Along the entire Spartacus Hunting Trail

Itinerary

• From the main square of Pilisszentlászló, turn left and head west along the Z mark on Béke street! We will follow this for most of the route.
• Along a flatter section, a sign warns that the Spartacus Trail turns right.
• Walking along the first section of Spartacus, we arrive at the Jenő Hut at the saddle point. From here, we continue north on a wide forest road. But a few meters later the Z mark suddenly turns right onto a path. Follow the path to the end of the next winding section where it meets another forest road.
• The forest road starts to descend. The Z signs turn left uphill, but we follow the Z+ mark right downhill. This is how we reach the Apát-kúti Valley.
• In the Apát-kúti Valley, turn left and follow the P mark! This takes us to Visegrád, to the bus stops and the ferry.

Detailed description of the hike

On the edge of the basin

We set out from the neat village of Pilisszentlászló in the basin of the Visegrád Mountains, from the center beside a shop and restaurant along the Z mark. We walk along the long Béke street, and where the asphalt turns to dirt road, behind the football pitch we see the mountains. Of the heights beyond the meadows, the one on the left is Öreg-Pap Hill, alongside which the Spartacus Trail runs. The route has existed since the 1930s but was used as a hunting path for many decades. Only since autumn 2015 has the eastern section had marked hiking trails (a western branch remains unopened).

We walk a long way on the dirt road, occasionally looking left towards the ridge of Prédikálószék. At one point the trail turns right and with a mild ascent skirts the village’s edge houses below. We descend a steep slope into the valley where the scenery changes: we enter a dark, cool beech forest and walk beside deep erosion channels on a root-strewn path. At the bottom of the slope, clear-cut shines right; here a sign warns that we are stepping onto the Spartacus Trail.

The path ascends gently through the clearing, reaching the forest at the edge of regrowth, then makes a sharp right onto the other side of the ridge. From here we rarely ascend. The slope becomes steeper, but our path leads as a narrow ledge forward. On the right, dark, fragmented andesite rocks appear; the forest is natural, with dead wood lying everywhere. On a bare ridge, a window opens through the canopy, giving a glimpse of the densely forested Ágas Hill. As can be seen, this part of the Visegrád Mountains is characterized by unusually steep slopes in our country.

Following the hunters above the valley

At the next sharp right turn begins the most wild and special section of the Spartacus Trail. Thanks to the splendid line of the path, it shows as many faces of the landscape in a few hundred meters as rarely seen in such a short distance. The path is carved into the andesite rock; the slope suddenly becomes almost vertical. Below to the left unfolds the stone-strewn erosion channel of the Szarvas-lyuk. The little valley bites deeply into the side of Öreg-Pap Hill: the clearing on the opposite slope looks as if it belongs to another hill. But we only need to bypass the steep gorge start. We step across the stream and arrive at a landslide edge.

The steepness – and perhaps the rainwater flowing down – caused several meters thick soil to slide here. The trail can be difficult to walk in muddy conditions, but at the end of a few-meter section a tiny staircase carved into rock leads back to the safe path. A huge andesite breccia tower rises to the sky beside the path: its body formed from the accumulation of rock fragments created by volcanic eruptions. Softer rocks around have worn away, making it now stand like a chimney above its surroundings.

A few meters later, we leave the closed forest and reach a rocky, barren slope section, the well-known viewpoint of the Spartacus Trail. In the squeeze of the mountains, the band of the Danube barely appears under Szent Mihály Hill, surrounded by forest-covered, sharply prominent peaks. The clearing’s microclimate is interesting: the dark andesite rocks absorb the heat of the sun and act as radiators warming the slope. The harsh living conditions are indicated by a tree whose sharply bent trunk seems to grow from the rock surface (actually it found support in a crack).

The Spartacus continues again on a forest path, crossing another erosion channel, and at the end of a long straight section, in a cool beech forest, we arrive at the Jenő Hut. The building was originally built as a hunting lodge when the path was created, named according to rumor after the brother of Miklós Horthy, then governor. For decades it served forest visitors as a continuously open, heated forest shelter, but its condition visibly deteriorated. Renovated in the early 2020s, since then it has been a four-season rest place for daytime stay and grilling (its equipment matches this); its key can be obtained from the forestry after prior arrangement.

Down into the valley

From the hut, we continue walking north; after a few meters, we turn right off the dozer road. At first it may seem the wild section of the path has ended, but fortunately another adventurous section follows soon. The slope becomes so steep that only very slender woody plants cling to it, turning the previously sparse forest into a more bushy character. We continue on a path again carved into rock, then slightly leaning sideways; slippery meters test our sense of balance.

The Spartacus truly ends here: we turn left onto a forest road, make an S-curve, and start descending. (After passing the first bend of the S-curve, a short straight section follows, and to the left through the trees sunlight shines. It’s worth following the sun upwards to a small clearing, and a little further straight ahead, because about 30-40 meters from here, from a rocky outcrop, magnificent views open to the gorge-like Szent László valley and the somewhat tamed Apát-kúti valley. Even the Nagy-Villám lookout shows itself from a rock.)

The forest road is left by the Z mark at a bend (a detour option to the Bányatető lookout, towards Visegrád), and we follow the Z+ marks to walk down to the Apát-kúti valley. We cross the ford over the stream lined with huge stones, and turning left, switch to the P mark.

On the opposite side of the bed is the Bertényi Miklós Botanical Garden recognizable by its huge pines, and the Ördögmalom Forest Restaurant. A narrow rocky gorge adorned with a waterfall preserves the image of the valley before the asphalt road era, originally opened up during the construction of a narrow-gauge railway. But the natural beauties don’t end here: a little lower the hiking path branches left onto a trail that leads past beautiful waterfalls to the Ördögmalom Waterfall. The water swirling in the rock basin carved by the whirlpool always churns; it has carved a good slice out of the now overhanging rock mass.

After the somewhat wilted view of the Apát-kúti fishpond, the forest ends, and at the end of a long, straight street walk we arrive at Visegrád’s Danube shore, the ferry dock and the bus stops.