Originally I planned to build an area page about Visegrád Mountains, but due to limited time and energy (plus I want to be outdoors as well...) this aim had to be scaled down. So, apart from a brief introduction of Visegrád Mountains, this page will be devoted to one of its best places: a mountain called Prédikálószék, which also features one of Hungary's most scenic rocky ridge formation, called Vadálló kövek.

Hungarian SP-er fellows are very welcome to join as editors, if they would like to improve the page...

Visegrád Mountains Overview

Visegrád Mountains are a small mountain group in northern Hungary. The geology of the area can be traced back to the triassic period. At that time it was covered by shallow sea, so the oldest rocks are sedimental. Later, in the miocene period, volcanic activity changed the scene, covering the sedimental fundaments with andesitic rocks (only in some gorges are the older layers visible). Despite the fact that geologically Visegrád Mountains are more related to Börzsöny Mountains, topographically they are much harder to be distinguished from the neighbouring Pilis Mountains (the latter did not get volcanic cover and further sedimentation took place, so the key for differentiating is the rock type).

View of Visegrád Mountains

While Visegrád Mountains do not feature any jagged peaks, they provide several scenic places to their visitors, including volcanic gorges (see Rám-szakadék and Holdvilág-árok), nice andesite rock formations (Vadálló-kövek - see below, Zsivány-sziklák, Vasas-szakadék), great lookouts (Dobogókő, Prédikálószék, etc.), as well as the beautiful Danube Bend (Dunakanyar in Hungarian), where the Danube river takes a sharp turn between the mountains. The bend itself is actually based on the U-shaped caldera of an old volcano that ceased to be active about 15 million years ago. The originally 1300-1500 m high volcano was lowered and fractioned by landslides and subsequent geological processes to the remains which are now Visegrád Mountains. The Szent-Mihály-hegy, situated on the north side of the river bend, is the remains of a secondary lava dome.

Szent-Mihály-hegy viewn from the Danube's right bank

Prédikálószék

Prédikálószék (whose name means "pulpit") is one of the highest summits of Visegrád Mountains. Its importance derivates from other reasons, though. For instance, it offers one of the best panoramas in Hungary. Looking north from the summit rock, you have a complete view of the Danube Bend, about 500 meters below. Behind Szent-Mihály-hegy, in the distance, the mountains of Börzsöny can be seen. Towards the east you will notice the scenic castle of Visegrád (an important historic place).

The Danube Bend and Szent-Mihály-hegy viewn form the top of Prédikálószék

A few dozen years ago, the construction of a dam was planned in the Danube bend (at Nagymaros) as part of an international project, in cooperation with the former Czechoslovakia, later Slovakia (upstream the Danube is a border river). As part of the hydroelectric system, an elevated water reservoir was planned to be built on the top of Prédikálószék. Without going into the details of the issue, due to strong civil protest (which also played role in the fall of the political regime) the construction of the dam at Nagymaros was cancelled in 1989 and Prédikálószék was left untouched.

The "north face" of Prédikálószék from the feet of Szent-Mihály-hegy

Vadálló-kövek

Vadálló-kövek viewn from the neighbouring ridge

It's somewhat hard to translate the name of Vadálló-kövek in a few terms - the meaning of the Hungarian expression is "observation rocks of wild animals" - perhaps "sentinel rocks" will do in English. The dozen or so smaller and larger boulders and towers are built up of volcanic conglomerates and were carved to shape by erosion processes. They are located between around 500-600 m altitude.

The majority of the rocks are located on top of the ridge, the most distinct ones have their proper names as well ("throne of Árpád", "upside-down exclamation mark", "suspended rock", "maul", "wide tower", "stump"). There are a few remarkably tall towers in the side of the ridge as well ("monk and nun", "four fingers").

Although not included in the group of Vadálló-kövek, there are a few further rocks of similar kind on the neighbouring ridge towards the south. These offer nice view of the Vadálló-kövek ridge, although there is no marked tourist path leading to them.

The lower part of Vadálló-kövek

Getting There and Camping

Quite easy... Dömös village has frequent bus connection with Budapest. There are buses to Dobogókő as well, starting from Pomáz village (located north of Budapest), but it's much nicer to hike up there from either Pomáz or Pilisszentkereszt.

There is a camping place at Dömös, by the Danube riverbank. At Dobogókő, hikers usually sleep in the Eötvös Lóránd tourist hostel rather than the more fancy hotels.

Eötvös Lóránd hostel

The old hostel, now museum

Routes

Prédikálószék can be approached from two directions:

On the ridge of Vadálló-kövek

Prédikálószék (to the right) viewn from Dobogókő

From the north, start at Dömös village. Follow the signs towards Rám-szakadék (three marked trails begind here: red, yellow and green stripes). After a while you leave the last houses of the village and will have to cross the stream. Soon you will reach a spring, where the trail marked with red triangle towards Vadálló-kövek and Prédikálószék begins, rising above the stream's valley. From here on, the footpath continuously ascends, occasionally in a quite inclined fashion (compared to an "ordinary Hungarian hiking trail"). The terrain gradually changes from forest to rocky surface, finally reaching the bare ridge of Vadálló-kövek. Having left behind this beautiful ridge, the trail returns into the forest, and soon reaches the summit of Prédikálószék.

From the south/east there are several points to start from, probably the most popular is Dobogókő, another fine lookout point, where a century ago only a modest hikers' hut stood, nowadays an often crowded tourist place with bus service, motorcycles, buffets, etc... From here follow the red triangle sign, which leaves Dobogókő towards the east along with the blue stripe (better marked), later departing from it towards the north, descending into a valley, then ascending north-west onto Prédikálószék, doing a semi-circle-shaped route.

Given the vicinity of the Rám gorge, it is a good idea to make a bigger loop starting from Dömös, going up the Rám gorge, stopping by Dobogókő, getting over to Prédikálószék, and descending back to Dömös via the Vadálló-kövek. The hike is about 20 km long and involves about 900 m of total elevation gain/loss - check out this page for a map.

Red Tape

Prédikálószék and Vadálló-kövek are core areas of the Duna-Ipoly National Park, belonging to the strictly protected Biosphere Reserve. Entry to the area is free of charge.

As several rare and threatened plants live especially in the rocky areas, therefore it is essential to keep on marked paths and not to disturb their habitat.

For safety reasons, climbing the towers of Vadálló-kövek is officially not allowed, though the easier ones are often scaled from the trail's side by hikers, for the view and of course, for the glory...

Maps

Pilis, Visegrádi-hegység by Szarvas map (1:30 000)
Pilis, Visegrádi-hegység by Cartographia (1:40 000)

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