Budapest (Hungary) 2014

Velonutter

Being half Hungarian and having two sisters in Budapest I decided to organise a trip for seven of us to Budapest in May for 6 days riding, not touring as we intend to stay in the heart of Budapest for our entire stay.

I've asked my sisters but they might not be able to help as their English isn't brilliant and I don't speak Hungarian , has anyone any ideas of areas with an average day of 50-80 miles round trip that we should make sure we visit.

On one of the days I'm hoping that the seven of us can grab a train to Lake Balaton and ride around the lake as in summer it is truly beautiful, but I'm not sure of the regulations for bikes on Trains.

Any advice that anyone can give would be appreciated. I've been a couple of times as a tourist but never as a cyclist and it looks so beautiful.

BTW 7 Days/6 Nights in an apartment with flights airport taxis all in came to £275 each, bloody amazing for that length of time in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.

chieflordy

I have had a quick word with my wife for you (who is Hungarian),

Some info here about bikes on trains, http://www.mav-start.hu/kerekpar/index.php, my wife says that is says yes, you can take bikes on the train to Balaton, you have to buy an special ticket which costs about a pound.

In terms of routes, she has found this website with some on:
http://www.holkerekparozzak.hu/index.ph ... &Itemid=38

Other than those from my regular visits (without bike), the Danube bend heading north out of Budapest is spectacular and well worth a trip. As well as Balaton Velence lake is worth a visit too, a smaller less developed version and about half the distance from Budapest so more feasible for a day's cycling with no train journey, not sure about the roads you would have to take out of Budapest though, some of them wouldn't be too pleasant on a bike.

Any others questions/ translations needed drop me a pm and I'll ask the wife for you.

Velonutter

Cheers Chieflordy,

It's a long story but after my dad died I discovered that I originally had 3 sisters in Budapest (one has died), the other two are wonderful people and we communicate quite well, but I don't want to push them too far, so will give a good look at your links. The link http://www.holkerekparozzak.hu/index.ph ... &Itemid=38 looks particularly good

Appreciate your help, many thanks.

Bodhbh

An obvious one would be up to Esztergom via the Danube Cycle path and maybe back again over the tops via the roads. The path is rough in spots heading out of Budapest, but I saw some folks on recumbents manage it.

Lake Balaton must be 120-130miles around? - at least a couple of days riding at touring pace?

The A-roads over there can be pretty awful with v heavy traffic and no room to pass, I had to bail out a couple of times. I'd just bear it on mind when route planning.

Velonutter

Bodhbh wrote:

An obvious one would be up to Esztergom via the Danube Cycle path and maybe back again over the tops via the roads. The path is rough in spots heading out of Budapest, but I saw some folks on recumbents manage it.

Lake Balaton must be 120-130miles around? - at least a couple of days riding at touring pace?

The A-roads over there can be pretty awful with v heavy traffic and no room to pass, I had to bail out a couple of times. I'd just bear it on mind when route planning.

Cheers Bod, but we are going to be on road bikes and I think the cycle path maybe a bit sedate for us.

I've only been going on what my sisters said about Lake Balaton being about 110kms round, 120-130 is more than we want to be doing in a day.

Has anyone got any tcx or gpx files that I can have a look at and load?

chieflordy

There is a sportive around Balaton at the end of May

http://www.tourdepelso.hu/index.php/en/ ... thon-200km

Also of interest might be a map of the short course, 76km including a short ferry crossing. That might make a good route for you

http://www.tourdepelso.hu/images/utvona ... g_76km.pdf

Bodhbh

Velonutter wrote:

Cheers Bod, but we are going to be on road bikes and I think the cycle path maybe a bit sedate for us.

After I posted, it did occur to me as well that routes going in and out of Budapest might not be that much fun, especially in a group. As usual with cities that sizes there's a fair amount of sprawl to clear. The night before heading into Budapest, I camped only 25miles up the Danube but still didn't reach the hostel till early-afternoon the next day. I think your plan to use the trains and get out in the country is a good one.