Why this ride
487 km from Hortobágy to Hortobágy, about 9 h 01 of riding. It goes by way of Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc, Rákóczi Wine Cellar, Tokaj Wine Region and Gomboshegyi Cellars. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta and Gomboshegyi Cellars
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 487 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 9 h 01
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta
The Hortobágy is Hungary's great grassland, the puszta, a flat, wide, open plain in the east of the country, and it is unlike anything else in central Europe. Nearly eight hundred square kilometres of it is protected as a national park, which was the first in Hungary, and it is on the World Heritage list too. What you see from the road is grass, sky, horizon, and then, if the light is right, something odd shimmering on the horizon, which locals will tell you is the fata morgana, a mirage that has fooled travellers for centuries.
Read the complete Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta is where the day begins. Next is Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc.
2. Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc
Some wine regions are famous for a grape. Tokaj is famous for rot. Here in north-eastern Hungary, where the volcanic Zemplén hills meet the Great Plain and the Bodrog flows into the Tisza, autumn mists from the rivers encourage noble rot on the grapes, shrivelling them and concentrating their sugar. The berries, picked one by one, become aszú, and the sweet wine made from them has been celebrated for centuries. A line attributed to Louis XIV calls it the wine of kings and the king of wines.
Read the complete Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc comes up about 130 km into the recorded legs. Next is Rákóczi Wine Cellar.
3. Rákóczi Wine Cellar
Sárospatak is an old town on the Bodrog river, right where the foothills of the Zemplén range run out into the plain, and in Hungarian history it carries more weight than its size suggests. It was a seat of the Rákóczi family, and the castle in town was one of their strongholds in the long wars against the Habsburgs. Local tradition also claims it as the birthplace of Saint Elisabeth of Hungary, in 1207, and the Reformed College here, founded in the sixteenth century, once counted the Czech educator Comenius among its teachers. Not bad for a small place at the edge of the map.
Read the complete Rákóczi Wine Cellar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 170 km into the recorded legs you reach Rákóczi Wine Cellar. Next is Tokaj Wine Region.
4. Tokaj Wine Region
Tokaj is the place where the world's first classified wine region was drawn on a map, in 1737, long before Burgundy or Bordeaux got round to the idea. The wine country of Tokaj-Hegyalja lies in the far north-east of Hungary, where the Zemplén hills, old volcanoes worn down into rounded cones, fall away to the plain at the meeting of the Tisza and Bodrog rivers. Tarcal and Tokaj sit at the foot of the slope, and the vines climb the south-facing hills above them, in a patchwork of terraces, stone walls and small plots.
Read the complete Tokaj Wine Region write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tokaj Wine Region, about halfway. Next is Gomboshegyi Cellars.
5. Gomboshegyi Cellars
Between the Bodrog and the first folds of the Zemplén hills, Sárospatak is a town you ride into slowly, because the streets are cobbled, narrow and full of people who are in no hurry. The Gomboshegy cellars lie barely a kilometre from the centre, on the slope where the vineyards begin, and that closeness is what I like about them: the wine is not a trip out into some remote estate, it is a few minutes from the bakery. Furmint and Hárslevelű are the grapes you will hear named, the two workhorses of the Tokaj region, and they make everything from dry whites with a flinty edge to the legendary sweet Aszú.
Read the complete Gomboshegyi Cellars write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gomboshegyi Cellars sits at 189 km, about halfway. Next is back through Tokaj Wine Region.
6. back through Tokaj Wine Region
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tokaj Wine Region write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tokaj Wine Region comes up about 274 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Rákóczi Wine Cellar.
7. back through Rákóczi Wine Cellar
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rákóczi Wine Cellar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 316 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Rákóczi Wine Cellar. Next is back through Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc.
8. back through Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc, late in the day. Next is Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta.
9. Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 487 km.
Leg by leg
Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta to Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc
Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta → Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc is 130 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc to Rákóczi Wine Cellar
Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc → Rákóczi Wine Cellar is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rákóczi Wine Cellar to Tokaj Wine Region
Rákóczi Wine Cellar → Tokaj Wine Region is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tokaj Wine Region to Gomboshegyi Cellars
Tokaj Wine Region → Gomboshegyi Cellars is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gomboshegyi Cellars to back through Tokaj Wine Region
Gomboshegyi Cellars → back through Tokaj Wine Region is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tokaj Wine Region to back through Rákóczi Wine Cellar
back through Tokaj Wine Region → back through Rákóczi Wine Cellar is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rákóczi Wine Cellar to back through Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc
back through Rákóczi Wine Cellar → back through Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc to Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta
back through Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc → Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta is 131 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.