Lion in front of the goat

Itinerary

• From the bus terminal, walk towards the forest along the road until the Z marked trail crosses it a little lower down.
• Turn right onto the Z route and follow it to the Árpád Lookout.
• From the lookout, follow the K route which turns left.
• At the Határnyereg road junction, turn left and head back on the Z↺ marked hiking trail that runs with other markers.
• Just before reaching the terminus of bus number 11, the Z trail crosses again; follow it to the right.
• Along the Z route, pass by the Apáthy Rock, then turn left and uphill along Nagybányai Road at the city’s edge. This leads back to the bus stop.

Detailed description of the hike

On centuries-old walkways

Turning right from the road that penetrates the trees onto the Z marked path, the first few meters present the greatest challenge. But the climb is short, the path widens, and with a sharp right turn we reach a gently ascending section. The dense forest blocks the high boundary of the built environment from our view, though at the end of the 19th century when these walkways were built, bare hillsides greeted visitors. Nothing illustrates this better than the stone-built lookout terrace visible to the right, now in decline, but once served as a panoramic resting place. Now, only through the narrow corridor between the tree branches does the rounded silhouette of János Hill appear.

Soon the path takes a left turn and rises to the Árpád Lookout along our rugged trail. The elegant yet castle-like building was erected in 1929, funded by hotelier Frigyes Glück, who also gifted the János Hill lookout. Originally, the terrace was covered with a reed roof, offering a deep view over Budapest and a splendid outline of the Danube’s bend, forced there by the Buda Hills. The Gellért Hill adorned with the Citadel and the Buda Castle also come into view. Interestingly, we look down on these because we stand higher than them.

Goats and lion

We continue our hike left along the K route and soon cross a small clearing. The forest soccer field and resting area will likely encourage children to stop. We circumvent a valley head, moving into denser, well-closing canopy forest – it's hard to imagine that we are in a city of one and a half million, with houses just a few hundred meters away. The hillside steepens, and on the right rocks cut into the forest fabric. This formation is called the Goat Rocks, forming a much fractured dolomite wall.

We are walking on the Frigyes Glück path, whose next notable feature is strongly connected to the patron of hiking at the turn of the century: the Lion Rock, a "freed" piece of the Goat Rocks, carved into a stone lion by Frigyes Glück. Using our imagination, we can chisel it back into a lion, as its head was knocked off in 1945 (or 1946 according to other sources). (Allegedly to allow Russian vehicles to pass.) Until then, a marble plaque on its side proclaimed Trianon revision.

Shortly after, we arrive at Határnyereg, which marked the border between the capital and Hidegkút – a border stone column nearby reminds us of this. Turning left, we head back on the Z↺ trail running alongside other markers. We descend gently to the end of Görgényi Road where there is a picnic spot and an "forest bear playground" offering a stop in a pleasant pine forest setting. These pine forests are not native to the Buda Hills but remnants of 19th-century afforestation on bare hillsides and places where vineyards were wiped out by phylloxera: pine planting was used to bind the eroding soil.

On the backs of rocks

The hiking trail leads back near Nagybányai Road, and we reach the point where we initially turned onto the Z route. This time we choose the other branch, heading right. (We could return to the bus turnaround but then would miss the most spectacular part of the route.) The Vaskapu Hill slope reveals a series of geological specialities. At one point, the Stone Gate towers above us: the prominent rocky passage may reveal a section of the oldest cave in the Buda Hills, previously filled with kaolinitic volcanic debris (tufa). (The purplish color is due to kaolinite and iron-rich hematite.) Children often buzz around this colorful rock gate, which makes an excellent climbing spot thanks to its material.

The trail continues along the dolomite ledge, with spectacular views beyond the railing. Remains of a World War bunker are on the left on the summit, and on the right appears the fearsome crest of Apáthy Rock. The cliff rises so sharply from the hillside that the rocky environment was never attempted to be built on, so the city was fortunately only able to grow around it. The iron column on the top served surveying purposes – stepping up beside it reveals a breathtaking panorama. Opposite green backs of János Hill and Széchenyi Hill rise, and between the hills a corridor opens toward downtown. Right is Nyéki Hill and the deepening Cool Valley below it.

At the end of our hike, we come along a fence to the bend of Nagybányai Road, on which turning left and climbing uphill for about 10-15 minutes leads back to the number 11 bus terminus.