Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Zsitvay lookout tower
Zsitvay-kilátó • 10am-6pm: May-Oct daily; Nov-April Sat & Sun • 400Ft
Four hundred metres up the road from the Citadel car park, paths radiate from another car
park. One leads up to the
Zsitvaylookouttower
on the top of the highest hill on the Danube
Bend, Nagy-Villám (Great Lightning; 377m), with wonderful views as far as Slovakia.
Bobsleigh
Bobpálya • March Mon-Fri 11am-4pm, Sat & Sun 10am-5pm; April & Sept-Oct Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat &
Sun 10am-6pm; May-Aug Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat & Sun 9am-7pm; Nov-Feb daily 11am-4pm; closed on
rainy days • 450Ft for one run • 26 397 397,
bobozas.hu
Just downhill from the higher car park are two
bobsleigh
runs, where kids of all ages (and
adults) can whizz down a couple of 1km-long chutes on either the summer bobsled or the
Alpine Coaster; note that these may be closed on rainy days, when the sleds' brakes are inef-
fective, so it's best to call ahead.
Fun Extreme Canopy
Canopy pálya • March-Oct Tues-Sun 10am-6pm • 4000Ft • Trips require a minimum of four people, max
twenty; individuals who turn up can be put with a group, but it's wiser to book ahead; ages 12 and over only •
20 661 7873,
canopy.hu
MorethrillingthantheBobsleighisthe
FunExtremeCanopy
,inspiredbythetree-topwalk-
ways in Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest National Park. Eleven platforms, 14m high,
are linked by wires to form an amazing zip-ride through the forest, which takes about forty
minutes to complete, sliding at speeds of up to 50km an hour. Guides, safety harnesses and
helmets are provided; nerve rather than strength is needed. The zip-wire's upper terminus is
by the
Nagyvillám Vendéglő
, on the far side of the car park from the bobsleigh. Riders end
up on a lower hill, Mogyoróhegy, from which they can return by minibus or walk up through
the woods to Nagy-Villám.
The Imre Makovecz buildings
Two hundred metres along from the lower terminus of the Fun Extreme Canopy stand a
couple of iconic wooden buildings by
Imre Makovecz
(1935-2011), the Hungarian guru of
“organic architecture”. After creating the breathtaking crypt at
Farkasréti Cemetery
, he was
branded a troublemaker for his outspoken nationalism and “exiled” to Visegrád's forestry de-
partment, where he acquired a following by teaching summer schools on how to construct
buildings using low-tech methods and materials such as branches and twigs. In the 1980s
he built here a campsite
restaurant
with a roof like a nun's wimple, and the yurt-like, turf-
roofed
Forest Education Centre
(in the centre of town, he also built a
Sports Hall
resem-
bling a Viking church), before being allowed to work elsewhere and given the honour of
designing the Hungarian Pavilion at the 1992 Seville Expo. Though Makovecz's work was
by this point widely acclaimed, his lavish use of wood vexed some environmentalists, and
