A winding path in uphill Pilisszentiván just outside Budapest, the Jági nature trail provides a revitalising hike as it's an easy, shortish jaunt of some 4km, with steep sections to tackle, too. On offer are an attractive diversity of wildlife, beautiful panoramas, a romantic forest, a wooden bridge over deep ditch and a long natural tunnel of shrubs and bushes. All in all, you couldn’t choose a more sobering activity after a night out in town.
The Jági study trail is a round trip, which means that you arrive at the same spot where you started: next to the football pitch at the edge of Pilisszentiván. A small eatery here, the Villa Negra, is often referred to as a start and end point. Looking straight at it, the hike will start to your left and then you will come back from the right.
Count on this taking an half an hour, but if you're with the kids or the dog, you may want to stop and marvel
at the landscape, so you can safely calculate two hours or more.
The easiest way
to get here is by car – there's plenty of parking space by the football
pitch – but public transport is pretty straightforward. Volán bus 830 sets from Árpád híd station and stops at Szabadság út 126. From there, follow the red crosses for 15 minutes to reach the football pitch and the Villa Negra.
Once you're here, you shouldn't get lost. The Jági nature trail is part of the Duna-Ipoly National Park and a dense proliferation of signs indicates the path, pointing you in the right direction. Green linden leaves in the shape of spades in cards show the many intersections and turns along the trail.
You may find yourself in the middle of a dense forest, where smaller or larger stones stick out from the undergrowth, but if you need to know more about what's around you, the Jági trail is lined with ten stops marked by an information board, presenting salient detail in Hungarian.
There used to be excavations here, as more than 2,000 years ago there was a settlement on this site inhabited by Eravasci, a Celtic-Illyrian folk who lived from the land. Whereas these days you come to relax away from civilisation, delving into the sounds of nature, here was once vibrant village life.
Arriving at Lake
Jág, which now reminds you of a dried-up puddle, you find out how the
trail and the lake got its name.
The area was once inhabited by Swabians, and the word Jági comes from the local
dialect, equivalent of the German Jäger or ‘hunter’.
As well as the nature trail and the lake, there's also a meadow,
a stream and a ditch of the same name in the area.
Continuing from the ditch, don't miss the romantic wooden bridge in the middle of the trail, which passes over Aranyhegy stream, now dried up. Not far from here, you will find the peak of the Jági path, with beautiful views of the surrounding hills – an information board tells you exactly which is which.
The Jági study trail won’t tire you out too much, but in certain situations, that’s more than enough. If you come with the family or younger children,
the hike is recommended, as the path is safe and fully pram-friendly all the
way along.
If it rains, it might be a good idea to wait until
the trail dries, because it can get pretty muddy. But that’s pretty much the only downside – upsides include this being a delightful destination for a romantic rendezvous.
