasture, the Nagy-Szénás is similar in atmosphere and landscape: the illusion is supported by pines hiding on the hillside showing their peaks. There is a 360-degree panorama, probably one of the best near Budapest; if you only want a short afternoon outing, this is definitely unbeatable. Its barrenness is, of course, a man-made feature of this just mountainous elevation: after former clear-cutting, no reforestation happened, and woody vegetation had difficulty rooting in the increasingly shallow soil caused by rain erosion. The hill remained bare also due to mowing. The area hosts many botanical rarities, which earned it the Europe Diploma and full protection.

Behind the Pilis and Visegrád Mountains, near the Kevély Hills, on a clear day, the Mátra can be seen, as well as the main heights of the Buda Hills in the capital, and the dead-end character of Nagykovácsi can be easily understood from this position. On the other side of the village, the somewhat featureless block of Nagy-Kopasz appears. Turning further, we see the continuation of the Szénás group, the Kutya Hill, which is unique in height, as it is only a few centimeters shorter than Nagy-Kopasz, the highest peak of the mountain region (both 559 m).

It is a bit hard to orient oneself on the peak, but we head towards Budapest. Among the trees, we can already see the marked tourist paths; we must look for the P sign, which leads directly to the main street of the village. Initially, the path is forest track. At one point, a clearing is visible on the left. It is worth visiting because another wonderful panorama unfolds. Later, the path becomes rocky and finally we reach the rows of houses in Nagykovácsi. The sign leads to the bus stop on the main street, from where we can return to the capital.