Mural in the Hűvösvölgy station Budapest
Today we wanted to enjoy nature
On "our" side of the city (aka the Pest side of Budapest), we don't have as much green areas as "they" have on the Buda side. Although the Buda side is a lot smaller, there's a lot more green over there. The Buda hills are quite amazing and there's a lot of things going on over there. Not only do you have amazing views, but also you're surrounded by nature. That's actually something I miss a lot on this side, it's not that I'm the person that usually went walking in the woods daily (at least not since I don't have dogs anymore) but it's the need to clear the head from city life and the crowd while enjoying nature. Doing nothing, but taking in the surroundings and smelling nature instead of smelling emission gases. So when you want some fresh breath and clear your head Buda is where you need to be, until now we haven't been much over there yet. I hope this changes after today.
The Children's Railway Station is operated by children
The history of the Children's Railway goes back to 1947 when a railway was built in the Buda hills that would be operated by school-age children. The construction of this all began in the summer of 1948 where the first part of only three kilometers from Széchenyi Mountain to today's Flower Valley Station, was handed over. The following year, the line was extended to today's Szépjuhászné, and in 1950 to Hűvösvölgy. In the mountainous terrain, railway construction encountered many difficulties. The experience gained during the construction and operation of the then narrow-gauge railway network was used in the design and construction. source
Picture made in the Hűvösvölgy train station
I've heard of this railway that is operated by children before, but we never took the time to go there because it's almost an hour in public transport from where we live to get to the railway station. Today we thought it was time to take advantage of the super nice fall weather as it was around 24 degrees today, and just head over to the unknown (to us) Buda hills and see what this railway is all about.
Hűvösvölgy train station entrance
We started our journey at the Hűvösvölgy train station, as we actually had no idea what would be the best route to take. Going to the children's railway station was actually a last minute decision, and we sort of headed in that direction without much planning besides knowing which trams to take to get there. This is not really like me, I get kind of freaked out when I don't know my options (in case something goes wrong) but I tried to let the control freak I am at home today, which worked out fine (although I said it myself haha).
You can't miss this station, as it's the final destination of both trams 56a and 61 from Széll kálmán tér. I have to admit that the ride in that tram was a bit bumpy, and there have been a few moments that I thought our daughter was going to fall asleep because of this.. That didn't happen luckily, as the views have been worth it alone to get to the station.
Once you leave the tram, you have this stairs on two sides, we first walked to this one, not sure where to go (thanks to those wonderful ahum G.oogle M.aps directions!) we had the idea that we headed over to the wrong side. That's when we walked back and asked a few chauffeurs where to go, pointing up the stairs, so in the end I think the others stairs would have been fine as well.. The stairs is a bit big, and to be honest, I'm not sure if it's somehow wheelchair accessible, so please go to the Children's Railway Station website for more information.
The ride on the railway through the Buda hills
In a few words, I can say the ride was refreshing coming from the Pest side, it smelled like a day in the woods... Nature at its best.. and we loved it. Although a long part of the ride you can only see trees and leaves, it's a relaxing ride overall. The wooden benches where we were seated (it was the open compartment of the train) weren't very comfortable when you have some back problems, so I'd advise you to sit in the closed departments in that case, although the open ones are ideal when the weather conditions are good like today.
Although I know these children are probably used to it, as a mother that values privacy, I didn't feel comfortable to take pictures of these children in their cute outfits while operating the train. I know I could have asked, but I decided that they probably get enough of these questions and let them work in peace. So you will have to forgive me for not putting them on the spot. Instead I have showed a few picture that I took along the way, made with my phone as I forgot my camera. Unfortunately my phone camera doesn't work well when there's so much light, so forgive me that I can't share the best spot of the train ride where we could look over the Buda hills from the train. Next time I will make sure to have my camera with me.
Before getting on the train we asked a random stranger for tips about where to hop off the train, she told us that there was a playground at Normafa station, so we left the train at that stop (it was the second last stop). Although we planned on going into the woods, after a 1.5 hour travel in total by the time of our arrival there, and a child that has been potty trained for about 1,5 months, we thought it was smart to first find a place to have a drink and go to the toilet.
Unfortunately, there was only 1 place to sit down as far as we could see, and all tables were occupied. When we walked further, we noticed there was nothing there for pedestrians, and to avoid any potty accidents and ruin the great day, we hopped on the bus that came the next few minutes. So our goal to go into the woods didn't work out, but we did enjoy the smell of nature for quite some hours, and everyone was satisfied when we arrived home. We will most likely find another spot later this week to go for that walk through the woods and hunt for mushrooms.
General Information
If you never visited the Children's Railway Train yet, make sure you won't miss this the next time you're in Budapest. I think it will be a great thing to do during the winter as well.
You can find all information below on the website as well.
Timetable
Ticket prices
Be aware of the fact, that when you want to ride in the steam locomotive, you will need to pay for an additional nostalgic ticket as you can see in the children's railway timetable. I almost did not read this info myself, that's why I thought I should mention it in the post for others that may go there in the future. I also read that it's fine to buy the tickets in the train, even without getting fined, but (and that's a huge but) only if the previous station is one without a ticket office. Otherwise they may fine you.
~Anouk
All pictures are made by me with my Samsung S7 telephone.