Forest immersion among the 'tent' cones of the Tokaji Mountains

Itinerary:

• In the center of Sátoraljaújhely, we follow the K marking northward at Hősök tere.
• Through Kossuth Lajos Square, we continue straight on the K◼ marking.
• Left, we turn on the K▲ marking up to Szár Hill and descend to the saddle behind the hill.
• From below Tánchely, we connect straight via the P+ marking to the P marking.
• We follow the P marking up to Vörös Saddle.
• From Vörös Saddle we continue on the K marking to the Cserép Lake near Vágáshuta.
• From the Cserép Lake junction, we descend left on the P marking to Pusztadélő.
• Left on the K marking we turn back towards Sátoraljaújhely, following this to Nagy-Nyugodó.
• From Nagy-Nyugodó, we descend back to the town on the K+ marking.
• In Sátoraljaújhely, we turn left onto Kossuth Lajos Street to the K marking, which leads back to the starting point.

Detailed description of the hike:

In the hall of the Sátoros Hills

Starting from the center of Sátoraljaújhely, in front of the Roman Catholic parish church, we head north along the pedestrian street following the K marking. The pleasant center with restaurants and cafes inviting rest and social life (where the K◼ marking continues straight ahead) can be enjoyed at the end of the route. At the first cross-street, we leave the small town center to the left towards the Zsólyomka Valley. From here, we follow the K▲ marking to the edge of Tánchely, including a steep climb to Szár Hill above the town, leading to the Saint Stephen Chapel.

The houses by the Zsólyomka Valley stream become sparser along the steep climbing street; wine cellars and weekend houses replace residential buildings. Vineyards were cultivated on the steeper slopes of the town: volcanic soil and the southern, sunny slopes played an important role in producing excellent wine in the area. According to tradition, the first Aszú wine was made in Sátoraljaújhely, from grapes in Zsuzsanna Lóórántffy's Oremus vineyard in the 17th century – although older documents referring to Aszú wine were also found in Tokaj recently. It's worth a short detour right to the romantic Zsólyomka wine cellars.

In the middle of the valley, from a steep left-turning junction, we begin a strong climb to conquer our first summit. After the quarry stands a Székely gate, and beyond it, the Hungarian Calvary, built between the two World Wars and demolished under the communist regime, now rebuilt. The stations show coats of arms of cities taken away after the war and quotes related to the Trianon tragedy, evoking historical events. Heading toward the summit, we see increasingly wide areas mostly belonging to Slovakia today: the state border runs along the eastern edge of the town, with the Zemplén Hills and the northernmost part of the Great Hungarian Plain beyond.

Below the summit, turning left, we reach the neighboring hill via a suspension bridge (admission charged). Near the summit is the cable car support structure spanning from the neighboring Magas Hill, the arrival point of daring tourists crossing the slide slope, and the cable car station ensuring the return. At the eastern end of the flattened summit stands a natural stone monument with the 100th Hungarian national flag; opposite it is the Saint Stephen Chapel, both built before World War II as symbols of patriotism. From the flag's platform and the platform behind the chapel, we can see the surrounding Sátoros Hills and the Bodrogköz; in good weather, the lonely Tokaj Nagy-Kopasz at the southern end of the mountain range is also visible.

Behind the chapel adorned with the Holy Crown, a steep path descends to the K▲ marking into the basin embraced by the Sátoros Hills. Arriving at gentler terrain, we join a dozer road where to the right the P+ marking leads to the asphalt road coming from the Zsólyomka Valley. Keeping straight, we connect to the P marking. At the asphalt bend, we turn onto a gravel dozer road, climbing to Vörös Saddle, leaving the basin behind, thus saying farewell to the town and the network of weekend cottages, vineyards, and orchards framing it. In Vörös Saddle, we enter the vast forest of the Tokaji Mountains.

The sunny oak forest on the western edge of the Sátoros Hills changes to beech woodland, and nature trail signs tell the values of the surrounding forests. We traverse a forestry road for almost a kilometer to Körtefa Saddle, where we start descending on the slope of Borz Hill. In the Middle Ages, this was a witches' execution site since it was the farthest Sátoros Hill from the town where victims of religious fervor were burned.

The Black Hill group, the forested source region of the Fehér Stream

We descend long to the state road between Károlyfalva and Rudabányácska, following it briefly then turning right. From a tourist house dreamed on a clearing by the stream, we turn back into the forest on a forestry road heading west to the mountainous center. Here begins a long climb as we approach the ridge above Rudabányácska. From a forest edge clearing, we overlook the village and admire the less known western side of the Sátoros Hills. After a left bend, the terrain offers another steep climb to Som Hill. From here, we wind on labyrinthine paths, nearly losing direction to Nagy-Hallgató’s side. We take a large detour around the source region of the Fehér Stream flowing to Rudabányácska through dense beech forest with columnar trunks, then traverse along a long slope to reach the saddle of Cserép Lake.

At the clearing of Cserép Lake, a rest area welcomes us, worth a short break, although no trace remains of the former forester’s house. This saddle is a turning point of our hike. From here, we turn back toward Hercegkút, then from Pusztadélő back to Sátoraljaújhely. If the remaining, just over 10 kilometers’ walk seems long to you, you can follow the K marking to Vágáshuta as well, which can be reached quickly by a 2-kilometer descent. Northward, you can also turn toward Mikóháza, passing through beautiful forested areas, touching the viewpoint of Black Hill, offering a panoramic view of Hegyköz and the Milic block.

From Cserép Lake, we mostly descend along the P marking, walking through dense oak forests on the section ahead. On the mountain passes, forest roads mostly use old paths cut into valley heads. So at the first junction, we descend into a small valley, crossing a barely visible path cutting across the hillside in the first 100 meters. In the next saddle, we again have to find a similarly hidden path, which unmistakably follows the deepening small valley. Amidst wild surroundings and fallen trees, we arrive at Gyökér Valley widening at the meeting of several ditches, continuing at an easy pace along the forestry road at the valley bottom.

In the lower part of the valley, we pass a hunting lodge providing a picnic spot with table and bench, and a covered shelter against extreme weather. After the lodge, we climb out of the valley bottom on a short steep rise, then cross bushy forest to reach Pusztadélő. From here, we follow again the K marking leftward, eastward, in the oak forest.

Back towards the Sátoros Hills and Sátoraljaújhely

Just a few hundred meters from the junction right stands the Rákóczi Tree, a venerable sessile oak. Though centuries have hollowed massive cavities in its trunk and a few branches succumbed to fungi and insects as breeding and nesting sites, its central branch group vigorously extends upward. To balance the trunk, rotten hollows and the base have been reinforced with concrete. Even if the prince could not have saw it, this several-hundred-year-old tree probably witnessed the era of the Kuruc rebels.

The route toward Sátoraljaújhely is extremely winding, following a confusing network where we often lose elevation carelessly to stay on forestry roads. After the old oak, we see younger forest, then sidle through a newly planted pine in a gully. We bypass an old, abandoned farm building near Hercegkút at Csonka Spring, then climb a steep gully to continue. For crossing, it is advisable to use the tree trunks as handholds and roots as steps.

We follow a gas pipeline opening sidling downhill; the path parallels dense clearings of undergrowth in the forest. We walk a short segment on the forest road connecting Rudabányácska to Károlyfalva, then turn onto the Sátoros Hills group near weekend houses, for the final section of our route.

We climb on a wide dozer road to Tatárka Hill; behind it, the slope eases the tiring climb in the saddle, and the steep angle of the forestry road further easing. Southward, an old mine opens into the volcanic hill’s depths: just below us run ore mining tunnels extracting copper and gold from the depths. The climb gradually moderates as we reach our last high point, Nagy-Nyugodó Saddle, one of the natural gates to the central crown of the Sátoros Hills.

Beyond, descending on the K+ marking, we arrive at a junction: here is worth taking a detour on the K▲ marking to see Tánchely and the tiny geyser rock on the edge of the clearing, cemented hard by silicic acid solutions erupted during post-volcanic activity before erosion exposed it. From the junction, we see vineyards and weekend houses—the location of the former Látófa, a monumental oak watched over by vineyard guards surveying the vines of the Zsólyomka and Május-kút valleys. Only the name remains today, along with the constantly renewing vineyards on the northernmost highland terrain of Tokaj-Hegyalja.

Soon, we join the asphalt road coming from the youth camp, descending comfortably to the town. Gardens and weekend houses give way to increasingly tightly clustered houses, and on reaching the main street, turning left, we return to the starting point on the K◼ marking, thus closing our loop.