Amber hiking trail - A cross-border cultural adventure

The route starts from the former centre of the province of Pannonia, the former Petronell-Carnuntum (Deutsch-Altenburg, Austria) and crosses the Kőszeg Mountains in Szentmárton on the Rába river (St. Martin an der Raab), before it ends. The route leads to the section around Sopron from the “town of storks”, Rust, along the reeds of Lake Neusiedl, to Mörbisch (Fertőmeggyes). After one kilometre from Fertőmeggyes, you will arrive in Hungary, where you will find the Mithras shrine next to the Austria-Hungary border. The next attraction, two kilometres away, is the Fertőrákos Quarry and Cave Theatre, where the Quarry Theme Park and the special acoustics of the Cave Theatre welcome you from April to September. Then, cutting through the Szárhalmi forest, we reach Sopron via the Nemeskút road. After admiring the second largest Gothic church in Hungary, St. Michael's Church, we reach the Castle District and the historic downtown, with the Fire Tower, which is a symbol of the 2000-year-old past of downtown Sopron. The Gate of Loyalty leads us to the Main Square, the “crown” of which is the Goat Church. It is no coincidence that the Gothic church was the site of the coronations of kings and queens. And while we pass through one of the most beautiful Main Squares of Hungary, we also cross the route of the Amber Road, which stretches more than 3 meters deep under our feet. Our journey through the city centre is adorned by wonderful Gothic and Baroque buildings from the 19th century, and then passing the Batsányi út railway crossing, the tour continues in the Lővérek, Hungary's renowned climatic resort. We are welcomed here by the 19th century summer houses of the Villa row with wooden porches, and the Chapel of St. John of Nepomuk hidden behind the pine trees, before heading to the most famous lookout point in Sopron, the Charles (Károly) Lookout. If time allows, be sure to go up to the two-storey roof terrace of the lookout tower, from where you can enjoy the panorama of Sopron and the Sopron Mountains. The next short section of the tour is the Cyclamen nature trail, which leads you to the Castle Lookout Tower in the middle of a huge prehistoric hillfort. The lookout point can be reached with a short walk from the memorial stone commemorating Lajos Bella, who first explored the fortress. From here, our journey takes us down to the 2.700-year-old burial mounds, and the last section of the hiking trail around Sopron, following the line of the former Iron Curtain, continues in Sopronnyék (Neckermarkt) in Austria. The hiking trail is marked with the letter B on the tourist maps and a yellow B against a white background on the trail.

The map shows the 15.2-kilometre-long route from the chapel to the border, with an elevation of 336 meters.