Length: 5.7 km (3.54 mi)
Ascent/descent: 164 m (538 ft)
Duration: approx. 2.5 hrs
This is a short and undemanding tour with little elevation, wide forest routes and plenty of rest and picnic spots, so it is highly recommended for families and those who prefer to take it easy.
The hike starts with a short climb up to the Árpád lookout. From here we can enjoy the view looking south on the Buda side – you can easily spot the Gellért Hill with the “skyscraper” of the city behind it, and you can also count several of the bridges (can you name them all?).
After taking some photos, we countinue the trip following the Glück Frigyes walkway, which is a pretty popular route among locals for jogging, biking or just taking a leisurely walk in nature. This path leads us to the lion mentioned in the title: on the side of the road sits a big rock, shaped as guess what… Yes, a lion.
Even though lions and goats are not really amicable in real life, here they live close to each other. Following the walkway, on the right handside, we find the Goat Hill (383 m / 1256 ft). Don’t look for anything goat-shaped though. However, if you can see through the trees, you might catch a glimpse of some rocks that are popular for climbing. Soon the road turns and we can find picnic spots and a playground as well (known as “Bear playground” among locals – can you figure out why?).
Even though we reach our starting point shortly, it is not the end of the tour yet, as we don’t want to miss another spectacular viewpoint, so we carry on to take a look at Apáthy Rock. After exploring some impressive rock formations, we reach the lookout spot with Lipótmező district in front of us. A bit further we can notice some other hills (Hárs Hills and János Hill) with their respective lookout towers on top. We can take a little time for rest and photos here and then finish off our tour with a short walk back to the starting point.
Price: 15000 HUF (~38 EUR) per person. For 5 persons or more: 15% discount for all!
Included:
– Private trail guide for only your group
– One small bottle of still water per person
– Equipment rental on request (hiking poles, snow spikes)
Excluded:
– Transportation
– Food/drinks
Pick up from / drop off to Budapest downtown location: 8000 HUF (~ 20 EUR) for up to 7 persons, round trip.
