Cycling Budapest to Krakow
550km in 8 days of cycling, Early April 2019
On the famous Széchenyi Chain Bridge over the river Danube, which separates the city in Buda and Pest on the western and eastern sides of the river.
This journey was much more of a holiday than usual, mainly because I was with a friend. Camping in snow didn’t really appeal and we wanted time to relax and explore, so we used Airbnb and cheap hotels. Most of our evening meals were eaten out, apart from a few times when we cooked. Lunch was mainly bread and cheese by the side of the road, or a bus shelter if it was raining.
Below is a day by day run through of the trip, it was a fabulous route and if you have a spare couple of weeks I would highly recommend it. We took days off in Budapest, Liptovský Mikulás, Vysoké Tatry and Kraków. Having never been to Slovakia before I was bowled away by the immense wealth of natural features; Poľana mountain range, the high and low Tatras and the Štiavnica mountains were beautiful.
The entire route was planned using the app Komoot, which took us off the main roads and onto smaller more interesting roads.
Day 1 of cycling- budapest to Štúrovo.
65km. 560m ASCENT. 560m descent.
This was probably one of the uglier days of the ride. Originally we had thought ourselves incredibly lucky to be able to follow a bike path out of Budapest all the way to Szentendre, but it turned out that the bike path didn’t really follow the river and more hugged the side of major roads. It wasn’t quite as picturesque as we had envisioned. The 16km gradual uphill was exciting though, having started the day at around 100m above sea level, we came out at 520m, from which it was an awesome 10km downhill all the way to Esztergom.
Esztergom is the seat of the Hungarian Catholic Church and has a basilica which is the 3rd largest church in Europe and the largest church in Hungary. It was pretty impressive, all lit up high on a hill over looking the town. We sat in a local bar outside, had a beer and watched the world go by. We then cycled over the Mária Valéria Bridge and into Štúrovo in Slovakia! We were pretty happy with our £30 a night Airbnb flat and promptly went into town to get dinner. It was absolutely dead, we only just made it to the supermarket before shutting and ate in the only restaurant that was open, bonus though the beer was very cheap!
Sleeveless shirt in early April, we got pretty lucky with the weather! The cobbled streets of Banská Štiavnica proved for an interesting ride down into the town.
day 2 of cycling. Štúrovo to Banská Štiavnica.
100km. 1090km uphill. 580km descent.
This was the longest day but also one of the prettiest. For the first 75km we cycled through villages on tiny roads, hugging the Slovakian-Hungarian border. Then began an 18km hill climb through the Štiavnica Mountains before a short sharp 3km descent into the charming town of Banská Štiavnica, which was named a UNESCO world heritage site in 1993. The entire mountain range is remnant of an ancient collapsed volcano and as such is rich in minerals, in particular silver, the mining of which dates back to the bronze age. As a result of such mineral wealth the town grew prosperous and as such has some of the most beautiful intact gothic and renaissance buildings in Slovakia.
DAY 3 OF CYCLING. Banská Štiavnica TO Čerín.
50KM. 330M UPHILL. 500M DesCENT.
From our starting point at 585m we had a small uphill to 633m, before the most amazing 18km downhill. We took road 51 all the way down to the valley floor and the river Hron, then small backroads skirting round the E58 into Zvolen. Zvolen wasn’t a particularly nice town, but it had a big supermarket which we used to stock up on supplies for that evenings dinner and the next days lunch. We were staying with an Airbnb host that evening in the village of Čerín, on the outskirts of Pol’ana Biosphere Reserve, and wouldn’t be able to get food elsewhere until evening the next day.
Out of Zvolen we took a bike path which was being heavily used by people on roller skates, to the town of Sliac and then smaller roads gradually gaining 150m height before a short descent into the village itself.
day 4 of cycling. Čerín to Brezno.
51km. 1020m UPHILL. 910m DESCENT.
Meandering through the valley from Ponická Huta to Strelniky.
Although just 51km of cycling, this route ended up taking the whole day. Two hill climbs, unpaved surfaces and snow on the track meant it took a lot longer than expected, but it was also a huge amount of fun!
A tourist map of the biking routes in lower Pol’ana biosphere reserve. We cycled through Ponická Huta, Strelniky and Osrblie to get to Brezno.
We started out by cycling from Čerín to the village of Ponická Huta just 7km away. From here the road turned to dirt for 10km as we slowly ascended 150m through coniferous forest to Strelníky. A small village in which absolutely nothing was open and the only living thing was a rather attention starved cat.
From Strelniky we began climbing again, this time 450m ascent in 6km. The track worsened and we soon reached sections of 16% incline. At around 1000m we reached ankle deep snow and ended up pushing our bikes, it was worth it though for the 16km brake screeching descent past the towns of Osrblie and Hronec. A final 5km on the main road brought us into Brezno, a town with an attractive main square.
The track downhill from the top of the 1078m pass.
Pushing the bikes through snow at the highest part of the track!
We definitely couldn’t cycle through this :)
Day 5 of cycling. Brezno to Liptovský Mikuláš.
55km. 1040km UPHILL. 950M DESCENT.
Another interesting day, we wanted to avoid the main roads and therefore started by taking little tracks out of Brezno. This resulted in us pushing our bikes through bushes and cycling down the sides of out of season ski slopes! We stopped mid morning at Dedečkova chata restaurant to discuss our progress. We had managed about 6km in 1 1/2 hours. Ridiculous! At one point earlier in the morning we had seriously considered trying to cycle over Chopok mountain in the Lower Tatras (about 2000m high) but with our current progress it was out the question. We decided to take road 72 all the way to Liptovský Hrádok and then road 18 to Liptovský Mikuláš.
This was a much better idea, we still had the highest point yet to reach on the journey, 1219m on road 72, it was a beautiful 620m climb over 14km. I was crazily slow at this point, almost embarrassingly slow, but it meant my friend got a nice break at the top in the freezing cold. The descent, whilst fun, also then led us to road 18, which was busy and no where near as nice as the other places we had cycled. Still, we arrived in Liptovský Mikuláš, checked into our Airbnb with a very noisy dog and then went off to explore. The next day was a rest day, it mainly involved wandering through farmers fields, drinking in local gyms and accidentally breaking into peoples back gardens (don’t ask).
Great beginning, nice track out of Brezno.
Obviously gone the wrong way at this point. Cue 6km in 1 1/2 hours.
Cycling down the ski lifts, again clearly having gone the wrong way.
day 6 of cycling. Liptovský Mikuláš to Vysoké Tatry.
65km. 890 uphill. 470 descent.
Looking out towards the high Tatras mountains with Štrba village in the foreground.
One of the most beautiful days of the entire ride and relatively easy! Following the 18 back to the junction with the 72 we headed for Kráľova Lehota village. From here we could follow much smaller roads east along the course of the Čierny Váh river and the huge reservoir named after it. It was a super pleasant ride, up and down with hardly any traffic and gorgeous forest either side. We started to descend slightly into the valley which the E50 snakes along and had the most gorgeous views of the High Tatras mountains up ahead. It was spectacular and worth every peddle stroke so far. The next 18km took us up the lower slopes of the high Tatras and onto the 537, which led us all the way into Vysoké Tatry.
Day 7 Vysoké Tatry to Słopnice (Slopnice) poland.
100km. 1120m uphill. 1640m descent.
The 100km route, we probably could have designed a nicer route through Poland but unfortunately time didn’t allow us.
Our longest day in a while, and with a fair amount of ascent and descent too! The first 15km along the 537 were fab, followed by 9km of cycleway along the 66 towards Spišská Belá. We then went off route a little, pushing our bikes across the river Biela and coming out in the village of Slovenská Ves. From here we took the 542 all the way to the polish border. 7km of climbing from Slovenská Ves took us to our highest point of the day 960m and from there we had a 20km 500m descent all the way to Sromowce Wyżne just over the border.
Pushing our bikes across the river Biela.
We were in Poland! A short climb introduced us to the country and we whizzed through villages for the first 7km. From here to Słopnice was a bit miserable though, we took the 969 all the way to Zabrzeż which was busy, wet and cold. By the time we reached the 968 west of Zabrzeż, we were grateful, it meant we were coming to the end of the day. Through Kamienica we went and from there it was just 14km north to Słopnice, and one final hill climb. Tired, wet and hungry this hill climb, although just 300m ascent, was seriously hard work. Just after Zalesie, when I thought it was over, came the steepest section and it started to snow. Finally, 8km of descent later we arrived at our hotel, grateful for a bed for the night and a kitchen to cook in.
day 8. Słopnice (Slopnice) poland to Kraków.
65km. 620m uphill. 840m descent.
The bikes all ready to go home!
The final day and it was 2 degrees and snowing! We followed our route on Komoot for the first 23km, on tiny roads through small villages, but it involved stopping and staring at phone screens a lot. 2 hours later, with frozen hands and an average speed of around 11km/h, we gave up and headed onto the 966 which would lead us all the way into Wieliczka, a town just 15km out of Kraków. It sucked quite a lot, the road was busy, it was cold and wet and we just wanted to be in the warm. So at Wieliczka we treated ourselves to coffee and cake in a cafe, and a couple of hours later we left, much drier and happier than before. The cycle into Kraków was no where near as bad as expected and we smiled as we cycled across the Vistula river and into the city. And then that was it, after 550km and nearly 6700m of ascent we had arrived!
We celebrated that evening with a nice meal, and the next day we set about trying to find the various bits and bobs we needed to put the bikes on the plane home. Bikegaraż on Kościelna 3, 30-034 kindly gave us the boxes and after a ridiculous wander round the city we finally managed to find parcel tape. Then after 13 awesome days we were off home, a cheap 20 minute taxi brought us to the airport and 2 hours later it was all over.