Why this ride
A 381 km round trip from Hortobágy - roughly 5 h 57 in the saddle. It goes by way of Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc, Oremus Cellars, Tokaj Wine Region and Tolcsva Wine Museum Cellars. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta and Tolcsva Wine Museum Cellars
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 381 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 57
- 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 Oremus Cellars.
3. Oremus Cellars
Tolcsva is a quiet village in the Tokaj wine region of northeastern Hungary, on the slopes of the Zemplén hills above the Bodrog river. The Oremus cellars here are among the most famous in the region: a network of tunnels cut into the volcanic rock over centuries, their walls black with the noble mould that thrives in the damp, steady cold. The estate has been owned since the 1990s by the family behind Vega Sicilia, one of Spain's most celebrated wineries, and it has become a showcase for the revival of Tokaji after the communist decades.
Read the complete Oremus Cellars write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 148 km into the recorded legs you reach Oremus Cellars. 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 Tolcsva Wine Museum Cellars.
5. Tolcsva Wine Museum Cellars
Under the village of Tolcsva, in the foothills of the Zemplén mountains, there are wine cellars cut into volcanic rock. The Tokaj region in the north-east corner of Hungary is one of the oldest wine landscapes in Europe, and UNESCO listed it in 2002 as the Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape. The soil is volcanic, the hills are covered in vines, and the villages are full of cellars that run deep into the soft tuff. The temperature underground stays cool and constant, which is exactly what sweet wine needs.
Read the complete Tolcsva Wine Museum Cellars write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tolcsva Wine Museum Cellars sits at 146 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 210 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Oremus Cellars.
7. back through Oremus Cellars
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Oremus Cellars write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 230 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Oremus Cellars. 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 381 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 Oremus Cellars
Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc → Oremus Cellars is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Oremus Cellars to Tokaj Wine Region
Oremus Cellars → Tokaj Wine Region is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tokaj Wine Region to Tolcsva Wine Museum Cellars
Tokaj Wine Region → Tolcsva Wine Museum Cellars is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tolcsva Wine Museum Cellars to back through Tokaj Wine Region
Tolcsva Wine Museum Cellars → back through Tokaj Wine Region is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tokaj Wine Region to back through Oremus Cellars
back through Tokaj Wine Region → back through Oremus Cellars is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Oremus Cellars to back through Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc
back through Oremus Cellars → back through Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landsc is 21 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.