Through the Kevélys to Budapest

Itinerary

• From the center of Pilisborosjenő, initially follow the KT sign down the main street.
• Take the left turn on the S sign to climb up to the Kevély saddle.
• Upon reaching the Kevély saddle, turn left onto the K▲ sign, which leads out to Little Kevély. Return to the saddle point on the same path!
• From the saddle, follow the P sign straight ahead; this leads along the ridge, over Great Kevély.
• Continue hiking on the P sign along the ridge until you reach the edge of Békásmegyer.
• At the city edge, turn left onto the P+ sign, which leads to the bus stop.

Detailed description of the hike

Pilisborosjenő - Little Kevély

Thanks to its great, green setting, the steadily growing Pilisborosjenő main street still reveals traces of the village's past. We start on the main street, then take the left-turning S sign, spotting some traditional elongated houses along the way. Originally a viticulture village, it was revived by German settlers after the Turkish destruction, most of whom were forced to leave after World War II. Hungarian families from Transylvania and Upper Hungary arrived to settle their places, and in recent decades, new houses built by those moving out from Budapest have expanded the small basin-surrounded village. Turning left onto a side street, the colossal Great Kevély towers above us with its top dotted with white rocks. After a long hike with increasingly better views, we reach the village border, starting our forest excursion.

The terrain conditions are well illustrated by the fact that the Great Kevély, the ridge's highest peak, is about 400 meters in a straight line from us but peaks nearly 200 meters higher. Thus, we cannot avoid switchback climbing on the hillside — albeit with continuous ascent and considerable detours. No serious challenges await; we walk on an oak path initially, then after a fork, our sometimes unpleasantly narrow trail offers a gentle climb. We tread the Redlinger Adolf trail, its namesake being the founder and first president of the once very active Nature Friends Tourist Association in the area. We pass by the Soda Cave rock cavity, testifying in part to the mountain's dolomitic structure, then the forest opens occasionally along the path, adorned here and there with small meadows and rock grasslands. Finally, we emerge from the forest section at the Kevély saddle, a place offering fire pits and a rain shelter — not always so, as for decades the Stromfeld Aurél guesthouse stood here. Its stones were carried up in backpacks by tourists under TTE guidance — as a result of 5 years of work, a shelter for 60 people was erected in the saddle. Its restaurant also offered hot food, but due to its popularity, waiting periods often stretched, and frequent water shortages disrupted beverage supplies. Its history ended in 1992 when it burned down a day before transfer to the Budapest Nature Friends Association from the Pilis Park Forestry.

Its popularity still makes the place suitable for operating a tourist house today, as frequently visited hiking trails radiate in all directions of the compass rose. Our route leads onto the K▲ sign towards Little Kevély. A gentle climb begins, passing the Stromfeld Aurél memorial bench with limited views (named after the chief of staff of the Council Republic and an official of the Nature Friends Tourist Association), from where we glance back at the Great Kevély's side. Along a brushy, sometimes tunnel-like vegetation-invading path, we reach a lookout point where it is not advisable to linger long, as the best panorama is from the summit. Soon it appears: a rocky escarpment decorates the slope, just as on its bigger sibling. Let's walk out on it and inspect the landscape! To the left, our gaze smooths over the ridge's side, the Buda Hills undulating in the middle, and to the right rises the gigantic Pilis Peak. We overlook the basin of Csobánka, admire the wooded ridges of Dobogókő, and can also spot the Gerecse range in the distance. We stand at considerable height above the rolling forested landscape, but the main part is still ahead! We return to the Kevély saddle on the route already traveled.

Little Kevély - Great Kevély

From the rest area, we tackle the interesting ridge trail of Kevély on the P sign, which ascends for a long stretch until reaching the summit. The path's rocky bottom and clearings among rock grasslands add a special atmosphere. The shallow soil on rocky slopes is not ideal for forestation; hence, the trail offers several panoramic sections with breathtaking views. We pass the Great Kevély's 534-meter-high summit — only stumps remain of the former (burned down) lookout tower.

The true height experience occurs at the clearing beyond the summit, granting sweeping panoramas. We can look down on Budapest's astonishing size, behind which the Gödöllő Hills roll on the horizon, and northward the Mátra ridge with Kékes Peak standing out. (The tall pyramid of the Bükk's Nagy-Eged also appears.) Walking to the rocky escarpment, the experience is stunning: below lies the Pilisborosjenő basin, remarkably close in distance and about 300 meters lower by altitude — the dizzying depth further emphasized by the bright white rock edges. This is due to a distinctive fault line beneath Great Kevély — the mountain massif has risen on one side, while the Pilisvörösvár trench dropped into depths on the other. Beyond is the Buda Hills, recognizable by the broadcasting towers atop Hármashatár Hill, with Széchenyi and János hills, the Great Szénás, and Kutya Hill rising to the right, and farthest back stands Great Kopasz. To the left, at a small mound of Gellért Hill, the mountain region, the Danube, and the Great Plain meet, while to the right the Pilis mountain range undulates. Its western side looks as if it has been flattened, steeply dropping to the trench. The gigantic Pilis Peak lookout is visible to the naked eye, and beside the massif, the Zajnát Hills group forms a bridge connecting neighboring ranges. The capital's colorful, mountainous, and settlement-rich hinterland waves like a landscape that we admire from a rocky hillock lookout. The spacious clearing is a favored launch site for paragliders; in good weather on weekends, they fly almost within arm's reach above us, and their voices can often be heard.

Great Kevély - Budapest

Descending, the leaf canopy closes before the panorama, hiding the Silver Kevély's forested side from sight. The path narrows significantly; farther on we pass a splendidly located panoramic shelter, then the ridge flattens a bit. Aromatic pines, planted on formerly bare hillsides, reach the ridge intermittently, and smaller and larger rock piles and rock castles are visible. Some hide quarries, as in certain spots, a hard hárshegy sandstone cap formed from siliceous solutions settled on dolomite and limestone — an excellent building material. The forest has already covered the small mine yards, which add variety to the path, which alternates between gently descending and restful segments. We touch upon the barely perceptible summit point of Silver Kevély, where a short path leads left. An abandoned shelter lies among the quarry's cliffs — built by Nature Friends Tourist Association (TTE) tourists in the early 20th century but lost function and was abandoned after the Kevély saddle house was built. (The building was once called the Rheuma shelter too; a pre-regime-change guide recounts that communists persecuted by the Council Republic hid here, posing as millstone carvers.)

Further on, many viewpoints lure us away from the path, which follows the surprisingly narrow, steeply sloping ridge. The trail is interspersed with oak forests and black pine woods; the conifers disappear, and the broadening hillside is followed by a winding, rocky road. We descend continually, and the sandstone — the color element in the mountain’s build — reappears. At a small bend, an unmarked trail leads up right to a quarry pit wall; from here, we get our last view of the capital's surroundings. From the Silver Hill quarry edge, we look out; in its abandoned yard, coastal shallow-sea sediment, silty-sandy deposits appear, cemented extremely hard by hot water solutions rising from the depths. The 19th-century hárshegy sandstone was popular in construction in Budapest and was mined also for millstones. The mine's peculiarity is the Papp Ferenc cave at the end, whose upper level yawns in sandstone, with lower passages penetrating other sedimentary rocks in the massif — reaching a depth of 66 meters and about 400 meters long. Hydrothermal solutions expanding upward widened the cave system, but as fissures formed mainly in the sandstone body, the cave is highly prone to collapse and entry is forbidden. Anyway, it's worth viewing the modestly dug entrance at the rock wall's base. (The Kevély mountains' hard rocks suitable for building materials were mined in multiple nearby locations — some mines uncovered caves, some of which have disappeared.)

The marked path bypasses the mine yard and soon reaches a long, straight dirt road slope. This leads out of the forest, facing the vast Békásmegyer panel housing estate. Crossing the road connecting Üröm with Budakalász, we can still see the heights of the Visegrád Mountains, then reach Békásmegyer’s rural-feeling outermost rows of houses. At the edge of the gardens, we turn left onto the gravel road of the P+ sign and follow the sign by turning right at the first street, arriving at the bus terminal.