After the Debrecen Marathon: Hortobágy
The Route: Debrecen → Hortobágy → Debrecen Logistics: Car, tour or a regional train. About 40 minutes by road each way. Trains are less frequent than the road makes it seem, so check the timetable before relying on one. Marathon Month: April Duration: Day trip
Debrecen ──(approx. 40 mins by car, or regional train: check MÁV)──> Hortobágy village
▲ │
└────────────────────(same route back, same day)───────────────────────┘
The Debrecen Marathon is on a Sunday in early April, and the visitor centre at Hortobágy is closed on Mondays, so this is a Tuesday trip. Monday is for sitting down. By Tuesday the legs will manage a flat walk of a couple of kilometres, which is all that Hortobágy asks of them.
April on the puszta is early spring. The grass is only starting to come through, the days are cool and the wind has nothing to stop it. Bring a windproof layer. Autumn is the season for the cranes that gather here in their thousands; in April the show is smaller, mostly migrating wading birds on the fish ponds and the livestock coming out after winter. Do not expect either at full strength, and check what the national park is advertising for the week.
Hortobágy is a small village on one of the largest natural grasslands in Europe, about 40 km west of Debrecen. The land is a flood plain of the Tisza that has been grazed, not ploughed, for centuries, and it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1999 as a cultural landscape. Hungary's first national park was created here in 1973. The point is the flatness: from the edge of the village the horizon is a straight line in nearly every direction.
By car, take the road west from Debrecen and leave a margin for the stops. Regional trains between Debrecen and Hortobágy run, but not frequently, so plan the day around a timetable you have checked at mavcsoport.hu before leaving, and note the last return. Several Debrecen operators run puszta tours that include transport, which solves the problem of both driving and waiting for a train.
The village on foot
The recovery walk is the road past the old stone bridge. The Nine-Arch Bridge, built in the 1830s over the Hortobágy river, is about 167 metres long and is the longest stone bridge in Hungary. The footpath is flat and sealed, the walk from the village centre to the bridge and back is around 2 km, and there are no steps. Stand on it with the river below and you will see why this was the main road of the plain for a century.
The national park visitor centre is at Petőfi tér 9. In spring it is open on weekdays from 08:00 to 16:00 and at weekends from 09:00 to 16:00, and closed on Mondays. Confirm the hours for the week you travel. It explains the landscape and the grazing system, and has seats.
Next door is the Hortobágyi Csárda, the roadside inn that has served travellers since the 18th century and now serves them in a rather grand dining room. Most visitors come for the Hortobágy pancake, a thin pancake filled with minced meat in a paprika cream sauce. It is heavy and salty and suits a runner two days after a marathon.
The livestock are the other draw. The grey cattle with long horns, the curly-haired racka sheep and the Nonius horses are all kept here, and the herds go out as the grass comes up. In April you may see them on the grazing land from the road.
Where to stay
This is a day trip. Debrecen is the base, and hotels there are covered on the race page, including options in the Nagyerdő district and in the centre. If you want to stay on the plain, ask the visitor centre for the accommodation list, because small guesthouses in Hortobágy village are the only real choice and book up on weekends in the high season.
Getting back to Debrecen
Return by the same route. Check the last train before leaving the village if you came by rail, because one missed connection costs a long wait. By car, allow 40 minutes to the centre. Debrecen Airport (DEB) is on the south-east side of the city, a short taxi ride from most hotels.