Szentendre by bicycle · Szentendre by bicycle
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Szentendre by bicycle
Szentendre by bicycle
Biking to Szentendre makes an enjoyable day trip, at 25 kilometers from downtown Budapest. With a minimum level of traffic, this family-friendly route will take you through a varied mix of environments and terrain, with plenty of interesting stops along the way.
Start your journey by crossing the Szabadság or Chain Bridges, heading north on the Buda-side bike path. This shady path runs nearly the entire length of the river in Budapest, and is a great place for people watching and picture-taking. Keep heading up the river, watching out for sleeping homeless people as you wind through the underpass at Margit Bridge and following the yellow-painted markings of the path. Cruising next to the HÉV tracks, this section takes you past some of the diverse residential areas of Budapest, from cushy and historic uptown Buda to Soviet style housing blocks.
Your first test of navigation will be after going under the Árpád Bridge and suddenly finding the bike path to have disappeared. Take a left, wind through the gates by the bus stop and continue up Tavasz Street, next to the bridge ramp. When you see a giant OTP building, make a right turn onto Polgár Street and cruise through the housing developments until you hit a dead end at Bogdáni Street. Go right, follow the street until you see the graffiti wall on the left, and then continue along the path next to the tracks. Once the graffiti ends you will see a place ahead and to the right to cross the tracks and resume your way along the bike path, which veers away from the tracks and towards the main entranceway of the Sziget Festival Island.
Take a left and ride along the Jégtörő Street path, then a right at the intersection into a few hundred meters of rough but leafy streets, which will spit you out along Keled Street, with the embankment on your left. Follow this for half a click, cut through the car-width tunnel on your left, and continue to the right in the direction of the river. Before you reach it there will be a bridge to cross on your left, which leads to the hottest summer escape within the confines of the city – Római part. Stacked with food stalls, “beaches” and outdoor pubs, this makes an ideal stop for lunch.
Once satiated, return to Nánási Street and continue north. The road name becomes Királyok, and you will follow it for at least 5km before taking on your next big piece of navigation. Street bikers and families should take a left on Hadrianus Street, which will take you up to a busy road crossing and resume the bike path going north all the way into Szentendre. Off-roaders (in spirit and in equipment) can choose to continue straight along Királyok, turning right at a banked canal and following a lovely and twisting path through wildflower fields and canopied forest before bushwhacking back to the main road. Beware that you may have to cross the highway without the benefit of a crosswalk!
Once in Szentendre, grab a lángos and enjoy the town. If you’re too tired to make the return trip you can always load your bike onto the HÉV and ride back to town. The total riding time for this trip is 1.5-2 hours barring no serious stops and the terrain is almost universally level, with mostly smooth concrete. You will need at least a liter of water per person for each direction, a good map, and a good headlight, as many of the sections of bike path are poorly lit at night.
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Szentendre Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.