Walk in the rock world of the Szádelő Gorge

Itinerary

• From the parking lot located at the edge of Szádelő (Zádiel), follow the P mark along the asphalt road leading through the gorge.
• At the fork at the end of the gorge, continuing straight ahead, make a short detour to the tourist buffet (Zádielská Chata), then return to the fork.
• Turning left, climb the plateau on the K trail and walk along the edge of the gorge.
• From the fork after the second viewpoint, descend back to Szádelő on the trail marked Z/.
• In the village, turn right onto the P trail, which leads back to the parking lot.

Detailed description of the route

Walk under the cliff walls

The rows of houses in Szádelő (Zádiel) stretch as far as the mountains allow, and around the village edge parking, the cliffs already define the landscape. The proximity of the rugged limestone cliffs is preserved even in the name of the settlement: the old Hungarian word "szád" meaning an opening or crevice, in front of which the village lies, explaining the name Szádelő. The wooded educational trail marked with P leads through the valley – which is more accurately called a gorge by its shape – and although a tourist path has existed since 1886, the asphalt road laid in 1928 softened its wild character somewhat. (According to contemporary records, those wishing to cross the canyon earlier had to carry a plank if they did not want to wade through the water. The path was built by the Eastern Carpathians division of the Hungarian Carpathian Association, with the wood for the bridges provided by two counts, including the landowner Dreher Antal.)

The information boards along the trail are also readable in Hungarian, and in the first half of the route you only tread concrete. This allows you to focus on watching the huge rock formations and their "sculptors," the rapids of the Szár stream (also known as Blatnický potok or Chotárny potok). Initially, the valley is wider, then moss-covered limestone rocks appear alongside the bed and asphalt, and the water flows down smaller and larger stone steps. Waterfalls repeatedly appear as small sights, while the rock formations continuously multiply and grow. Here and there, deposits of rock debris cascade down steep slopes in side valleys, and finally, you walk under truly vertical walls. A gigantic, straight limestone tower also stands out: the canyon's jewel, the 105-meter tall Cukorsüveg (Cukrová Homoľa), Slovakia's tallest rock tower. It once belonged to the plateau but was isolated by erosion carving a narrow ridge, eventually completely separating it from its previous surroundings.

We bypass the slender "limestone statue" and cross the narrowest part of the gorge, only a few meters wide. As an 1864 landscape description excellently puts it: "The mountain stream rushing between the rocks constantly chatters, its course marked alternately by rustling, rattling, then pouring sounds, only intermittently overpowered by the wind racing over the peaks with its competing, wild chords."

The rock formations protruding towards the stream, increasingly rugged and fissured, blend into any gorge of the Slovak Paradise, and the stream winding around their ribs also offers a pleasant sight. The valley finally widens, and at a junction, the limestone cliffs disappear completely – from here, take a short detour straight to the tourist buffet. The facility built into the valley crossing, framed by plateau breakoffs, provides an excellent opportunity to recharge at the tour's turning point: if it is open, you can eat and drink before tackling the climb. (Although the building's wall bears the inscription Zádielská chata, meaning "Szádelő tourist house," it is actually only a buffet; the accommodation functioning as a mountain hut is located further away. A tourist house has stood here since the early 20th century, but the fairy-tale log building was destroyed in World War II. Later, the climbing community of Košice mainly frequented the rock world, so in the 1960s they built a new house nearby.)

Panoramas from the cliff edge

Returning to the junction, this time turn left onto the K trail. Leaving the resort, we wind up the Szádelő Plateau (Zádielska planina) on a moderate ascent through windswept beech woods. There, a viewpoint (Na Skale) rewards our efforts: from the mountain ridge clearing, we can admire the rocky world protruding from the gorge walls from above. It really looks like a slice has torn out from the plateau, revealing thick rock grooves without any detour. Naturally, the local legend also draws on this view, recounting horse riders (including King Saint Ladislaus) jumping across the gorge while fleeing. The Cukorsüveg is small but attractive from here, and recalling its appearance from below helps grasp the gorge's dimensions.

Our path then runs parallel to the canyon through the tangled forest and meadow chain of the mountain ridge. The karst depressions (e.g., kettles, sinkholes) make the surface uneven; once covered by continuous forest, the area has been used as pasture after tree cutting. Over a few centuries, the shallow soil layer was destroyed, and the rocky, karst surface is only slowly and hardly reclaimed by shrub forest – which is advancing again as sheep flocks rarely graze in the area. (By the way, the sound of bells is not uncommon on this meadow in summer.) The vegetation is quite varied since the plateau lies on the boundary of the Carpathian and Pannonian floral regions and has a lively micro-relief hiding a mosaic microclimate to which the flora adapts. Here we find alpine asters and early carnations, and among the limestone rocks, the Torna bloodwort grows, which is only found at a few karst points worldwide.

The hiking trail leads again into a mixed, impenetrable tangle of trees and crosses a rampart of an Iron Age fortification. Because of the many protective caves, prehistoric humans also stayed in the area, and the name of King Béla IV also appears in a legend linked to one of the caves – it is certain that the king hunted locally during his reign. Finally, the path leads back to the gorge edge, from where the limestone corridor of the canyon is revealed. The view is stunning: the stream roars from a depth of 300 meters, while sharp rock ribs support the interrupted plateaus opposite. The panorama is especially detailed outside the vegetation season when the folded limestone carpet fully unfolds from its leafy cover – the contours are even more highlighted if a little snow whitens the ridges. In the opposite direction, the Lower Hill rising on the border and the Aggtelek karst are visible beyond the broad plain of Torna, but the shape of the smoothing Upper Hill is equally picturesque at the gorge.

Leaving the edge of the gorge, the trail briefly passes through forest and then meanders among juniper bushes over a stony, karst terrain, arriving at the fork offering the descent option. Turning right, descend along the sunlit, and therefore unpleasantly hot in summer, karst shrub forest serpentine on the Z/ trail. On the rocky terrain steps, the trail is rich with views of Szádelő, the Torna valley, and the neighboring plateaus accompanying us to the mountain foot. On arrival in the village, turn right along the P trail to return to the parking lot, and the bus stop is found to the left.