Hortobágy

August 2024 - On my Birthday we started with a tour in Baradla Cave, drove to Tokay and finally reached Hortobagy on late evening. Although most of the WHS is just Puszta, Hortobagy offers a few extras.
 Just next to the Nine Hole Bridge there is a wonderful restaurant (Hortobágyi Csárda) with local traditional meat dishes. It was a perfect spot to quit the day. For the Sunset it is best to walk the bikepath south of the Nine hole bridge. 
in Hortobagy we could stay overnight with our Camper even with free WLAN.

Next morning we tried to spot some cows and horses.

I visited this WHS in 2022 and didn't have high expectations. However, from the moment I arrived on the never-ending flat terrain to the moment I left, I was positively surprised. Having read Hubert's and Nan's reviews, I made an extra effort to put aside my birdwatching bias, and I tried to focus on also covering the man-made structures which shaped this cultural landscape.

You'll notice you have reached the Hortobagy plains, once wherever you look the sky meets the land on the infinite horizon. The landscape of this romantic region has inspired countless works by celebrated painters and some of the greatest Hungarian poets have sung its praises, a bit like the Tuscan landscape of Val d'Orcia. Especially in spring, gazing at the endless flat panoramas, the breeze will take you by surprise with its scent of sweet chamomile and mint. The only noises are the stamping of hooves, the ringing of cattle bells and perhaps the wafting of birds' wings. The steppe landscape of Hortobagy reminded me of the Saryarka Kazakh steppe landscape on a much lesser scale or the El Rocio horseback landscape near Donana National Park in Spain. However, Hortobagy is a unique example of harmonius interaction between human beings and nature.

The earliest human settlers left their imprint on the landscape in the form of so-called kurgans (kunhalom), or rounded burial mounds visible on the endless horizons. Besides their archaeological and cultural value, these tumuli provide a habitat for vegetation characteristic of the …

Following in Hubert's footsteps and not withstanding his two merciless reviews of the two eastern Hungarian world heritage sites, I combined a visit of Tokaj with a visit of the Puszta, i.e. Hortobagy. Now, in German comparing a place to the Puszta is never a compliment. It evokes flatness and dullness and general boredom. So, even discounting Hubert's review, I wasn't hoping for much.

Interestingly, the Hungarians have marketed the Puszta quite strongly to tourists. Hungary was already a tourist destination for western tourists before the Iron Curtain came down. Visits to the mystical Puszta were then (and still are) popular day trips for visitors to Lake Balaton or Budapest. Just google Puszta Day Trip. You get to see the traditional Hungarians living authentic traditional lives, riding traditional horses, sitting in traditional carriages... A true authentic experience.

To make sense of the Puszta, I think it's worth to go back a bit in history to the founding of Hungary. Hungary forms the western most part of the Eurasian steppe: the Hungarian Plain. The Eurasian steppe was for millennia ruled by horse nomads with wave upon wave entering Europe. There were the Scythians, the Huns, the Goths, the Avars, the Bulgars, the Mongols and many more.

These horse nomads would run into two problems over time. First and immediate, the mountains of central Europe (Carpathians, Alps) were not suited to horse archer warfare. Second, they would lose their edge over time and either the settled people such as …

Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta is a steppe landscape where man has left only temporary structures. Shepherds graze their horses, cows and sheep (species adapted to local conditions) here on the barren land. Fishponds were built in the early 20th century to vary the land use more. The park is also known for its variety of bird species. I had planned to focus mainly on the park’s natural features (though it’s a cultural site on our List) and I even brought a travel guidebook to make the most of it. 

I had 1 full day here (stayed for 2 nights) and focused on Route 1 described in the guidebook. This is an all-day circuit by car, with stops and short walks along the way. Officially you do need a permit to visit any site in the national park that lies off the main road, but since the Visitor Center wasn’t open yet at 8 am when I went out I decided to start without one (in the end I never encountered any controls).

The route first goes eastwards from the town of Hortobagy, on the busy road B33. There you’ll find 3 lookout towers. I climbed 2 of them – they provide wide views over the plains but you actually don't see anything of much interest. Afterward, you turn left off the main road and make a full loop via the northern side of the park. Here too the road is busy at first and there is …

Puszta, a well-known term that is inseparably linked to Hungary. But what can be expected from this WHS? The last remains of an unspoilt cultural landscape with traces of the interaction between man and nature and pretty examples of rural architecture - sounds pretty good? Or flat and vast grasslands that looks the same in every direction, a paradise only for bird watchers - sounds rather dull and boring? To answer right away: it's a bit of both, but for me the boring parts outweigh the interesting impressions.

The village of Hortobágy is the centre of the park, here you find the visitor centre, the best-known csárda (with pretty good food), a shepherd's museum, and the Nine Arch Bridge (looks better on photos than in reality). Hortobágy has various opportunities for accommodation, we stayed for one night and were lucky to get the last available room in the hotel next to the visitor centre. There are also nice examples of vernacular architecture in and around the village and the nearby Mata Stud. The photo shows a farmhouse with an upstanding steep well, the symbol of the Puszta.

Large parts of the WHS are protected and can only be visited with a special permit and a guide, but there are three trails where the National Park is accessible (day tickets at the visitor center). First we went to the fish ponds at Halasto, a large system of artificial ponds that were created about hundred years ago, mainly for carp culture. Today …

My visit to Hortobagy coincided with a fair in the village, to which people from all over Hungary had come. So besides seeing the heart of the National Park, there was also entertainment and traditional handicrafts and food.

However I had come to see the Puzta, so I was directed to Mata, the horse stables to the north of the village. Here I joined a fleet of horse-drawn carts for an inpection tour of the horses, sheep, oxen, water buffalo and grey cattle, all spread out across the grassy plains.

Trains from Eger to Debrecen call at Hortobagy station, situated midway between the village and Mata.

We came to Hortobagy this year on July , only one day because it was on your way to Romania: but we'll come back ; Patkos Csarda Motel is a lovely place; Puszta Camping can be fine too. We love hungary food. And there is such a lot of different birds, even if we dont't stay there during a long time; we spent a good time in a boat on the Tisza Lake and magyar people are so kindly; we can speak english with young people.

I visited Hortobagy last year and stayed there for one week which I see optimal. The tourists come mainly for one day which is nothing - there are too many places to be seen. I would add to the text that there are living unique sorts of animals (e.g. grey cattle) and hundreds of birds species partly living there and partly migrating. I see the last year price of entry pass reasonable. In the village Hortobagy there are 3 hotels of differrent comfort and of course prices, camping and some offers for private accomodation - everybody can choose.