From the Ancient Human Cave to Lillafüred's Most Beautiful Panorama

Itinerary

• From the Lillafüred parking lot we follow the P trail to the Lillafüred State Forest Railway station.
• At the forest railway station we go down into the pedestrian underpass, then turn right and continue on the Fazola promenade to the Hanging Garden of the Palace Hotel.
• Through the hanging garden, touching the Great Waterfall, we go down to the entrance of the Anna Cave.
• From the Anna Cave entrance, we walk on the K+ trail to the Central Metallurgical Museum.
• Behind the museum we turn left and continue on the K▲ trail.
• After a wooden bridge we reach a fork where we turn right on the KΩ trail to the Szeleta Cave.
• From the Szeleta Cave we climb further on the PΩ trail to the next road junction.
• From the mountain-top junction we continue left on the P trail to the top of Dolka Hill.
• At the Dolka Hill summit junction, we turn left and follow the P▲ trail to the Zsófia Lookout.
• From the Zsófia Lookout, we descend on the K▲ trail back to the Central Metallurgical Museum.
• We continue right on the K+ trail to the Hámori Lake.
• At the Hámori Lake by the boat dock entrance, we go down to the Lakeside promenade and walk alongside the lake on the K+ trail.
• At some point on the Hámori Lake promenade, we turn back and follow the Z trail to the Lillafüred parking lot.

Detailed Description of the Tour

Enchanted by Waterfalls

We start our tour from the parking lot at the end of the restaurant row in Lillafüred, next to the Szinva stream, on the P trail heading towards the Palace Hotel. In summer, we walk through lush vegetation and pass an impressive rock formation before reaching the first waterfall, whose roar can be heard from afar. The name Lillafüred is almost synonymous with waterfalls, but this is not the one everyone usually photographs, although it is no less spectacular than its famous “sibling,” which we will also visit. The path continues through a tunnel; crossing a wooden bridge over the Szinva, we arrive at the buffet row next to the Lillafüred forest railway station. Probably the children won't be attracted by the smell of fried potatoes but by the forest railway itself, as the P trail leads through its station via the pedestrian underpass in front of the ticket office. (If we start the tour early enough, we can even promise the kids a trip on the forest railway in the Bükk at the end of the day, providing extra motivation alongside many sights).

Emerging from the underpass, turning right from the P trail, we continue on the Fazola promenade, thus avoiding a busy road section and reaching the Hanging Garden of the Palace Hotel, where we can admire the highest waterfall in our country from multiple levels. The 20-meter-high waterfall is especially beautiful during high water flow, accompanied by an astonishing roar and water spray creating a tropical feeling, while in winter, the frozen cascade's huge icicles provide excellent photo opportunities. At the bottom of the Hanging Garden is the entrance to the Anna Cave, beside which is another waterfall, the “little sibling” of the above-mentioned one. If time allows, it is worth exploring this unique tufa cave globally as well, shaped by the rapid Szinva stream, the surrounding vegetation, and the Anna springs flowing beneath the Palace Hotel. Interesting views are offered by the plant sections covered with limestone, making one feel like walking among corals and sea sponges.

Climbing to the Ancient Human Cave

From Anna Cave, we head to another rock cave, the Szeleta Cave, following the K+ trail through the atmospheric small streets of Felsőhámor, guided also by signs of Bükk National Park. We follow Palota Street to the Central Metallurgical Museum, then turn left and start the “mountain climb” by stairs on the K▲ trail. Our path crosses the busy main road leading to Lillafüred, so cross carefully here. On the other side, the Körös-körül canopy trail starts, which leads further to another key spot, the Zsófia Lookout, along which we will continue for some distance. A little spoiler: we will cover the entire nature trail during our tour, but in reverse direction. Following the K▲ trail, a challenging climb follows over several stair sections until we reach a wooden bridge, after which we turn right at a fork and follow the KΩ trail to the Szeleta Cave. The ascent continues and is initially made more difficult by a heavily worn, rocky section that can be very slippery when wet because spontaneous water flows may trickle down it — so please be careful!

Once we overcome the slippery adventure, only the climb remains. We have to overcome about 100 meters of elevation in just 600 meters from the highway, but there's no need to rush, better enjoy the oaks, mushrooms, flowers, and tiny colorful insects. Although we are in the Bükk, this tour mainly passes through oak-hornbeam forest, with the end of the climb marked by wooden benches where we can catch our breath.

Then we go downhill beside mossy-trunked trees until we reach the terrace above the Szeleta Cave, where there is a rain shelter resting place. From here, we get a magnificent view: below us stretches the Szinva valley with the rooftops of Felsőhámor inside; further away, the Palace Hotel embellishes the mountains, and we can even see the waterfall beside it. We descend to the cave via a narrow rocky stairway, passing the Szeleta Gorge. Behind the large entrance of the Szeleta Cave, we find a huge hall, which is worth bringing a flashlight for if we want to look around better. We are at Hungary's most significant prehistoric cave site, where tools referring to ancient humans were first found in the country. In 1906, Ottokár Kadić discovered a beautifully crafted, bay leaf-shaped spearhead here; later, in the first half of the 20th century, many more tools and bones of Ice Age animals were unearthed from the cave layers. Some of these are displayed in the Szeleta Park Visitor Center, opened in 2023. The 115-meter-long, inactive spring cave still hosts life today, with ferns growing near the entrance and protected and strictly protected bat species residing inside.

Lillafüred's Most Beautiful Panorama

After the cave, we head to the Zsófia Lookout, two kilometers away from here, passing the summit of Dolka Hill. Climbing back up the rocky steps, we continue right on the PΩ trail, and after 300 meters, we notice a metal railing. We arrive at the Szeleta pit, a 645-meter-long and 102-meter-deep strictly protected cave. It is not a classic pit cave, as we learn from the signs next to it: it functions as a temporary sinkhole. Reading the text reveals what karst phenomena these are and introduces us to the important karst forms.

Soon we reach a road junction, from where we continue left on the P trail all the way to the top of Dolka Hill, steadily ascending on a forestry road. At the top, we reach a small clearing where we continue left on the P▲ trail, but the sign is only a bit farther, next to an information board. This is the last sign of the already mentioned “Körös-körül canopy” nature trail — on the barely 1300-meter route, we can learn many things about the surrounding forest, its wildlife, the geology of the Bükk Mountains, Lillafüred’s attractions, and we even get tourist etiquette from one of the signs.

Although the nature trail is short, we have to cover almost 200 meters elevation difference downhill, so it is good that we reach the Zsófia Lookout, opened in 2022, halfway. Several benches and tables await tired tourists there. The lookout terrace offers a great view of Lillafüred with the beautiful Palace Hotel and the emerald green Hámori Lake. Its style evokes the Palace Hotel, whose predecessor was inaugurated on June 3, 1900, and stood until the 1950s but was demolished when the “Rock” air defense center was built to make way for antenna installation.

Walk Along the Lakeside

After enjoying the wonderful panorama of the Bükk, comes the hardest part for the knees, the descent, now on the K▲ trail. Although we zigzag at the start, benches or some thick logs are placed in the turns for those ascending and descending to rest while reading some trail signs. The path bypasses large, uprooted tree roots in many places, then we reach the fork where we turned towards the cave. Here we cross the wooden bridge again and return to Lillafüred via the already known route. Upon reaching the Anna Cave, this time we walk along the edge of the hanging garden on Kosztolányi Dezső promenade on the K+ trail to the playground, then passing the Palace Hotel and the Tókert Restaurant, we cross the main road and make a detour to the Hámori Lake.

The path leads through the boat dock entrance to the lakeside trail, where we can stroll alongside the lake in a beautiful and cool forest environment in summer, while the forest railway may also pass above on the hillside. The predecessor of Hámori Lake was formed naturally from the waters of Garadna and Szinva, dammed back by the tufa dam on the Szinva stream. The fishpond was already used by the Diósgyőr Pauline monks, but it took its current form in 1810 based on an idea by Frigyes Fazola: a huge reservoir dam was created with a sluice from the then small pond to supply the water energy needs of the nearby iron forges.

We are slowly reaching the end of our hike; it is worth turning back at the half point of the lake and returning on the Z trail via the forest railway station, through the buffet row to the starting point, where even more buffets and a lángos stand await hungry tourists. Of course, only if the children haven't forgotten the promise made at the start of the tour; otherwise, we can take the forest railway back to Miskolc, if we did not arrive by car.