Sultans Trail in Slovakia

Beautiful hiking in Slovakia. The map below

shows the route of the Sultans Trail in Slovakia

Home 9 Hiking map Sultans Trail 9 Hiking trail in Slovakia

The Sultans Trail offers easy hiking in Slovakia and runs predominantly close to the Danube. The major cities along the way are Komárno, Štúrovo, and Esztergom (HU).

At this stretch of the Sultans Trail, the course of the Danube is checked by two dams. The trail uses both to cross the river. The original flood land is preserved between the dams, albeit controlled by permeable dams. The trail meanders through these natural wetlands. After crossing the second weir at Gabcikovo, the trail stays close to the Danube until Štúrovo. At Štúrovo, we cross the Danube by a bridge, and we enter Hungary at Esztergom, a former capital of the Hungarian kingdom.

The section Bratislava–Budapest has 15 stages of mostly easy hiking. Its total length is approximately 230-250 km. Its highest point is 713m, reached in the Pilis mountains in Hungary. The estimated total hiking time for this section is 74 hours.

The trail is in Slovakia, some 195 km long, and generally flat terrain.
The Slovakian variant between Bratislava and Komárno is 97 km, whereas the Hungarian one 116 km is.

SLOVAKIA

Stages

Section 2 of the Sultans Trail starts in Bratislava end ends in Budapest. This section has two variants, one through Slovakia and one through Hungary.

The Slovakian stages are:

Section 2 Bratislava -Budapest
ST-201 Bratislava – Cunovo
ST-202b Čunovo – Bodíky
ST-203b Bodíky – Gabčíkovo
ST-204b Gabčíkovo – Zlatná na Ostrove
ST-205b Zlatná na Ostrove – Komárno
ST-206 Komárno – Dunaradvány
ST-207 Dunaradvány – Mužla
ST-208 Mužla – Esztergom

Connecting routes:
ST-212 Gabčíkovo – Lipót (ferry)
ST-213 Medveďove E-575 bridge – Györ

General information

The Trail follows the Danube closely, mainly on the cycling path, also used by the famous Euro Velo 6 cycling route.

The land along the Danube was Hungarian until the end of WWI when in 1920 the Great Powers granted it to Czechoslovakia by the Treaty of Trianon.

Starting point

The trail starts in Bratislava at Maximilian’s fountainin the historic main square (Hlavné námestie) of the old town (Staré Mesto).

How to get there

Although Bratislava has an International Airport, many visitors chose the Vienna Airport as an entry point because it is much better connected to the world.

A fast bus service connects Vienna Airport to Bratislava on an hourly basis. Travel time about 1 hour.

GPX/KML files

The Digital Information Package, available in our webshop contains the GPX/KML files for navigation, a trail description, including accommodations, landmarks and background information.

We also provide the Sultans Trail App from Google Playstore.

The navigational tracks are free for our members, who also enjoy other benefits, like the Sultans Trail passport.

Formalities

Slovakia and Hungary are both EU members and part of the Schengen zone, there are no border formalities between the two.

The currency in Slovakia is Euro. The currency in Hungary is Florint (HUF), with a relatively stable exchange rate to the Euro. Currency code HUF. Credit cards and bank cards are readily accepted, but “cash is king”.

The main languages along the route are Slovakian and Hungarian, but English and German are occasionally understood as well.

Route Updates

The connecting ferry-ride between Gabčíkovo in Slovakia and Lipót in Hungary is unreliable. Check availability first.

Connecting countries

Austria

Sultans Trail main map

Hungary

Landscape

The landscape is predominantly flat arable land on one side of the trail and the Danube on the other. The Danube used to meander through this lowland and flood seasonally, causing mischief to the people. The Water is now controlled by dykes and levees. But the former riverbeds are still visible in the landscape as trenches, backwaters and swamps, pools and puddles.

Nature

South of Bratislava, the flood-prone Danube has been brought under control by extensive canalisation works. The huge Gabčíkovo reservoir is a result of it. However, much of the old floodplain has been preserved on the Hungarian side of this reservoir, with many creeks, varying water levels, rapids and permeable dams.

Food

Pressburg (Bratislava) was famous in the Habsburg Empire for the aroma of great special dishes like the unique Tafelspitz, Szeged beef goulash, Pörkölt, oxtail, poppy pierogies or traditional Kaiserchmarrn.

Culture

Bratislava. The Celts built a fortified settlement on the castle hill and later the Romans. In the 8th century, the Slavs arrived, and the market place below the castle developed into a trade centre and became a free royal town in 1291.
Bratislava was the Hungarian capital between 1526 and 1784 when most of the middle Danube basin was in the hands of the Turks. The Hungarian parliament stayed to meet here until 1848.
The Habsburg rulers were crowned kings of Hungary in the city’s Gothic Cathedral of St. Martin.
In 1741 Empress Maria Theresa fled to Bratislava when French and Bavarian troop threatened Vienna. In 1805, Napoleon and the Austrian emperor Francis II signed the Peace of Pressburg, here.
Bratislava has been the capital of Slovakia since the country became an independent nation in 1993.

Komárno, At the confluence of the Danube and the Váh, the Romans built a fortress. This fortress controlled trade and traffic in the lowlands and has been a stronghold against invading hordes such as the Tatar invasions, ever since. It has never been captured “NEC CARTE – NEC MARTE”, neither by trick nor by force.

Brief History

People have lived here since 8.000 BC. Around 400 BC, Celtic tribes settled here, and from 15 BC, the Romans dominated the region. German tribes took over in the mid-500s, and around 800, Charlemagne, king of the Franks, ruled.

In the middle ages, the Babenberg family possessed the lands and later the Habsburg family.

In 1529 the Ottoman arrived at the gates of Vienna. During the next 150 years, they would fight with the Habsburgs for control over the area. Eventually, they lost, and Austria entered the lush Baroque era, challenged only briefly by Napoleon in the early 19th century.

Monuments

Historical sites in Bratislava are the old town, Michael’s tower-gate, Bratislava Castle, St.Martin’s Cathedral, Primate’s Palace and Grassalkovich Palace.

The rebuilt centre of Komárno is exciting, and the Fortress is worth a visit. 4km from Komárno, the trail passes the remains of the Roman Castellum Kalemantia.

In Žitava we find a monument commemorating the Zittau Peace Treaty, which ended the “Fifteen Years’ War” between the Turks and the Habsburg Monarchy.