Transbörzsöny bike route – from Nógrád castle to the corner of the Danube Bend

Itinerary

• In Nógrád, immediately after exiting the railway station access road, turn right and set off towards the castle on the footpath marked with the blue cycling sign. After passing the football field, continue straight on the steep Tabán Street. Upon reaching Hunyadi Street, turn left, which leads to the castle car park, from where you can enter the fortress via a steep climb.
• Returning to the car park, turn left, then again turn left at the end of the street, reaching back to the railway by the street circling under the castle (Hunyadi Street), where you can cross the tracks via a “maze-passage” to approach the Csurgó spring. (Those preferring a more comfortable route can cycle around to the barrier and then return to the spring on the other side of the tracks.)
• From the spring, set out on the road parallel to the railway, then turn right at the crossing onto Kossuth Street – from here you must follow the blue cycling sign to Királyrét, which leads for a while on a paved road leaving the Petőfi housing estate, then turns right onto a macadam road in front of a grand gate (a huge directional sign shows the correct way).
• The macadam road joins a forestry asphalt road above Királyrét, where you should turn left.
• Rolling on the asphalt road, you will soon reach Királyrét, where you continue straight until the next junction, then turn right towards Kóspallag/Kisinóc. The narrow asphalt road leads to the neighboring Kóspallag.
• The road to Kóspallag ends at a T-junction between the first houses, here turn right towards Kisinóc. From here, just follow the asphalt road through Nagyirtáspuszta, winding to the valley of the Cserge stream. Where the asphalt road abruptly ends, follow the K tourist sign on the wide, well-trodden forest road to Nagybörzsöny.
• Upon reaching the village, continue to follow the K sign to the center of the settlement (Hunyadi Square).
• From Nagybörzsöny, Petőfi Street leads out, joining the Ipoly riverside road after a few kilometers – turn left at the STOP sign towards Szob. From here to Szob, just stay on this road (cyclists can spot signs for the Ipoly riverside bike path and Börzsöny-Ring route along the way).
• We cycle through Ipolytölgyes, Letkés, and Ipolydamásd.
• Near the border of Szob, at a Y-junction, turn left towards Márianosztra.
• Arriving in Márianosztra, turn left at the Kóspallag junction (towards the center); small directional signs show the way to the church and the prison. Via the route of Kossuth Lajos Street – Miklós Street – Rákóczi Street, you reach the Pauline monastery, then return to the village on the same route towards Szob.
• Upon reaching Szob, continue straight following the path of the narrow-gauge railway, which leads to the railway station.

Detailed description of the tour

Those approaching the starting point of the route by train from Vác can get a taste of the beauty of nature, as the small Bz railcars rattle from Verőce through the wild valley of the Morgó stream towards Drégelypalánk. When looking westward at one of the curves before Berkenye, the blue peaks of Börzsöny appear, confirming you are in a good place.

From Nógrád, a village with fewer than 1,500 inhabitants, few would guess today that King Saint Stephen granted it town status and made it the county seat. Thus, it is clear that the village and the castle rising in the middle once played an important role, of which only ruins can be admired today. The castle hill, rising 50-60 meters above its surroundings, is a “by-product” of the volcanic activity shaping Börzsöny, where a primitive earth fort stood before the stone castle was built. Today, the high remnant of the old tower draws the eye among the fortress ruins.

From the second half of the 13th century, the castle belonged to the bishops of Vác, who significantly rebuilt, expanded, and strengthened it. The fortress, functioning as a final stronghold during the Turkish period, changed hands several times, until in 1685 a lightning strike destroyed it: the powder magazine exploded, prompting the Turks to burn and abandon the remaining structure. The still standing walls were demolished by the Kurucs in 1709 due to the approach of imperial troops.

It is worth climbing into the castle, where one can enjoy wonderful views both westward over Börzsöny and eastward, where the Naszály massif can be seen rising at the edge of Cserhát – on clear days, even the Mátra and the mountains around Zólyom are visible. In the pine forest on the southern side of the castle hill, countless squirrels can be observed looking down on the ruins.

From Nógrád, a popular hiking center of Börzsöny, we head towards Királyrét, crossing forest and meadow following the blue cycling route. First, descending from the castle hill, circling it from the west, then crossing the railway tracks, we reach the Csurgó spring, which has served locals for over 300 years. Its current form was given in 1985 by the hands of nature conservationists in Nógrád. Let’s heed their good advice: “Protect our public good, good drinking water!” After this, we start following the blue cycling sign on Kossuth Street.

The well-marked route, equipped with directional signs, leads from the village for a while on asphalt, then onto a well-maintained macadam road after passing the special atmosphere Petőfi housing estate. In the more remote inhabited area, the Hungarian People’s Army operated an explosives depot, and although some buildings have been renovated (operating as Fenyvespark Hotel and Event Center), the flat-roofed community space doors bear signs like “Social Club,” “Canteen,” or “Playroom,” which briefly take us back to the past. Thanks to the Ipoly Forest, the macadam road is excellently passable towards Királyrét, but one must be prepared for muddy conditions during rainy times, and it is not advisable to use a road bike here in any season. The next asphalt road appears above Királyrét, from where one could coast all the way to Kismaros if not turning off towards Kóspallag.

However, it is worth exploring Királyrét beforehand. Near the narrow-gauge railway terminus, a handcar track awaits visitors from spring to autumn, and just a few hundred meters towards Nagy-Hideg Hill is the Hiúz Hut. From the older visitor center of Ipoly Erdő Zrt. starts an educational trail with a bird-watching tower in the garden and a diversified exhibition inside; it is worth gathering information before visiting. Nearby, a completely new visitor center awaits curious tourists in a building once a school and then a forestry lodge (Szokolya-Huta), reminding of the trades practiced in the area. Inside, we can indeed discover Királyrét’s geology, land use, and industrial history. To extract the ore-rich raw materials of Börzsöny (gold, silver, iron ore, etc.), Luxembourger Sigismund and then Habsburg Albert settled Saxon settlers in the area. In addition to iron mines, a smelter operated next to the former Martinau settlement located near today’s Cseresznyefa parking lot. Several relocations occurred later, the smelters probably not working permanently, and production ceased in 1792, succeeded by forestry and quarrying, which led to the railway’s construction.

Several educational trails help to get to know the area thoroughly, so no one leaves Királyrét without information. Those seeking more profane pleasures beyond intellectual nourishment can quench their hunger and thirst in two restaurants or stop by the café belonging to the Szokolya-Huta visitor center or the Forest Delicacies shop. However, the former lively spot of the hiking center, Ákos’s buffet, disappeared as a victim of the new visitor center’s construction.

After Királyrét, we first roll towards Kismaros but after leaving the small farm Sernewall, turn right at a junction towards Kóspallag. A narrow asphalt strip leads about 4 kilometers through the neighboring village, crossing a local watershed, so both ascents and descents are present. Upon reaching Kóspallag, we immediately turn right towards Kisinóc, not rolling into the village this time. However, we still touch an emblematic “institution” of the settlement, the Kisinóc Tourist House. Operating since the 1920s and resembling a mansion, it functions both as accommodation and restaurant – worth stopping by for a refreshment any time of year.

The asphalt strip winds through roughly six kilometers from Kisinóc to Nagyirtáspuszta inside Börzsöny. This section of the tour is pleasant even in summer, despite mostly being an ascent and located on the southern side of the mountains – the forest provides shade almost all the way. Nagyirtáspuszta is mostly known for the Saint Orbán Forest Wellness Hotel and the narrow-gauge railway. Seeing the former, one immediately wants to book a room to spend a few days in the forest; the latter naturally invites travel.

This is the highest point of the forest railway from Szob to Nagybörzsöny (formerly called Watershed). The most beautiful narrow-gauge railway line of Börzsöny (and perhaps the country) has been worn by vehicles for over a hundred years. It was originally created to transport timber extracted from the mountain range. Later, due to stone transport, it became one of the busiest economic railways and now features reversing stations, loops avoiding valley heads, and wild forest environments, making travel exciting along the over 20-kilometer-long line from the Danube to the depths of Börzsöny. Those wishing to avoid the short section before Nagybörzsöny, which goes along a forest road, can take the narrow-gauge railway down to the village. At the station, a buffet operates, so those continuing by bike might also want to stop.

The road to Nagybörzsöny has a similar line to the narrow-gauge railway, so in the saddle, you can feel like passengers sitting on wooden benches of the 760-millimeter gauge trains rumbling by. Under the overhanging trees with sharp bends, we steadily gain altitude up to the Cserge stream valley. Entering the valley, the rolling and the asphalt road abruptly end here; from here, a well-trodden and passable road leads to Nagybörzsöny, on which the Börzsöny blue hiking sign also goes. Even reaching the first houses of the village, it is worth continuing to follow the sign leading to the village center beneath the Miners’ Church. The church foundations date back to the 13th century – German-born miners had lived here for some time by then, having arrived in the time of II. Géza, forming a community demanding their own church. This was not as large as the current one, having been extended twice in Gothic and later Renaissance style. The miners came to the village to extract rich deposits of gold, silver, iron ore, lead, and sulfur, reopening three shafts as late as 1949 despite repeated mine closures. The ore piece from near Nagybörzsöny was the source from which Pál Kitaibel separated tellurium in 1789.

Leaving the Miners’ Church, we roll down to the main square to visit the village water mill (still operational, could be started in 2–3 days) and the adjacent meat smokehouse, restaurant, or perhaps the Lek-Vár-Lak, where local jams and syrups can be bought. It is hard to leave here without heavier backpacks than before from the market goods. Before shopping, it is worth visiting the water mill or hopping to the narrow-gauge railway terminus, where a handcar track, a buffet, and a small exhibition await visitors. Formerly, the track ended not here but in Ipolypásztó; however, after the Trianon borders were drawn, the narrow-gauge railway was cut off from the main railway (thus the connection to Szob was built over time).

Alongside the last climb out of the village, the last building on the left is the Saint Stephen Church. This small god-house may have been built at the beginning of the 13th century and perfectly reflects proportions at first glance. The Romanian-style rural church is surely among the most beautiful in our country. The east-aligned building is surrounded by a fortified wall and closed with a semi-circular sanctuary on one side and a slender, twin-windowed tower on the other. Through the south-facing gate, a simple space receives you, which suits the church particularly well.

We roll down from Nagybörzsöny on excellent quality asphalt to the road connecting the Ipoly riverside villages, where we turn towards Szob. Although legends speak of the navigability of the Ipoly (the Czechoslovakians supposedly tried to convince the Entente Powers that the small stream was navigable according to a rumor), this only appeared in a newspaper article around the late 1920s; the British and French obviously knew how to read maps and saw what kind of river this really was.

Up to Szob, we cycle on roads passing small villages along the border river (Ipolytölgyes, Letkés, Ipolydamásd), then at the boundary of the village famous for its syrup production, we turn left towards Márianosztra. After the river, we follow the rails often seen by the Transbörzsöny narrow-gauge railway. Construction began in 1908 on the 600-millimeter gauge line from Szob to Márianosztra, which opened two years later and served to transport andesite and dacite from the Luczenbacher family quarries to the main railway. Here a more serious railway operation was established than in Nagybörzsöny: locomotives powered the trains, and a significant traction depot was built in Szob including a locomotive shed, coal depot, and office. Traffic ceased on the Szob Economic Railway in 1992 but resumed in 2008, with the narrow-gauge railway reconnected to the Nagybörzsöny line in 2016.

Passing Márianosztra, we pass the Maria Well, built in the early 1900s by miners and stonecutters working in the two nearby mines serviced by the narrow gauge railway (“Black” and “White” mines), channeling the water gathered in the valley of mills here. Among pilgrims arriving in Márianosztra, this water source soon became a popular resting and pilgrimage site named after Mary. The well neglected in the 1960s was gradually filled by mining waste and reopened in 2007 through the joint work of three local settlements: Szob, Márianosztra, and Ipolydamásd.

Márianosztra is mainly known for its Pauline monastery and prison. The only Hungarian-founded monastic order’s monastery in Börzsöny was founded by King Louis I after his Neapolitan campaign in 1352. According to chronicles, it was a favorite place of residence for the Anjou ruler near the royal palace of Visegrád, consecrated to the Great Lady of the Hungarians in devotion to the Virgin Mary. Thus, the monastery and the village that developed next to it acquired the name Maria Nostra, meaning Our Mary. King Louis (and subsequent kings) continuously provided donations for maintaining the monastery and village. When he founded the Pauline monastery in Częstochowa as King of Poland, he sent off 16 monks from here with a Mary icon as a gift.

During the Turkish period, the monastery depopulated, then in 1711 two Paulines arrived to start rebuilding, which lasted 18 years until the sanctuary was reconsecrated. Emperor Joseph II’s decree dissolving monastic orders naturally affected the Paulines as well, and on August 30, 1786, the last monk left Márianosztra. The monastery was turned into a women’s prison in 1858 and has functioned as a men’s prison since the 1950s – except the church, which still serves its original function. The Gothic sanctuary was preserved, but the sanctuary was rebuilt in Baroque style, where three pilgrimages are held annually: for the Five Holy Wounds of Jesus (in July), Our Lady of Sorrows (in September), and the Immaculate Conception (in December).

Leaving behind the richly historical building complex, we head back towards Szob – from here, it’s just a coast down to the small town on the Danube bank. Szob is mostly known as a former syrup factory town, but the factory went bankrupt in the early 2000s, effectively ending the previously typical berry cultivation in the area. One can learn more about the area’s past in the Börzsöny Museum, and roll from the station all the way down to the Danube bank to explore the town itself before boarding the train (or continuing to collect kilometers cycling towards the Danube Bend). One architectural feature standing out above the cemetery is the neo-Gothic Luczenbacher chapel, which served as both crypt and chapel; it is worth taking a closer look on the way back to the station. The station café is very inviting; if you have time, you can enjoy a refreshment in a peaceful, old-time atmosphere or grab a bite near the platform.