Article Hungary’s Blue Trail

The Hungarian Blue Trail, the country’s best-known hiking path, connects northern Hungary’s natural and historical treasures, including the larger mountains, Lake Balaton, and the capital. It provides special experiences in every season and unparalleled variety to adventurous hikers.

The idea of creating unified tourist signage took shape in 1930, when the direction and the two endpoints of the trail, Hollóháza and Írott-kő, were chosen. The Hungarian Blue Trail was officially inaugurated in 1938, on the 900th anniversary of the death of Saint Stephen, with a commemorative jubilee hike. Establishing this national trail produced a tourist attraction that includes the majority of Hungary’s natural and historical assets and appeals to visitors from all over the world.

The trail can be hiked in any season, either end-to-end or in part. It extends 1,171 kilometers across the northern part of the country and is divided into 27 sections. Hikers should be aware that altogether they will face 31,000 meters of elevation along the way! This may seem like a huge challenge, but more than 7,000 hikers have successfully completed the Hungarian Blue Trail.

The most beautiful section of the trail is perhaps in the Balaton Uplands, where it connects Badacsonytördemic and Nagyvázsony in a 45-kilometer stretch. Along the way, hikers are greeted by magnificent landscapes. From Badacsony, the view of the turquoise water of the lake is a sight to behold, as are the panoramas from the lookout towers on the plateau. Wandering beside the grapevines, you will come across Csobánc Hill and the castle ruins. The view certainly makes up for the tiring path leading to it. The section then proceeds towards the Sea of Stones, the ruins of the Veléte Palace, and the Kinizsi Castle of Nagyvázsony before passing through the charming villages of the Káli Basin.

Section 10 of the national hiking trail takes you to the greenwood of Vértes. The area attracts visitors with rich and diverse flora and fauna, medieval castles and historic settlements. This section is easy to complete as the path is not as rough terrain as it may seem at first sight. It crosses the vast forests of the landscape protection region, which is also home to several castle ruins, including Csókakő, Gesztesi, and Vitány Castles. There are only a few lookout towers along this section of the trail, but hikers are greeted in turn by vast beech forests, steep valleys and the endless stillness of the forest.

If you decide to hike the entire Blue Trail or even a portion of it, we recommend that you obtain the Hungarian Blue Trail Roadmap and Checkpoint Booklet so that you can collect all the stamps for each section. Along the trail, you can collect stamps from 152 designated checkpoints to validate that you have completed the sections.