The essence of the Budaörs kopárok

Itinerary

• From the parking lot of the Újtemető in Budaörs, a staircase leads up to the intersection of Felsősor Street and Víztorony Street.
• From the intersection, we cross the Kő-hegy on an unmarked path and descend on the other side to Máriavölgy Street.
• From Máriavölgy Street to the piktortégla caves, we follow the P marking.
• From the piktortégla caves, we cross over the Farkas Hill on the P+ marking, then descend along Hegyalja Street.
• On Hegyalja Street we turn left and climb the skirt of Odvas Hill.
• On the skirt of Odvas Hill, we follow an unmarked path to Hegyalja Köz.
• Through Hegyalja Köz, we descend again to Hegyalja Street, then through Csap Köz and Csap Street we reach the base of Kő-hegy.
• At the base of Kő-hegy, we return to our starting point via the Kőláb Street–Kőszikla Street–Ostor Street route.

Detailed description of the route

We start our hike at the parking lot of the Újtemető in Budaörs. Taking the staircase turning left from Nefelejcs Street and following the signs to the chapel on Kő-hegy, we begin our ascent to the emblematic hill of the settlement, Kő-hegy. If we need to refill our water bottles, there is a public fountain further along the street.

Getting in tune on Kő-hegy

We arrive at Felsősor Street via the stairs, where a path ascends at the bend. After passing a sign indicating the border of a protected natural area, we reach the bare Kő-hegy, which offers a beautiful panorama: despite being in town and dominated by logistics centers, stores, motorways, and housing estates, it has retained some of its mystical atmosphere. A significant role in this is played by the small chapel at the hilltop and the large stone cross next to it.

Near the chapel, we find caves carved into the rock, where the hermit of Kő-hegy lived for nearly twenty years. Ferenc Wendler, a farmer from Budaörs, had a vision here in 1847: the image of the Virgin Mary appeared among the branches of a wild rose bush. After surviving a mine collapse, he believed this was thanks to the Virgin Mary and, as a sign of gratitude, erected a small chapel on Kő-hegy. Later, he moved here himself and lived as a hermit in a cave carved into the rock. His son, András, built a small house next to the cave in his father's later years and moved there to care for him.

During World War II, the chapel was hit several times and its stones scattered. The metal cross erected in 1895 was toppled in the early 1950s and taken to the nearby MÁH depot. The currently visible cross, about 4.5 m high, was erected four decades later, in 1995, thanks to local community cooperation. The chapel was also rebuilt through the community's effort: in 2003, on the initiative of the Budaörs German Nationality Municipality, donations from Budaörs residents and descendants of deportees funded the construction.

Continuing on the red trail

We descend westward from Kő-hegy to Máriavölgy Street, which is also marked with P – from here we head toward Odvas Hill. As we approach, the bare Odvas Hill, appearing huge even from afar, gets larger and larger. At the edge of Budaörs, the houses 'run out,' and the marking continues along a forest path at the foot of the hill – there is no tourist trail on the strictly protected hill itself, so we do not ascend it.

At an abandoned transformer house, the P trail leaves the previously wider path onto a small trail. About 150 meters later, we arrive at the junction of the P and P+ markings. Here, it is worth making a roughly 100-meter detour to the right on the P marking to see a collapsed piktortéglacave. There are quite a few of these man-made caves around here.

In the hills around Budaörs, mining of the Budai ochre began in the second half of the 19th century. The cavities created by clay extraction are called piktortéglacaves, many of which can be found between the Budaörs kopárok and Csillebérc. These caves are quite deep, reaching up to 10 meters. The white clay mined here was used as an additive for paints to make piktortégla bricks.

Getting to know the wildlife of the dolomite kopárok

We return to the P+ marking, and after a few steps, we reach Farkas Hill, where a sign indicates we have arrived in a strictly protected area, where the rules require staying only on the designated paths.

On one side of the path, we see black pines, which are not native here; they were planted in the 20th century to hold the bare hillsides together. The native forests that once covered the hills were cut down several hundred years ago and replaced by grazing, which led to the destruction of the thin topsoil. The original vegetation could no longer take root under these conditions; therefore, in the 1920s and again in the 1950s, reforestation of the kopárok began: the hills were planted with hardy black pine, fundamentally changing the habitats. For conservation reasons, the alien pine forests are now being reduced in the areas where some of the valuable rock steppes remain.

One of the greatest values of the strictly protected area is the unique flora developed on dolomite, which can produce astonishing differences within just a few meters. While the sunny southern slopes are home to warm-loving species typical of Mediterranean regions, just a few steps away on the cooler northern slopes, species characteristic of high mountain areas can also be found. During our route, we may see rare species such as the Saint Stephen's carnation, Hungarian gurgolya, or the grey devil's eye, while the warm sub-Mediterranean slopes are favored by special reptiles like the Pannonian lizard and the Caspian whipsnake.

The area's protection serves the conservation of valuable plant and animal life. However, many stray from the designated paths, not just on foot but also by bike, and trampling continuously damages the local wildlife.

We can explore Farkas Hill and its valuable wildlife along the 870-meter-long Gubóvirág nature trail established by the Duna-Ipoly National Park Directorate, named after the blue-purple-flowered tall Gubóvirág. One of the trail's stations also helps identify the surrounding hills.

Aviation history moments

Looking around Farkas Hill, we see various buildings and ruins – remnants of the former Farkas Hill glider airfield, which began operations in 1929. At that time, there were hangars, workshops, and among others, the MÁV rest house stood here. On nearby Szekrényes Hill, the remains of the concrete ramp from which the planes were launched by a strong rubber rope, like a giant slingshot, still exist.

The airfield was damaged during World War II and relocated to its current location near the Nagyszénászug district of Budakeszi in 1959. Not long ago, there was a memorial on the hilltop, but the glider memorial made from two small airplane wings, renovated in 2017, was toppled by a storm in March 2023 and has not been replaced yet (as of August 2025). Besides planes, other vehicles also regularly appeared here, as motor races were held on the valuable dry grasslands from the 1960s until the 1990s.

The Budaörs kopárok also have film history connections; for example, scenes from the movies Captain of Tenkes, Stars of Eger, and The Corporal and Others were shot here.

Descent along the skirt of Odvas Hill

We descend Farkas Hill on the P+ marking, first through the forest, then between weekend houses, returning to the settlement. The marking follows Odvas Hill Street, along which we walk to Hegyalja Street, then turn left toward nearby Odvas Hill. About 400 meters later, at a fork, we turn left to continue on a path along the hill’s skirt, on the border of inhabited and strictly protected areas. From here, we see the rugged cliffs of the hill up close, and on the other side, can enjoy the view.

We turn back to Hegyalja Street via Hegyalja Köz, thus descending back into the town, then reach the base of Kő-hegy via Csap Köz. We bypass the hill on its southern side, returning to the starting point via the aptly named Kőláb, Kőszikla, and Ostor Streets.