Page Type: | Mountain/Rock |
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Lat/Lon: | 47.35282°N / 16.43369°E |
Activities: | Hiking |
Season: | Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter |
Elevation: | 2894 ft / 882 m |
In Hungarian language the summit is actually written as Írott-kő. In German and in Hungarian the name means something like "stone with inscriptions". Actually in the past on the summit there were stones, delimiting the properties of Batthyány and Esterházy families. The other two names in Hungarian were also Fenyőhegy and Szálkő.
Írott-kő is the highest mountain of the Kőszeg Mountains and the 8th highest summit in Hungary. That sounds fine, but as we know that in Hungary hikers can be struggling to reach higher than 1000 m of altitude, also Írott-kő is just a broad, gentle elevation without any spectacular mountaneous feature. Yet it is covered with nice woods and from its lookout tower one can enjoy a really broad panorama.
Strictly speaking, although bordering to the Panonian plain, the Kőszeg Mountains geologically still belong to the Alps. The massif is made of metamorph slate rocks and partly of intrusive rocks. The today's position of Írott-kő is just on the border between Austrias and Hungary.
The whole area is very popular with hikers and mountain bikers. Depending of how high up you want to drive, it offers a nice, short outing in any time of season.
In good visibility the panorama of Írott-kő is very broad. On the eastern side, there's mostly the Panonian plain, with the flat valley of Raba river. On the western side, there's the hilly countryside of Burgenland. But also there's no higher summit than our standpoint. Most interesting is the view towards the distant high summits of the Alps, stretching on the west and northwest. We clearly see the easternmost 2000-ers, stretching all the way to Vienna. The platform of lookout tower is nicely equipped with the plates, showing all the features of panorama in all directions.
Írott-kő could be even reached by car, if the mountain roads were not closed for public traffic.
From the Austrian side the public road crosses the whole western slope. To the Waldhof parking place (47.347942, 16.411190) you can drive either from the town of Lockenhaus (north) or from the town of Rechnitz (south).
From the Hungarian side you need to park a bit further away. The shortest approach is from the town of Velem, from there you simply drive up westwards. The other option is the parking place northeast of the summit. Also that one can be reached from Velem, but also from the town of Kőszeg.
The hike up is easy from all sides. Many of the main approaches are marked (red in Austria, red and blue in Hungary). Elso the terrain is passable everywhere, so with GPS signal you can find the summit yourself.
From the Waldhof parking place you simply follow the marked cart-road towards the east. You have only 80 meters of altitude to gain.
Similarly, from the parking places above Velem, you follow the marks westwards. Depending on how high you park, you have some good 30 minutes of walk-up.
From the parking place on the northeast, you also follow the blue marks, going by cart-roads. There's some 45 minutes of walk, mainly due to distance (you also lose some altitude on a few places). Only the last 100 meters are a bit steeper.
You can ascend Írott-kő any time of a season.
Since December 2007 the Austrian–Hungarian border can be crossed without formalities, because Hungary has joined the Schengen Agreement. A completely different situation was on the mountain before the fall of Iron Curtain (1991). The border was strictly guarded and especially from the Hungarian side no approach was allowed at all. Today, you can see a lot of information about those days on the explanation tables in the bottom room of the Írott-kő lookout tower. Our mountain is situated in the Natural Park Geschriebenstein-Írottkő.