distance 41 km; travel time 13 hours 00 minutes

Route 17 of the Blue Trail passes through the vast forest area of ​​the romantic High Börzsöny, climbs to its highest peak, but also visits the memorable lookout point of the Danube Bend, the St. Michael's Mountain. Maybe there is no other landscape in Hungary where we find such wild mountain panoramas.

Exploring the High Börzsöny and heading towards the Csóványos lookout tower requires good endurance, as it is only possible with a long walk and by overcoming a serious level difference. Hiking across the mountain requires a long, strenuous walk if you want to get out of the woods in one day.

The cobbled, shabby, colorful streets of Nagymaros give the starting point of our tour, during which we first climb the St. Michael's Mountain.

The Julianus lookout tower offers a breathtaking panorama of the Danube Bend surrounding the mountain. We head to Törökmező to reach the village of Kóspallag on the outskirts of the mountain. Leaving the Kisinóci Tourist House, the real challenge begins: conquering the High Börzsöny. We arrive at Nagy-Hideg Mountain after a long climb. From here, on the edge of the caldera, we head towards the Csóványos in magical forests.

From the lookout tower at the 938-meter peak, we look around from the middle of the mountain and then descend with a long walk to the outskirts. We end our tour at the train station below the castle, in Nógrád.

TIPS

• We can interrupt the tour on Nagy-Hideg Mountain, where we can spend the night in the tourist house and have the special experience of waking up in the middle of the Börzsöny.

• The Kisinóci Tourist House also offers accommodation on the outskirts of Kóspallag.

• It is worth spending an hour and a half on the Castle of Nógrád.

• Equip yourself with food and drink for the tour of Csóványos, because the only place to fill up is the Nagy-Hideg Mountain tourist house.

Section lengths from stamp to stamp (in kilometers)

Nagymaros 10.9 Törökmező tourist house 9.5 Kisinóci tourist house 5.7 Nagy-Hideg Mountain 14.8 Nógrád

Recommended intermediate embarkation and disembarkation points along the route

• Törökmező (near OKTPH_81): Kismaros, Törökmező tourist house entrance road bus stop

• Kóspallag (near OKTPH_82): Kóspallag, Kisinóci tourist house or Kóspallag, church bus stops