Countrywide Blue Tour in Hungary

Countrywide Blue Tour In Hungary

The Countrywide Blue Tour (in Hungarian: Országos Kéktúra, Kéktúra or simply OKT) is a part of the Hungarian section of the European Long Distance Walking Route E4. The route starts atop the Irottkő Mountain (884 m) on the Austrian-Hungarian border then cuts across Hungary eventually ending 1,128 km later at the village of Hollóháza by the Hungarian-Slovakian boundary. The name of the Kéktúra (Blue Tour) is a reference to the marking of the path itself: it is a horizontal blue stripe between two white stripes.

During its course the Blue Tour visits arguably the most beautiful natural and man-made sights of Hungary, e.g. more than a dozen forts and castles, lookout towers, three World Heritage Sites of Hungary (the panorama of Budapest from the hills, the old village of Hollókő and the Stalactite Cave of Aggtelek), Lake Balaton, the Danube Bend, and the spent volcanoes of the Basin of Tapolca, etc.

According to the latest survey conducted in 2007 utilizing the Global Positioning System, its total length was measured to be 1128.2 km and the total elevation change (climb) was found to be 30,213 metres in a Western-Eastern direction over the whole route.