Tour description:
Completing a trip round the entire lake in one day is tiring, but it is possible. On the other hand, cyclists with average stamina should plan for 2 days. It is a long, multi-day route, mostly in flat areas, along well-signposted, mostly separated, paved bicycle roads on local roads with low traffic.
The tour planned to be completed in two days starts at Fertőd, and it leaves clockwise. With departure from Fertőd, it is best to stay the night in Purbach or nearby. So on the first day, we are able to tackle the elevations of the route, and on the second day, only flat surfaces await. We shall follow the signs labeled B10. The first day begins from Fertőd Castle towards Fertőszéplak. The next villages are reached along diverse, but high-quality, cycle paths and on a built cycle path to Balf, part of Sopron. On the way, we may visit the 8-basin thermo bath utilizing local thermal waters at Hegykő.
After Balf, our next stop os Fertőrákos, where we find the famous quarry. The road has a fork after the settlement towards Fertőmeggyes and the border. On the road, we can enjoy a spectacular view of the reeds of Lake Fertő. The route is lined with forests until the small border for pedestrians and cyclists. Just before the border, we find the Mithras Temple under a featureless building, built by the Roman soldiers in the neighborhood, in honor of Mithras, the Sun God. In the shrine of the rock, we can see a painted relief of nearly two thousand years. It is a must see.
We soon reach Fertőmeggyes (Mörbisch), whose main features are the small alleyways leading from the main street, the ‘Hofgasses’. From here we are going to the charming village of Rus, which was the smallest free royal city in Hungary at the time. There are many excellent vine cellars here, which we may enjoy in the atmosphere courtyards. Following the B10 route, we continue toward Oggau. Going round Neusiedl on the south side on B10, we reach Podersdorf along a nice channel after Welden. It is worth going to the red and white striped lighthouse at the end of the pier.
From here, we go round Lake Fertő and include a couple of bird watching towers, passing through the saline rocks of the country where we can observe the countless waterfowl in the national park. Soon, we return to Hungary again across the small border and then ride to Fertőújlak on a new cycle path toward Sarród. A few hundred meters from the village, we may examine the rich bird life of the swampy moorland from a wooden lookout tower. We cross the Hanság Main Canal after a kilometer on a low-traffic paved path, where the Sziki őszirózsa educational path begins. By following the dirt road parallel the canal’s embankment, a small detour takes us to the birdwatching tower. Next, a bike ride takes us along the cozy main street of the village of Sarród, which is famous for Kócsagvár castle, the center of Fertő-Hanság National Park. After a left turn, we reach Fertőd, our starting point, which is integrated with the village.
Sights:
Lake Fertő
It is the third largest standing water in Central Europe, about 20 thousand years old, and the westernmost of the Asian steppe lakes in Europe. Most of its territory belong to Austria and the rest to Hungary. The Fertő area and the lake itself are part of the world's heritage. The Hungarian shore is Fertő–Hanság National Park, the Austrian is Neusiedler See – Seewinkel National Park. In Central Europe, it is the second most easily heated lake after Lake Balaton. Its temperature often reaches 30°C in the summer.
The Quarry of Fertőrákos:
Many millions of years ago, the territory of the quarry was covered by the waves of Pannon sea. Limestone formed from the sunken remains of the lime skeletal animals, snails, and clams on the seabed. After careful examination of the rock, we can still see some hardened animal residues. Even the Romans had mined limestone here. In the18th century, the monks took the limestone for the construction of the church in Lébény. In 1944, there was a forced labor camp for Jewish prisoners here, and in 1948, the mining was closed for good. The former quarry is now a popular tourist spectacle, but the Kövi Benge educational path and the Cave Theater are also here.
Kócsagvár:
The central building of the fifth national park of our country was inaugurated in 1993. Kócsagvár was erected at the place of the former port of Sarród. They named it Heron Castle after a typical local bird species, the heron. József Koller, the architect followed the organic architecture style represented by the Imre Makovecz. The decorated gate of the building is a story in itself: two large herons are facing each other, where the wings of the gates are symbols of the birds’ wings greeting each other.
Fertőd Castle:
The history of Eszterháza begins in the second half of the 18 century. In the rushy shore of Fertő, near Süttör, it was founded by Miklós Esterházy ‘The Extravagant’. Based on his ideas and plans, in 1762 the conversion of a decade-earlier hunting castle with the splendor of the main class began. By the time the castle had its roof built in 1766, a village was established in the neighborhood, which got its name from the Esterházy family. It was a single-street, town-like village, with an original English stud farm and the beet sugar factory.