Introduction

The Countrywide Blue Tour (in Hungarian: Országos Kéktúra) is the Hungarian section of the European Long Distance walking route E4. It leads from the top of the Irottkő Mountain (884 m), which stands on the Austrian-Hungarian boundary, through the whole country until village Hollóháza at the Hungarian-Slovakian boundary.
Its total length is 1106 km and the total climb is 26.130 metres on the whole route.
The name of the Kéktúra (Blue Tour) was born from the sign of this path: it is a horizontal blue stripe between two white ones.

Description of the route

The route of the Kéktúra begins on the top of the Irottkő (884 m) and leads among the mountains of Köszegi-hegység (Mountains of Köszeg) until town Kőszeg, where the path reaches the Little Hungarian Plain. It goes through the wide basin of river Rába, and get to the Balaton-felvidék (Highland of Balaton) at town Sümeg.
After the hills of the Balaton-felvidék the route reaches the old, spent volcanoes at the coast of Lake Balaton. Among others the route visits the Szent György-hegy (415 m), the Badacsony (437 m), Gulács (393 m) and the Csobánc (376 m). The tops of the spent volcanoes are in 250 – 300 metres height above the Basin of Tapolca.
Later the path leaves the coast of the Balaton and through the eastern part of the Balaton-felvidék reaches the Bakony (Bakony Mountains), which is the first member in the long row of middle mountains in Hungary.
The path of the Kéktúra goes further in the Dunántúli-középhegység (Transdanubian Middle Mountains, where it touches the Vértes Mountain, Pilis Mountain and get to the area of Budapest among the Budai-hegység (Buda Mountains).
After the capital the Blue Tour crosses the Duna (Danube) by ferry at the Duna-kanyar (Danube Bend) and the route continues in the Északi-középhegység (Northern Medium Mountains). The path visits village Hollókő, which is a World Heritage Site and it reaches its tallest point on the peak of Kékestető (1014 m) in the Mátra Mountains, which is the highest mountains of Hungary.
Later the Countrywide Blue Tour visits the stalactite cave of Aggtelek – it is a World Heritage Site, as well – and after the Hilly Country of Aggtelek and Hilly Country of Cserehát it get to the eastest part of Hungary, the Zemplén Mountains.
At the Slovakian – Hungarian border lies village Hollóháza, which is the eastern end of the long path of the Blue Tour.
More information about the route of the Blue Tour: European long-distance paths Kőszeg (German: ) is a town in Vas county, Hungary. ... The Little Alföld or Little Hungarian Plain (Hungarian: Kisalföld, Slovak: Malá dunajská kotlina, German: Kleine Ungarische Tiefebene) is a plain (tectonic basin) of appr. ... Badacsony is a town on the north shore of Lake Balaton in western Hungary, regarded by many, together with its surrounding landscape, as the most beautiful area in the country. ... Hollókő is an ethnographic village in Hungary, part of the World Heritage. ... Kékes is Hungarys highest mountain, in the Mátra range of Heves county. ... Kékestető (1014 m) Mátra is a mountain range in northern Hungary, between to the towns Gyöngyös and Eger. ... Aggtelek (sometimes misspelled Agtelek; literally means Old Plot in Hungarian) is a village in the county of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Hungary with vast stalactite caverns, some of them of great height. ... Map of european long-distance paths The European long-distance paths are a network of extremely long distance footpaths across Europe. ...

The history of the Coutrywide Blue Tour

The Blue Tour was the first long distance walking route not only in Hungary but in the whole Europe. Its path was signed first time in year 1938, its length was 910 km in that time. A lot of Hungarian hikers began the completion of the tour after the World War II., so the Nature Rambler Section of the Lokomotív Sport Club of Budapest announced the countrywide walk on the "blue" hiking path in 1952.
The Nature Rambler Section's Committee of Railway Employee's Union developed this issue on national level in 1953, and published the first brochure, which showed the whole route in map sketches.
Later the organising and controlling of the Countrywide Blue Tour movement was taken over by the Hungarian Rambler's Association "Friends of Nature" (MTSZ) in 1961.

About the completion of the Kéktúra

If somebody tells about himself/herself in a company (of course in Hungary), that he/she is a hiker, almost sure that the first question will be "And have you completed the Blue Tour?" Nearly every Hungarian has heard about this thing. The completion of the Blue Tour is an important part in the life of a Hungarian hiker.
There are 147 checkpoints on the route of Kéktúra. If somebody can collect the stamps of all checkpoints in his personal completion brochure, only in that case is the Blue Tour completed by that person.
But not the number of the collected stamps is important if you go along the path of the Tour, but more important thing is to visit the most beautiful natural and built sight of Hungary during the long hike and become familiar the history of this small Middle European country. More than 4000 people have completed the Coutrywide Blue Tour till this time, about 80 people in every year!

External links:

• Hörpölin&son’s website about the Blue Tour – in English with travelogues and more than 1000 photos
  
• E&T Kéktúra oldala – this is a website of young people walking the path of the Blue Tour with more thousend photos – in Hungarian