Gorge hiking bike tour in Eastern Bakony

Itinerary:

• Exiting Székesfehérvár railway station, we turn left and leave Béke Square on Prohászka Ottokár Street. Upon reaching the first major intersection (Horvát István Street) we turn left onto the bike path (which initially runs behind the houses, not directly on Horvát István Street).
• We turn right at Hosszúsétatér and continue to Balatoni Road, where we turn left, then at the first opportunity right, then turn right again after 50 meters.
• After 100 m, we turn left with the bike path.
• We pass Petőfi Park and then the bike path follows Palotai Street for a long stretch.
• At the end of the road, already on the outskirts of the town, the bike path turns left and we cross underpass onto the continuation of Palotai Street, Új Csóri Road (also a bike path).
• From Új Csóri Road, at a place marked also by a road sign, we turn toward Iszkaszentgyörgy (right), and we cycle along an excellent bike path initially beside the road, then moving away from it until we reach the village.
• In the center of Iszkaszentgyörgy, we ride toward Isztimér, now on a secondary road.
• In Gúttamási, we turn right and coast down to the Fehérvárcsurgó reservoir.
• Circling the reservoir, we reach the entrance of the Gaja Gorge, then turn left both at Fehérvárcsurgó and Bodajk.
• Crossing Balinka, we circle to Bakonycsernye, and upon reaching the village, turn left toward Kisgyón.
• At the Nature-friendly Settlement, we turn right onto the forestry concrete road, initially marked by the Z trail.
• We slowly ascend on initially asphalt then gravel road (straight ahead at both junctions) until reaching Hamuház, where we turn left.
• Where we reach the meadows on the right, we can make a hiking detour to the Alba Regia Cave.
• The high-quality forest road becomes a good asphalt road from Hétházpuszta, passing Kirázysállás and the entrance of Burok Valley, reaching the main road between Várpalota and Tés.
• We turn right and reach Tés, passing Csőszpuszta.
• After leaving Tés, we coast down from the plateau toward Bakonynána, speeding along the narrow asphalt strip while minding oncoming traffic!
• Before Bakonynána, we turn right onto the P trail and ride on the gravel road to the P+ junction (from here it's a few minutes on foot to the Római Bath).
• Returning to the main road at Bakonynána, we turn left, crossing Olaszfalu and cycling to Zirc on the road. We reach the railway station on the road heading toward Győr, circle around the abbey, then turn right from there.

Detailed description of the route:

Introduction to the Bakony

The Bakony (or by the old but very apt name: Bakonyerdő) is an enormous karst block mountain of about 4,000 square kilometers in Hungary, the westernmost part of the Transdanubian Mountains. Its less known eastern part is bordered by the Mór Basin from the east by Vértes, and to the west it stretches to the Zirc Basin. The Bakony is famous for its vast forests and spectacular gorges and caves due to its geological makeup. Its gentler terrain makes the forested Eastern Bakony an ideal cycling destination, where one can also easily glimpse into the magical world of the harder-to-reach gorges, offering a true "three-in-one" adventure!

Leaving Székesfehérvár toward Iszkaszentgyörgy, the first highlands of the Bakony soon appear. From Gúttamási, riding down to the Fehérvárcsurgó reservoir, we suddenly encounter the gorge atmosphere of the Bakony, as the most abundant stream of the mountain range, the Gaja, has carved a canyon (more canyon-like than gorge) right in front of us. The Bakony's perhaps best-known, though only 3 km long, easily walkable valley can be accessed both from this side and from Balinka easily. However, note that cycling is prohibited on the hiking trail at the bottom of the gorge, but the forest road beside the stream is so friendly that, if not crowded, it is worth considering pushing the bike through the gorge (although this involves climbing a ladder over a fence on the other side).

The best option is to park bikes on the side of the reservoir, at the parking under the auspices of the Gaja Valley Visitor Center, or by the K+ trail, just 700 m away at the Trout Lake, where a covered resting place and buffet are also located. Additionally, short detours along the sometimes capriciously babbling, sometimes gently flowing stream shore in the Gaja Gorge allow discovery of especially interesting natural and anthropogenic attractions. From Trout Lake, climb the K▲ trail to the Iron Cross, from where you can look out in both directions of the valley. The K▲ then reaches the famous Adam and Eve Tree (of the two connected old oak trees, only Adam's remains can be seen after being destroyed by fire in the 1960s) and then returns to the stream. On the lake side, to the left of the gorge, there is not just any forest but the internationally famous Fehérvárcsurgó game preserve founded in 1888 by Gyula Károlyi, enclosed by fences and with much denser wildlife than natural. From here, the K trail follows the stream, leading to the end of the gorge where you can climb out to the right (K trail). Following K+ and K▲ trails leads to the Károly Lookout. Returning along K+ then following P trail, visitors can view the impressive burial mounds dating back to 650-550 BCE, believed to be graves of tribal leaders. The P trail leads back to Trout Lake, making a 7.5 km loop with a 200 m climb, from where one returns to the parked bikes by the known route. Returning to the reservoir, we reach the northern entrance of the gorge at Fehérvárcsurgó and Bodajk via road, marked by signs. From here, the spectacular hike can be traversed in reverse.

Between ancient forests and sunlit meadows

Crossing Balinka, we reach the main road between Mór and Zirc, but in the first village, Bakonycsernye, we turn left toward the Nature-friendly Settlement of Kisgyón. From here we enter one of the most beautiful spots of the Bakony, the Tési Plateau and its namesake village, Tés, situated at 465 m altitude.

In the nature center near Bakonycsernye, established in 1982 and having seen better days, there were once 12 key cottages, several of which thankfully still operate. Almost no trace remains of the former coal mine site, where 10 shafts operated between 1922 and 1972; there was even a school in the mining settlement (walking straight on at Kisgyón, within about 1 km, you reach the Miner’s Memorial).

If we skip that detour to the former mining site, at Kisgyón we turn right onto the forestry concrete road and enter the beautiful forested area of the Bakony. Initially asphalt forest roads become increasingly poor-quality gravel roads, but still softly leading us up to the edge of the Tési Plateau. The hairpin turn is very close to the nationally known paleontological site, the Tűzköves Valley (with a walking detour along the K trail), then passing near the slight remains of the Csikling Castle. Then we arrive at the huge trees supporting the hunting lodge called Hamuház, named after the ash fat rendering essential for historic glass and soap manufacturing.

From Hamuház, turning right quickly leads to Tés, but we shouldn’t do that. Instead, turning left allows exploration of one of the most hidden gorges of the Bakony, the Burok Valley. Moreover, on the pleasant road reaching the meadows on the right, a short (800 m one way), no elevation loss walking detour can be made (P, then KΩ left) to the strictly protected Alba Regia Cave, one of Hungary’s deepest caves with known passages of 3.6 km and the deepest point 204 meters below surface. Although only cavers may enter the cave, the two sinkholes at the cave’s entrance nestled at the forest edge make for a very atmospheric spot worth the short detour. This is a truly Bakony scene: sinkholes hiding smaller and larger caves alternate with burial mounds.

On the excellent quality forest road from Hamuház, soon we reach Hétházpuszta, then from the neat forest settlement glide on a concrete road to Kirázysállás, once a royal hunting lodge where accommodation is still possible at both places. Leaving Kirázysállás, a sign points left (P+) to the horseshoe-shaped, about 10 km long Burok Valley, stretching to Bakonykúti. We can lock bikes to a tree, as there's no need to go through the entire gorge, since perhaps the most beautiful part lies on this side. To know the Burok Valley, just dismount here, which is a very hard-to-access spot. In a few hundred meters on the P+ trail, the valley becomes visibly harsher and more mysterious, with steep mountain sides enclosing splendidly close-to-natural forests rich in flora and fauna, including rare birds like the black woodpecker, saker falcon, imperial eagle, and the Uhu owl. The large amount of deadwood, which greatly hinders accessing the terrain, is also characteristic of any real old growth forest, and thankfully there is still a lot here. The Burok Valley's Bükös-árok tributary is about 2.7 km from the asphalt road; if you reach it and don’t want to return by the same way, the P and K▲ trails lead back to the forestry road already ridden, from which turning left first reaches Hétházpuszta, then Kirázysállás on K+ (making a 7.5 km loop). Although the valley floor is always a few degrees cooler than the surrounding plateaus, no stream runs there: the valley is presumably of fault origin, meaning the surface of the uplifted rock formation was stretched and broken, with the crack opening wide.

From the Római Bath to the wooded pasture

Returning to the concrete road arriving from Kirázysállás, we continue toward Tés. At the junction, we turn right and circle on the pleasant plateau via Csőszpuszta to Tés. Before the village, a sign indicates a cycling detour to the right toward Bakonynána and the Római Bath, which partly skips the unique windmills in the village and the gravel road, where the concrete road may be better for descending the plateau. Tés’s village motto is "closer to the sky", and throughout the village, we feel like standing on top of the world. The village's special atmosphere is significantly windy, so it’s not surprising that Tés has nationally unique windmills, rare in Transdanubia. Of the Helt mill built in 1840 and the Ozi mill built in 1924, the former is still operational; its Dutch-style windmill cap rotates on a stone mill shaft. A must-see!

Passing through the single-street Tés, it's easier to descend by bike on the country road leading to Bakonynána than the marked gravel road. Be cautious on the concrete road, which is only partially usable for motor traffic but narrow enough for a car to appear anytime! On both sides of the road, beautiful meadows can be seen, and take care not to miss the fork to the right on the large forestry road leading to the Római Bath (this is the end of the forest road accessible by bike starting on the opposite side of Tés). Riding 1.7 km on the good quality forestry road, we reach the P junction, then the P+ fork. Locking bikes, a 200 m descent leads to the stream, then after 200 m more, we can see the spectacular narrow gorge with a waterfall. The Római Bath name has nothing to do with Romans, and a public bath never operated here. Instead, many consider this the most impressive gorge in the Bakony and the whole country. The waterfall and water-carved rocks are spectacular, but the backdrop is equally stunning: a few hundred meters long gorge with vertical mossy, ivy-covered walls without even a hiking path. The water’s erosion and the slow uplift of the gorge area contributed to the current dramatic scenery.

Returning to the concrete road, we continue then turn left at the crossroads. On a beautiful country road passing Felsőperepuszta, we ride in a lovely avenue of trees toward Zirc and the High Bakony. This beautiful farewell route contrasts the wild gorges of the Eastern Bakony. We can end the tour with one of the main attractions of the more rugged and meadow-dotted Zirc Basin: the wooded pasture near Olaszfalu.

In the center of Olaszfalu, turn left on Major Street, at the end of which begins the Eperjes Study Trail. Its theme is the formation of limestone mountains, but the trail also touches the country’s best-known wooded pasture (to see the pasture, just keep walking along Major Street continuation without completing the entire trail). Our ancestors used the deciduous forests for grazing until the early twentieth century; through forest pasturing and acorn feeding, unique habitats emerged. The pasture forest is still a forest, but the wooded pasture consists of groves of trees, groups of trees, shrubs, and grass mosaics with a really special atmosphere. The wooded pasture is biologically special as it forms a transition between grassland and forest, hosting plant and animal species typical for both, including those favoring mosaic habitats. The uniqueness of the wooded or heritage-tree pasture lies in the old, sometimes several hundred years old, free-standing trees with regular crowns and majestic forms, preserved to provide shade for pasture animals and the resting shepherds underneath.

At the border of Olaszfalu, the road merges into the main road 82, turning right leads to Zirc in minutes, our tour's final destination.