Variations on a theme: the southern Börzsöny viewpoints

Itinerary

• From Kisinóc, follow the S+ marking all the way to Kisirtáspuszta.
• On the way to Szép-bérc, you can make a detour on the S▲ trail.
• To Nagyirtás, to the train station, climb up on the P+ trail.
• Turn left to the Z+ trail.
• On the slope of Nagy-Sas-hegy, switch to the Z trail, which leads to Márianosztra.
• You can make a detour to the highest peak of Nagy-Sas-hegy (to the right) and the side ridge (to the left) on the Z▲ trail.
• The Z▲ also leads to the left up to Kopasz-hegy.

Detailed description of the tour

Up to the edge of the High Börzsöny

Our approximately 18-kilometer hike starts at the Kisinóci tourist house, which played a key role at the beginning of the centuries-old touristic exploration of Börzsöny. We enter the forest on the Blue Trail, which will surround us for a long time. After a few meters, we arrive at a fork, where we leave the K route for a local trail visited by few. The S+ actually does not connect important, popular destinations and has no practical significance, nor does it lead to viewpoints. It is designed for hikers hungry for nature who want a taste of the atmosphere of the southern Börzsöny forest. We do not follow the upper section-style stream of the Pokol Valley for long; we quickly begin a steep climb on the sharp ridge running southeast of Szép-bérc. In the first meters, it is worth paying attention to the "holes" visible between the trees in the forest: these are probably signs of ongoing forest management that ensures continuous forest cover, where instead of clearing whole parts of forest, many small gaps are made, and young generations can grow in the harvested tree places under the influence of sunlight hitting the soil. This creates a forest stand with varied age composition, closer to natural conditions, and the wildlife does not have to do without forest cover.

Our narrow path climbs at a tiring angle until it reaches a forestry road, where we begin to follow the side of the Pokol Valley at level. We cross a washout and at the end of another climb meet the S▲ mark branching off to the left. Let's take this detour because with a 10-minute walk we can enjoy a distant (partial) view of the Danube Bend from the top of Szép-bérc's 631-meter cone. Directly in front of us rise our next stations, Nagy-Sas-hegy and Sós-hegy, with Nagy-Galla appearing behind them. After leaving the highest point of our hike, we arrive at the border of the High Börzsöny along a beautiful beech forest path: on the right side of the Inóci saddle, we touch the slope of Nagy-Inóc (826 m), the highest part of the mountain region. On the charming small clearing, it would be natural to follow the dozer road further, but the trail shifts into a path and goes straight through the trees. A beautiful beech forest welcomes us at the edge of the central part of the mountain range.

The area of narrow-gauge railways

After this, our route turns sharply, almost retracing itself, and at the Oldaltmászó spring, covered by undergrowth, we reach the chapter of Kollár Valley. For the next 2.5 kilometers, we follow a typical Börzsöny valley: a narrow, gorge-like basin where the stream meanders over dark cobbles, its splashing fills the dark beech forest. The forestry road carves into the steeply descending mountainside, crowned on the right by Zálog-bérc. We also step on the embankment of the old narrow-gauge railway, thus arriving at Kisirtáspuszta. Opposite the turning triangle of the railway stands a mountain refuge hidden among pines. A large part of the tracks used for transporting and harvesting timber in the mountain range were dismantled long ago parallel with the dominance of road transport, but a few newly built sections serve the tourism function and provide work for the trains. At its heyday, the narrow-gauge railways had their network repair workshop in Kisirtás. An interesting industrial heritage monument is the turning triangle itself: trains zigzag on a track shaped like the letter Z, moving back and forth to overcome the altitude difference on the steep mountainside.

The atmospheric clearing is a meeting point for many hiking trails; we continue our hike parallel to the tracks without changing valleys. However, we will switch hiking marks; from here on, we must pay attention to the P+ markers. Information boards accompany us as we climb out of the valley and cross the tracks, soon arriving at the double-track Nagyirtás station. Nagyirtáspuszta was the center of the forestry economy; non-native pine plantations were established on cleared forest areas — today these are being cut down because the increasingly drying climate's challenges strain the stands.

The Nagy-Sas-hegy

This time we use the Z+ marking (to the left) to climb on the unforgettable volcanic domes of the southern Börzsöny. After the mountain hotel, we begin a long ascent; from the forestry road, we suddenly turn sharply onto a narrow path; our next guide, the Z mark, appears. Soon from here branches off the trail Z▲ leading to Nagy-Sas-hegy. We will not feel it was worth the effort standing on the summit because it is a steep, rocky-shrubby path. From a point on the path descending the southern side of the 609-meter ridge, there is a view.

From then on, essentially only the perspective will change slightly; the parade of views of the Danube Bend and the opposite Visegrád Hills - Pilis - Gerecse will quickly alternate. From Nagy-Sas-hegy, the close, bird's-eye view of the twin-peak meadow (our next destination) is exciting, and in clear weather, the Mátra can be seen to the west. Opposite spreads the Kóspallag intermountain basin. We can clearly see the Danube forcing a bend around Szent Mihály-hegy and most of the Visegrád Hills from the north. Descending downhill, we find ourselves immediately at the big meadow junction. Following the Z▲ new branch, the landscape from the twin peak is amazing: wooded rolling hills stretch towards the Danube, opposite the eastern part of the Visegrád Hills peeks out from behind Sós-hegy.

Sós-hegy

We cross a pleasant, groved pasture and in another section of our roller-coaster climb up to the southern heights of the twin-peaked Sós-hegy. The hills of Börzsönyalja preserve the memory of former eruption centers' lava domes in their shapes, though their original states have been significantly altered. It is hard to choose which is the "most beautiful sibling," but Sós-hegy is a likely contender. Its southern, sunlit slope offers the panorama seen earlier, spanning from Mátra to Gerecse. The southwestern tip of Börzsöny also unveils, dominated by the two-branched summit of Nagy-Galla. Where the Danube enters its gorge between the Helembai and Visegrád mountains, the imposing silhouette of the Esztergom Basilica appears in front of the water mirror. The bare mountaintop is the result of human intervention: after forest harvesting, pasture and mowing spread here, so the soil’s slow erosion proceeds unhindered (the base rock even emerges in places). The forest has not been able to recolonize; human management is still used to try to stop the process.

Kopasz-hegy

After the Sós-hegy serpentine, a longer forest march follows compared to before, but this also doesn’t last more than 20 minutes. Finally, a thigh-breaking but mandatory climb twists over the shoulder of Kopasz-hegy. We cross to the other side of the neck behind the peak and stepping over a rock, it feels like we reach above the forest limit: the path traverses sharply descending grassy, rocky outcrops, with a cross visible on the summit ahead. To the left, beyond the forest of the Kóspallag basin hills stretches the plain of the Great Plain. The mining-ravaged Naszály also appears. We get an unparalleled west-east view of the Visegrád Hills; on our side rises the back of Szent Mihály-hegy. To the right, the Pilis-tető lookout can be spotted, further west stand the isolated blocks of Gerecse. Far to the right rises Nagy-Galla beyond the Bezina valley; looking back, we see the Szent Orbán Hotel building among the woods. Even the Hollókő ridge appears in the north. The small basin of Márianosztra deepens right under us, with the summit dropping sharply towards the settlement. The rocky outcrop path leading to the cross is also responsible for Kopasz-hegy’s lasting atmosphere: the rocky protrusion bordered by grass on the narrow ridge creates an alpine feel with a little imagination.

The southern side is very steep, but we can cautiously attempt to descend directly. Returning to the Z trail, it's only 2 kilometers to the outskirts of Márianosztra. The Sarok meadow bids farewell to the forest; from there, we walk among the village houses to the bus stop.