Hiking and caving

Touring in Hungary – the forerunner of modern hiking and recreation – goes back to the second half of the 19th century and it was typical in the region of the High Tatras. The Hungarian Kárpát Association was the pioneering organization of hiking in Hungary, which came into being in 1873. It was the Hungarian Tourism Association (1891) that set the goal of popularizing this activity nationwide. From this period onwards several touring clubs were brought into existence within the framework of other sporting clubs. As a result, active tourism involved masses of people and it became an increasingly popular leisure time activity. 

Hiking clubs have been able to preserve their original goals, namely, sports, recreation and learning, up to now. Today there are 250 clubs and nearly 12,000 registered members in the Hungarian Hiking Association, the coordinator of different kinds of hiking. This Association is also active in other kinds of sports, including cycling, water sports, tour skiing, mountaineering and caving. Hiking is not restricted to club members. By data of a questionnaire,  73% of adult people and 78% of the young people would choose hiking as their favourite pastime when travelling. (Dobay B. – Bánhidi M. 2009).

The most popular destinations of hikers in Hungary are the country’s mountains of medium height. By Michalkó G. (2011) if Hungarians would choose hiking as a weekend programme in the autumn, 38.7% would go to the Mátra hills, 15.6% to the Bükk, 6.7% to the Mecsek, 5.8% to the Bakony, 2.1% to the Börzsöny and 1.8% to the Pilis region.  

In addition to the physical activity, occasionally these hikes are also used to commemorate famous events or people, to get certain awards or badges and to get acquainted with the country’s beautiful places and culture. The best known hike is the National Blue Trail which was launched as early as 1938. This trail, together with Pál Rockenbauer’s Southern Transdanubian Blue Trail and the Blue Trail of the Great Plain covers the whole area of the country.  In addition, there are many thematic trails as well, which are related to the names of historical persons or, the great figures a Hungarian literature. These trails also include famous castles, palaces, well known buildings and nature’s rarities.  One of the previously mentioned routes is the so-called Rákóczi Trail, introducing castles, estates,and settlements of Zemplén, all of which go back to the time of the great Prince. Other popular trails include the Móricz Zsigmond Trail (Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County), the Palóc Route of Nógrád and Heves counties, the St. Emerich and St. Martin Trails of Vas and Zala counties, the Rómer Flóris Memorial Trail in the Bakony region, the Foundrymen’s Route in the vicinity of Salgótarján-Ózd-Diósgyőr, or the Kinizsi Test in Performance trail.

Hiking and caving are often interrelated. In Hungary there are about four thousand caves, most of which are located in the karstic regions of Aggtelek and Bükk. Hungary’s caves are protected, but many of them can be visited when accompanied by a professional guide. 

Caving is a real sports experience when it means hiking in an already explored but not yet built up parts of a cave system. Cavers have to struggle though narrow holes and gorges; in addition, underground streams and lakes also mean a challenge for them. Cave tours are of varying difficulties. Some of them are easy (e.g. the long tour of the Baradla cave) while others are more difficult, e.g. the Meteor cave. In most cases cavers get the necessary equipment from the tour organizers. Well known tours are organized to the cave system of Pálvölgy, the Ördögluk of Solymár, the caves of Mátyás-hegy and Sátorkőpuszta.