The Counts' box at the Pilis ship bridge

Itinerary

• Pilisszántó is left behind on the yellow Hungarian pilgrimage route, then turning right at the forest and following the PΩ marks, we ascend to the Pilisszántói-kőfülke.
• From the kőfülke we follow the ZΩ marks back, then further up we turn left to the Z● marks.
• We join the Z marks, which lead left along the Grófi road.
• On a meadow we switch to the Z▲ marks branching off to the right, which lead to the Pilis-tető.
• From the lookout we continue following the Z▲ marks on the asphalt.
• We turn left onto the P+ mark, then immediately turn right under the trees onto the Z marks.
• At a forest fork we turn right onto the Z▲ marks, which lead out to the Fekete-kő.
• We leave the Fekete-kő on the left branch of the Z▲ mark.
• On the joining Z+ marks we head left to the Kétbükkfa saddle.
• From the Kétbükkfa saddle we descend right on the Z marks.
• Before Pilisszentkereszt we switch right to the S+ marks, which lead back to Pilisszántó.
• We get back to the starting point following the street and the yellow Hungarian pilgrimage route marks.

Detailed description of the route

Millennia at the foot of the mountain

Pilisszántó has a long history, having already been inhabited in the Árpád era. After relatively peaceful centuries, it shared the sad fate of many other nearby settlements during the Turkish times and was depopulated, until Slovaks were resettled in place of the vanished population—as in neighboring Pilisszentkereszt. Due to its sloping position, from the bus turnaround point there is a view towards the Buda Hills, while in the opposite direction towers the huge Pilis-tető, our destination. A special traffic hub has also developed here: not only buses and cars end their routes here, but paragliders arriving from the mountaintop often land on the wide square.

However, we head towards the summit: follow the street, then turn left at the parking lot and a few meters ahead turn right, where the PΩ mark leads into the forest. Although hidden by the trees, here is the hunting castle of the late wholesaler Fülöp Orosdy. The relatively gentle ascent is surrounded by winding trees and dense forest, but the fork is easy to spot: the mark invites us left. With a short descent, we reach the Pilisszántói-kőfülke chamber, which used to be a spring cave, now a dry half-dome deep in the rock face. At the beginning of the 20th century, Ottokár Kadić found bones after digging up the floor, initiating a long and successful archaeological excavation. According to traces and finds, Ice Age humans used this protected niche (their fire site was also identified), but there was much to fear: more than a hundred species of animals, with over a thousand bone remains discovered here. Among them were the three large predators, the cave lion, the cave wolf, and the cave bear; also wolverines, chamois, and the huge woolly rhinoceros roamed the snowy, windy Pilis. The found stone tools are unique, and based on their features and numerous objects found in nearby caves, archaeology recognizes them as the Pilisszántó culture. Primarily, it's worth coming here for the panorama, as you can look out from the small ledge of the kőfülke towards the Gerecse region.

The noble panoramas of Grófi road

Climbing back on the trail to the left, we continue to storm the Pilis-tető on the ZΩ mark. Shortly, we change marks again and continue on the Z● mark to the left. The trail loops back with a large bend, unable to cope with the particularly steep mountainside on the left. We join the Z mark, and head left, reaching a resting point or rather a levelled section after an exhausting ascent. We hike among spindly small trees until we step out onto a rocky terrace where the landscape unfolds: below us is Pilisszántó, next to it Hosszú Hill leads our gaze towards the Kevélyek; to the right, across the Vörösvári-ditch, the Buda Hills are green.

This is the Grófi road, a completely unique, unforgettable panoramic path on the southern slope of Pilis-tető. It is a serpentine trail on a steep slope, whose bends offer excellent views of the Pilisvörösvár basin, the Buda Hills, the longitudinal ridge of the Pilis, the neighboring Visegrád Mountains, and even the Gerecse—the entire Dunazug mountain area. There is no other similarly spectacular tourist trail near Budapest, and the altitude reached is also outstanding.

Furthermore, by domestic standards, the height of the besieged mountain is also special: at 756 meters, it is the highest member of the Transdanubian Central Mountains. Higher peaks on this side of the Danube within Hungary only exist near the Austrian border (the Írott-kő in the Kőszeg Mountains). The climbing slope conditions are friendly but tiring, especially due to the noticeably warm microclimate of the mountainside—thanks to the white limestone rocks that radiate heat and the rocky grasslands that provide no shade—which otherwise shelter truly rare plants. Notable is the Hungarian groundsel, which may have survived here from a warm period during the Ice Age and has only five other populations worldwide (smaller ones in the Carpathian Basin). Pál Kitaibel found it on the southern slope of Pilis-tető in the 17th century, but under the circumstances of the time, identification was difficult and initially failed. The plant, mistakenly identified as a Siberian hogweed, was later sent by József Sadler, a university professor, to a German botanist and Russian flora expert who realized it was a new species. Hence, it is not surprising that the Hungarian groundsel was named Ferula sadleriana after his colleague in Pest. For its protection (and for other species) it is very important not to leave the designated trail!

Every bend offers a different view; the suburban settlements stretch out below us, and slowly we struggle up to such an altitude from where we can see all neighboring mountains from above. Thanks to the winding, the elevation gain is less tiring than the numbers suggest. The path finally leads to a wide meadow; here we turn right onto the Z▲ mark, approaching the mountain summit in dense forest, accompanied by a fence. The wire is trampled at one point; on the other side is a strictly protected area that was once the launch site of the paragliders, offering the best panorama of the mountain. The edge of the clearing almost collapses towards the reddened roofs of Pilisszentkereszt and Pilisszántó. The height and steep slope are astonishing, and the narrow ridge of Pilis stretches directly before us.

On top of Pilis

Higher up, just a few steps away, we can see the wooden lookout protruding from behind concrete hangars, named after Blessed Özséb. He gathered hermits from the area and founded the Pauline monastic order in the 13th century. Looking around, it becomes immediately clear why the former air defense missile base is here: the airspace north-northwest of Budapest is practically perfectly observable. Behind the forested ridge spotted with houses and hotels of Dobogókő rises the massive Börzsöny block, and facing the city, naturally, we can overlook the ridge of Pilis, further south the Hármashatár-hegy group. Behind the grassy ridge of Nagy-Szénás peaks the highest point of the Buda Hills, Nagy-Kopasz, recognizable by its lookout tower. To the northwest roll the hills of Gerecse, and to the west, in clear weather, the modest heights of Vértes line up. We are surrounded by a uniquely rich mountain world, capped by our "Grófi box" rising over the mountain sea like a ship’s bridge—the view is worthy of the mountain’s natural records in every respect.

The strategically excellent flat mountain ridge saw the construction of a military object by the early 1980s, which was not unique in the Dunazug area: two close counterparts were at Urak’s Table and on the summit of Lom Hill. All are now in decay. The lookout’s design fits excellently into this environment from afar: it looks like a small air traffic control tower hidden among the trees. About 40 soldiers served continuously at the "secret" base, which had a utility network, but water had to be brought in by tank trucks. Pilis-tető’s peculiarity is that it often shrouds in clouds. This was quite unfortunate militarily as it hindered or often made visual observation impossible. However, during descending airflow, it can rise above the clouds; mainly on winter days, despite the steel-gray below, the mountain has sunny weather with the snow-white cloud blanket breaking through. The base was closed in 1996, and since then the old concrete buildings have been rotting as odd, unsightly coloring elements on the mountaintop.

Across the plateau

Before a long and relaxing section, bidding farewell to the lookout, we step again onto the Z▲ mark. We walk out from the base along the former access road, and soon the forest closes in. Large beech trees rise above our heads, barely visible among them; chaotic conditions prevail in the forest—not coincidentally, as a forest reserve lies on our left. There is no forest management here; the myriad of life is shaped by self-regulating processes, enabling the ecological system to function with minimal disturbance. The concrete road leads with some waviness but roughly straight across the karst plateau ridge until at a right curve we turn left. The mark leads off the asphalt and joins the Z marks, on which we head right.

We hike in the shade of magnificent huge beech trees, the young shoots' abundant multitude stretching above the sparsely planted forest floor. At a fork, the Z mark invites left; a bit of descent is soon followed by a gentle ascent: we switch left onto the Z▲ mark, which now leads to Fekete-kő. With a wide left bend, we arrive behind the ridge of the rock, where the mountain ridge ends and is connected by a narrow tongue to the dolomite tower standing out among the foliage. It rises as a magnificent slender-edged cliff above the Pilisszentlélek basin; from its edge, we can look out to Kétágú Hill and Marót Mountains, and behind the low ridges of the Visegrád Mountains rises the Börzsöny like a broad pancake. A path winds down the rugged cliff side to one of its towers. Its traversal is not without danger, so it is only recommended for those confident moving in exposed environments. Besides its hard-to-explain Hungarian name, it also has a Slovak name (as many Slovaks have lived and still live in the area villages): Hrebeň, which means mountain ridge.

Below the mountain

We say goodbye to another picturesque viewpoint and again join the Z+ marks in the splendid beech forest on the other branch of the Z▲ mark, then descend left to the Kétbükkfa saddle parking lot at the boundary of Pilis and Visegrád Mountains. It's not worth lingering here; the Z mark (to the right) invites us down the road used by Romans to cross the mountains at the foot of the Pilis-tető block. We proceed through dark forests, under the shadow of the rising mountainside. After a bend, a cliff appears on our right. At the foot of the mossy precipice is a large protected cavity: the Ördög-lyuk (Devil's Hole), a 38-meter-deep shaft of partly unclear origin. It is certain that it functioned as a sinkhole for longer or shorter periods, collecting waters flowing here from the slopes of the Visegrád Mountains, though a thermal water origin is also possible. It likely has an unexplored cave system where seeping rainwater still flows today. It is also known as Szopláki-Ördög-lyuk after the mountain towering above it; “szoplák” originally meant snot.

We continue descending on a wide forest road, soon encountering a wooden cross called Döme's Death. It marks a sad place where in the 1950s a forest engineer was fatally wounded by a rod thrown at him with momentum. In the mixed beech forest we reach a large hollow at the Vaskapu valley's mouth, where there is a resting and rain shelter. Soon the forest “runs out” above us, and we reach more open terrain on the former fields, pastures, and orchards of Pilisszentkereszt inhabitants, dominated by bushes and grassy slopes. We must be alert, as the Z mark turns left while we keep the same altitude and join the S+ mark branching straight off. Approaching the village, we can marvel at surprisingly broad views: down below lie the houses of Pilisszentkereszt, behind them the Dera valley separating the neighboring mountain ranges, and in the background the Great Plain is already visible.

The path turns right and ascends, crossing a saddle and entering the forest again. Descending on the dense oak forest trail under Pilis-tető, we soon arrive at the main road. Pilisszántó’s houses appear, and alongside the asphalt left curve, we return to the village, closing the circle.