alpannonia® Hard - Kőszeg panoramic circuit

Our route starts at the Tourinform office on the Main Square. Along with several tourist signs, we naturally follow the alpannonia® markings, but it is advisable to bring this map and/or a GPS device with you.

• From Kőszeg Main Square, we head towards the Tower of Heroes, then on the left side of Jurisics Square, in front of the Jurisics Castle, we follow the cobbled Rajnis Street to reach the Várkör. Until here, we occasionally encounter the alpannonia® red marking on a few gutters, but from this point, we need to follow the street names.
• We turn left from Rajnis Street onto Várkör, walk through the castle parking lot past the Kékhuszár Restaurant to the intersection with Hegyalja Street, then sharply turn left and uphill on our route, and after a few steps we immediately turn right onto Szőlőskert Street. At the highest point of this street, there is the first panoramic viewpoint looking back to the city on the right.
• We continue on Szőlőskert Street, which slopes steeply from here, at the end of the street we turn right, then at the next opportunity we turn left, slightly uphill, at the blue pump, into Királyvölgyi Street. Watch the map or GPS device; this is a dead end for cars, but on foot there is a staircase leading right and down towards the end of the street.
• We go down this staircase and find ourselves on Erdő Street. We head slightly uphill until we reach an iconic building, Kincs Villa. If we look down to the right here, we can confirm that we have reached the second panoramic viewpoint. At Kincs Villa, signs point left and uphill towards the Geological Nature Trail and the Ördögárok, but we turn right and descend onto a narrow dirt driveway under the villa's garden. Following this leads us to Hideg Valley; we turn right, then cross a small bridge beside another large villa and turn left towards the Koronaőrző bunker.
• After the bunker, many tourist signs, including the alpannonia® yellow markings, point towards Kálvária Hill and the Calvary Church. We reach the church along the Stations of the Cross, which is our third panoramic viewpoint.
• Following the alpannonia® yellow marking and the signs, we leave the church behind towards the Trianon Cross. According to the signage, we descend to the cross, our fourth panoramic viewpoint. Here, we don’t see the city but rather the forest; however, we could not leave out this memorial site, renovated in 2018, from the list.
• From the cross, we go back to the junction from where we came to the church, turn right towards the radio tower, then at the intersection after the tower, turn left, and continue on the dirt road between plots. We reach a narrow vacation home with a pointed roof, which watches the city on our right; this is actually a small panoramic viewpoint too.
• The path continues left here, steeply downhill, all the way to Poncichter vineyards. At the intersection, as the sign also indicates, we turn right as our destination is the Suleiman Lookout on Sultan Hill. At the next intersection, we turn left, follow the alpannonia® yellow marking, and after a few hundred meters the path turns right, and soon we arrive at the lookout, our fifth panoramic viewpoint. Legend has it that Sultan Suleiman I watched the siege of Kőszeg from here; luckily, we have it much easier now, let’s admit...
• From the lookout, we don’t descend towards the stairs but turn left onto the gentle downhill path, and before reaching the intersection, instead of going down into the ditch, we climb up right onto the narrow footpath and walk above the ditch to the intersection that we came from the Poncichter vineyards a few minutes earlier. Now we turn left down into the ditch but immediately climb up right at the first opportunity.
• We continue straight on the ascending path between the plots without turning off, eventually reaching the forest. On the narrow path, we soon reach the former technical border barrier route; at this junction, we continue straight uphill, then after about 100 meters, at the next intersection, turn left, and emerge onto the forest asphalt road leading from Okmányos parking lot to Hétforrás.
• We cross the asphalt and follow the blue triangle tourist mark up a road diagonally left toward the forest, which first takes us to the Ördögtányér rock and then to the Fatalin beeches. This section is called Gesztenyés. At the intersection after Fatalin beeches, a nice wooden sign points to the Óház Lookout. We continue straight diagonally; it’s about a 10-minute walk to Óház from here. We follow the blue triangle tourist mark but after a while go almost directly uphill. Upon reaching the lookout’s base, it can be bypassed from the right or left, and it’s worth climbing to the top, which offers splendid views both on the Hungarian and Austrian sides in good weather — our sixth panoramic viewpoint. Enjoy the sight!
• We leave Óház Lookout from the small wooden house at its base and in the direction of the blue trail on the opposite side, continuing uphill without turning off the path until after a slight downhill, we reach the Red Cross. This is a major junction with many side paths and a pleasant resting spot with benches. Standing opposite the small forest lodge here, we continue left, but not on the wider road leading to the Red Cross, instead sharply turning left downhill into the forest following the yellow cross tourist sign, and going downhill we find the 1st checkpoint/insect hotel nearby.
• The yellow cross tourist sign leads us to Terv Road, the forest asphalt road towards Velem. Upon reaching the asphalt, we turn right, walk about 150 metres, then sharply turn left towards red and yellow tourist signs, leading us shortly after a left bend to Pogány Upper Road, where our 7th panorama walk is located — although technically not a panorama point, as we can enjoy panoramic surroundings while walking here for minutes.
• The path leads to the "main entrance" of Pogány, also the intersection with the Írottkő Nature Park cycling route arriving from Kőszeg on the left. The road would lead right to the wine cellars; straight on the asphalt we could head to Cák or Kőszegdoroszló. Our route continues diagonally left ahead towards the vineyards called Kövi orchard, where near the end of the vineyards by the forest edge we find the 2nd checkpoint/insect hotel. From here we reach Kövecses-dűlő.
• The street here is also called Kövecses-dűlő, so when we reach it, we turn right towards the transformer house and continue following the street’s left-turning course, not turning off until a junction where we can turn left again; we take that route. This road remains Kövecses-dűlő street and leads us to Hungary’s unique ski jumping hill on Kenyér Hill in Kőszeg.
• After the jump, we reach another junction, the road from the city approaches from the right at the foot of Szabó Hill. We turn left, walk past the former bus stop, then follow the wooden sign at the foot of the hill turning right, but immediately leave the asphalt for the dirt road running in the adjacent valley into Köböl Street. After about 200 meters walk here, we turn right, the path slopes uphill, following the alpannonia® red marking, then at the first opportunity, turn left, now in Csőszház Street.
• Csőszház Street slopes upward; on the left at the next junction, there is a real watchman’s cabin. Leaving it behind, we continue diagonally left uphill until we reach the highest point of the street and our last, 8th panoramic viewpoint on the route. Fortunately, there is an empty plot in front here, allowing us to enjoy the view without obstruction.
• We continue left along the street, which first turns right, slopes a little downhill, then turns left again and gently slopes uphill, finally reaching the intersection with Szent György Street. We turn right, go downhill toward the city, not leaving the path until we see the alpannonia® playground and park on the left. Continuing along the gravel path of the playground, we reach the alpannonia® gate and Bechtold István Nature Conservation Visitor Centre.
• Leaving the Visitor Centre behind, we follow the alpannonia® red marking passing Chernel Garden, and without turning off, the mostly downhill Hunyadi Street takes us all the way to Várkör. At the intersection, we turn left, cross to the other side at the pedestrian crossing, turn left, go down the steps, and walk along the Diáksétány beside the huge Bald cypress standing in the castle moat all the way to the main entrance of Jurisics Castle. At the intersection of Rajnis Street and Táblaház Street, we turn right; here we are already on familiar ground. We return to the Main Square via Jurisics Square and Tower of Heroes.