Kőszeg panorama hike

Itinerary

• From the bus stop to the Main Square we follow the P mark, then within Kőszeg we follow the K mark.
• We make a round trip detour to the Trianon Cross on the K+ mark.
• We return to the K mark, which we follow to after Pintér Hill.
• Crossing the asphalt road we follow the K▲ mark to the Fatalin Beeches.
• We turn right on the K● mark to the Seven Springs.
• From the spring we head back on the K mark, and climb steeply to the Óház Lookout.
• We leave the lookout heading south on the Z mark.
• At a T-junction we turn left on the S mark.
• In Kőszeg about 200 meters after the ornamental well we turn left with the Z mark onto Park Street towards the Bechtold István Visitor Centre.
• From downtown we reach the bus stop which marks the end of our trip via the P mark.

Tour in detail

The Trianon Cross and its panorama

From the bus stop we take a few steps southwest, then at the first intersection we turn right on the P mark which accompanies us to the Main Square. Here we switch to the joining K mark. Along Sziget and left on Kálvária Street we reach the crown-guard bunker. In the cellar system in March 1945, during the escape of the Szálasi government, the Holy Crown and the coronation jewels were guarded here for a while. The priceless Hungarian coronation relic's long journey to Austria and then America ended only 33 years later, in 1978, when it returned to Hungary.

From here heading left we ascend via a steep earth road shaded by old trees and lined with stations to Kálvária Hill at the northeastern end of the range, where the church titled Exaltation of the Holy Cross, visible from almost every point of Kőszeg, is located. As early as 1686 there was a wooden cross here, replaced in 1726 by stone crucifixes and eight wooden crosses erected at the base of the hill by Jesuit priest Lipót Lósy. In 1727 the board-constructed Holy Sepulchre Chapel was built. The stations of the cross visible today were designed by Ludwig Schöne and built in 1890, with cast reliefs added in 1895, while the old reliefs were embedded into the chapel’s fence and hermitage wall.

After the Rákóczi War of Independence’s defeat and the resultant plague epidemic, Kőszeg’s population made a vow, resulting in the construction of a church titled Saint Donatus on the hill by 1715, later named after Our Lady of Sorrows.

The Calvary Church still visible was started in 1729, funded among others by Miklós Pálffy, palatine, and the Agony Society, and completed in 1735. Local legend says that during construction the faithful carried the approximate 70,000 bricks in pairs crossed like a cross by hand. Architecturally interesting is the three towers on one plane and its provincial baroque style despite its simplicity. Statues of Saint Peter, Saint Veronica, and two mourning angels stand on the stair’s parapets.

A hermitage was built a year later beside the church; its garden and well were surrounded by stone walls. The first hermit caretaker was buried into the wall beside the Calvary Church stairs. His memory is preserved by a wrought iron cross behind the apse and German text embedded in the wall. It is also worth glancing at the reliefs on the fence as you continue past the church.

Soon we reach the branching point of the K+ mark for a short detour to the Trianon Cross. Built in 1936 as a memento to the Trianon Peace Treaty, the nearly 8-meter high cross was designed already in 1932 and was originally planned to be set up in town for the 400th anniversary of the Turkish siege. Eventually this historic excursion destination became home to it. Its popularity is shown by the 1882 stone bench set up by Kálmán Chernel at the lookout called Red Stone Quarries at the time. From here there is a beautiful panorama toward Austria with Schneeberg’s massive massif visible. During the Cold War strict border controls prevented visits to the cross.

Pintér Hill and Seven Springs

Back on the K mark, we continue youthful, soon sharply turning right and beginning our ascent in a beech forest to the northeastern starting point of the Kőszeg Mountains main ridge, the spectacular panorama of Pintér Hill. The origin of the name which appeared in the 1920s is unclear, but since the local forests belonged to Kőszeg until 1945, the name likely refers not to an owner but to coopers who used the forest’s wood.

From the viewpoint once called the Dreamer, we can glimpse the other 2000-meter mountain beside Schneeberg towering over the Burgenland hills, the elongated plateau of Rax, and the impressive rock wall of Hohe Wand. From the late 1800s to the First World War a lookout was planned here named after Miklós Jurisics, from which Kőszeg would have been visible. Funds for construction were collected by balls and musical events amounting to 3300 crowns, but the war ultimately prevented building.

We descend to the dirt road below, which after a right turn meets the asphalt access road. Crossing this and following the K▲ mark we reach an oak forest without acorns whose grass layer is lush with the beautiful single-flowered pearl grass. Through the forest we soon reach the characteristically shaped quartz-phyllite Devil’s Plate Rock. Like the Hat Stones, it is a block on which a plate-like depression is visible, hence its name. Shortly after we arrive at the approximately 300-year-old patriarch beeches called Fatalin Beeches. These great legacy trees have survived multiple timber harvests over the centuries, becoming the last heralds of the former beech forest.

At the junction shortly after, we turn right on the K● mark leading to the Seven Springs. The initially narrower path flows into a broad dirt road, then on a narrow, cool path under beeches we reach the Cross Road asphalt road. From here the K and K● marks jointly lead us to the richest spring in the mountain range.

The first written mention of the Seven Springs dates back to the 14th century under the name "Castle Well," referring to the nearby Kőszeg Upper Castle, today the Óház. Around 1891, for the approaching millennium, plaques bearing the names of the seven Hungarian tribes were placed below the spring outlets, since when it has also been called Seven-Chief Spring. The water streaming from the gutter feeds a basin, then runs on toward the Gyöngyös brook.

Beside the spring lives the Alpine pipit, a rare insectivorous songbird of high mountain streams. Its breeding population in Hungary is only 200-300 pairs.

The Óház Lookout and secrets of a castle

From the spring we head back on the K mark. We cross asphalt and then a gravel road, then climb steeply to the lookout on the peak of Óház Hill. On the 609-meter high hill stood Kőszeg’s first castle in the 13th century, the Upper Castle or Óvár, which gradually lost importance in the 14th century with the establishment of the Lower Castle. A huge fortress with walls and a drawbridge may have stood here even in the 9th century. The first written mention is from 1248 (Castrum Kwszug) when the castle taken by Archduke Frederick of Austria was retaken by the troops of Béla IV, so the name Kőszeg originally referred to the Upper Castle built on Óház Hill. The city’s ancient Hungarian name was Gyöngyös, which gave rise to its German name Güns.

Archaeological excavations aiming to uncover the castle began in 1894, but the residential tower of 20x12.3 meters exterior size with nearly 2-meter thick walls and the southern gate bastion of 8x7 meters with adjoining castle wall were excavated only between 1991 and 1995. A drawbridge pedestrian bridge led to the bastion whose cut into the rock is still visible today.

A deep ditch surrounds the small hilltop except on the northwest steep slope; on the most vulnerable southwest side is a shallower outer ditch. Another protection was that the tower’s lowest level had no door; the first-floor entrances could be reached by stairs. The castle had an 11-meter deep, almost 2-meter internal diameter cistern, as water could only be sourced near the Seven Springs. The castle probably was destroyed during the Austrian-Hungarian wars of 1455.

On the ruins first a wooden then in 1896 a stone lookout was built. The current lookout was constructed in 1996 on the residential tower foundations uncovered then. From it there is a beautiful view to Kőszeg, Szombathely, the Ság and Somló hills, Bakony, the Tapolca Basin witness hills, the Keszthely Mountains, Rendek Hill, and the Zala Hills. We can also see into Austria: after the Schneeberg peak follows the Bucklige Welt region dotted with hills, then Lake Fertő and behind it the Leitha Mountains with their many wind turbines.

Back to Kőszeg

We leave the lookout heading south, then at an intersection we continue straight on the Z mark, starting descent in a beech forest. After crossing the asphalt road we soon pass Steinbach Stone, an obelisk set up in 1855 by forest supervisor Károly Steinbach. After a right-angle left turn, a steep section leads down to Mohás Road starting on the other side of Terv Road. Pay attention to every step!

Crossing the bend of the forest Terv Road connecting Kőszeg to Velem, we reach Mohás Spring built in the 1960s by Jurisics Gymnasium pupils and teachers. Next to it is a forest rest area equipped with a fire pit and shelter.

The settlement edge is no longer far. On the pleasantly sloping road in front of houses we turn right, then bypassing Szabó Hill we reach the S mark. Heading left on it we pass Kenyér Hill, cut off from Szabó Hill ridge by Tamás Ditch stream below. A local story says that during the Napoleonic wars’ famine the new owner bought the small hill for 7 loaves of bread, but historical facts have not confirmed this yet.

On Szabóhegyi Street we enter Kőszeg’s inner area. Shortly after the ornamental well supplying high-carbonated spring water, we turn left onto Park Street leading straight to the Bechtold István Nature Conservation Visitor Centre presenting the values of the Kőszeg Mountains. The building operated by Őrség National Park shows the distinctive wildlife formed by the meeting of the Carpathian Basin and the Alps. Special attention is paid to birds, with an interactive exhibition becoming an expert introduction to winged animals. If you have children, it’s worth walking the experience trail around the visitor centre where, for example, with a giant puzzle and stilt labyrinth you can get closer to the surrounding nature in a playful way. While here, don’t miss the small arboretum a few minutes away (Chernel Garden) which also operates a bird protection rescue centre.

From the visitor centre, straight along Hunyadi János Street, we reach the Castle Circle surrounding the Jurisics Castle. Among numerous charming downtown sights, we can choose before returning to the bus stop marking the start and end of the tour via the P mark – you can shorten the route a bit on Szűk Street.