Tour Horizont regions: Bakony

The fifth region covered by the 2026 Tour Horizont. This is the 21st and 20th section of the Horizont bicycle tour route.
🚴 Distance: 123,4 km I 🚵 Elevation gain: 1581 m I 💪 Difficulty: 5/10

As an adventure cyclist, you could write an ode to the Bakony. This karstic block mountain range covers nearly 4,000 square kilometers — which, for us, means endless gravel wandering through shady forests. Although the military has unfortunately reclaimed a few legendary routes, there are still plenty of “love tracks” left here, like the perfect selection on a great mixtape. The region is also home to several arboretums, castles, abbeys, ensuring that not only the flora and fauna, but the cultural highlights too, remain wonderfully diverse.

Leaving Veszprém, the family-friendly bike path follows the Séd stream out of town. The first notable sight is the Herend Lion statue standing in the main square of Herend. And just as the lion changes color with the seasons, so does Somló Hill, which can be admired from the plateau leading toward Csehbánya.

Csehbánya has a total of six streets, five of which are called Main Street, but from the edge of the village onward comes a long, probably nameless gravel road. First it climbs up to the Szénpajta rest area — anyone feeling tired, wanting to stay a while, or reconsider their choices can comfortably do so here — and then descends all the way to Bakonybél.

The checkpoint in Bakonybél is impossible to miss: the Saint Maurice Monastery stands right in the center of the village. Under the umbrellas of the cafés and restaurants opposite, most passing cyclists tend to engage in highly secular activities: drinking beer, recharging before continuing, or perhaps even bathing in the well at the crossroads. It is worth seriously considering a proper resupply here, because although the route does not actually climb all the way to the Kőris Hill lookout — the highest point of the Bakony — up until Kisszépalmapuszta it certainly feels like it does.

From here onward, the arboretums become more frequent, coniferous trees begin mixing with the deciduous forests, and the Bakony’s unique microclimate reveals itself even more fully. The cool, humid air of the deeper valleys, the warmth of the sunlit hillsides, and the calming shade of the forests all contribute to the distinctive atmosphere of this landscape. Anyone who has never before wondered whether they might have become an abbot someday may well start considering it in Zirc.

Hopefully, no one on Tour Horizont will reach the point of hallucinations — but if they do, it would be best not to follow Don Quixote’s example, because charging at the windmills of Tés would be a real shame. Though they stand proudly in the landscape, they are far more friendly than threatening.

If somewhere in this region an overwhelming exhaustion overtakes you and you feel the need to restore yourself in an actual bed, you should seriously consider the Greater Hungary Park in Királyszállás. Regardless of what emotions historical themes may stir in us, this place offers an experience unlike almost anything else.

Of course, the route also features several more minimalist resting spots: for example, the ruins of Csikling Castle, hidden beneath carpets of wild garlic and snowdrops in spring and chickweed in summer, are such a charming oddity that the closer you look at them, the less they resemble a castle — though there is at least a bench beside them.

May the guardian angels of adventure cyclists ensure that the Mellár-dűlő near Isztimér sees neither rain nor tractors this year, because it has only two enemies — and those are exactly them. Along the Fehérvárcsurgó reservoir, work goes on in the gardens of tiny weekend cottages while relaxation fills the fishing chairs by the shore. Here the Bakony says its farewell and, after Mór, hands the baton over to the Vértes Mountains.