Debrecen has much to offer the cyclist, it has an 80+ kilometers bicycle path network, which is constantly being extended. The city is extremely easy to navigate and has very little traffic, and good roads. If you’d like to cycle around, you can easily ride to many places both in and out of the city.
Within the city, you can quickly get anywhere with cycle paths and cycle lanes. If you are new to the city, we’d recommend starting from Kossuth Square, where you can visit key tourist destinations such as the Great Reformed Church and College Museum to better understand the city’s history and the surrounding area.
You can cycle from Kossuth tér to the adjacent Kálvin tér, continuing on Péterfia utca the road transitions to Simonyi út, note there is a cycle path on the left side of the road. Eventually, this path continues into the Great Forest, where you can enjoy the beautifully landscaped park area, duck pond brimming with goldfish. The entire area is surrounded by hundreds of years old trees; cycle through the park on the dedicated cycle path and onward to the grand-looking University of Debrecen main building.
If you feel a little more adventurous and are experienced at greater distances, we’d recommend the cycle route connecting Debrecen with Oradea. The first section of the cycle path is the Tépe-Berettyóújfalu route; this was completed this summer and is just a short distance from there to Oradea. The entire route will be completed in the near future.
A Velodrome and professional standard road and a cross-track are being built.
A government decision was made to construct the velodrome (indoor cycling track) in Debrecen rather than Budapest. Already under construction, when finished it will be suitable for training and smaller international competitions. Its location in Debrecen-Pallag is ideal, next to the Debrecen Football Academy and a protected forest area. Several additional outdoor tracks will be built for professional cycling sports.
Cycling Touring Ideas for in and Around Debrecen
If you would like to discover Debrecen and the wider area, you can choose from several destinations:-
Debrecen – Panoráma út – Vámospércsi út – Debrecen
From Debrecen, you can easily cycle on low-traffic roads, for example, along the Panoráma road, which winds through Erdőspuszta, where you can enjoy beautiful forests, clearings, reeds, and lakes instead of the Great Plain. The wildlife, ethnographic and archeological values of Erdőspuszta are presented in the local museum (“Bemutatóház”) of Erdőspuszta. The length of the round trip is 30 km.
Debrecen – Bánk – Létavértes – Kokad – Álmosd – Bagamér – Vámospércs – Debrecen
You can also ride along the 51 km long Bánk – Létavértes – Kokad – Álmosd – Bagamér – Vámospércs line on low-traffic roads and in mostly shady, forest environments. The real gem of the tour is Álmosd, where the army of István Bocskai beat the imperial armies on 15th October 1604. A monument marks the site of the first victorious battle of the struggle for independence.
Debrecen – Martinka – Haláp – Hármashegy Recreation Center
The Debrecen – Martinka – Haláp – Hármashegy Recreation Center tour leads to another frequently visited recreation center in Erdőspuszta. The Hármashegy Recreation Center is located in a beautiful forest environment; its topographic conditions do not show the picture of the usual Great Plain landscape, thanks to the sand dunes. It is a popular place for hikers. Spacious meadow, dense patches of forest, lookout, playground, snack bar make relaxation even more pleasant. The Hármashegy Recreation Center is also the terminus of the Zsuzsi railway, which started from Debrecen and was once designed to transport wood, and which now serves tourism. The length of the round trip is 42 km.
Debrecen – Balmazújváros – Kónya (towards Tiszacsege) – Hortobágy – Debrecen
The 2-day tour on the Debrecen – Balmazújváros – Kónya (towards Tiszacsege) – Hortobágy – Debrecen road section guides us to the largest continuous, natural grassy steppe in Europe, the Hortobágy. The country’s first and largest national park (1973) has been a World Heritage Site since 1999 (Unesco). A significant part of it is a biosphere reserve, and the wetlands enjoy international protection under the Ramsar Convention. Diverse landscape due to seemingly endless grassy loess steppes, eye-catching boom wells, saline steppe oak forests, lakes, swamps, marshy areas, and the floodplain forests that accompany the Tisza. Its swamps and fishponds are sites of European importance for bird nesting and migration. The Flora and fauna of the area are unique. We can meet all the historical agricultural animals of the wilderness (gray cattle, buffalo, Racka sheep, nonius horse, Mangalica), and we can also get acquainted with the folk traditions and crafts that are still alive and thriving (Hortobágy shepherding, former inns, pottery). If you want to stay in the area for more than 2 days, you can get to Lake Tisza from one of the Eurovelo cycle paths running on the Tisza dam or admire the sights of Tiszacsege in the other direction.
Regional cycling developments
In the last ten years, about 1,300 kilometers of new cycling routes have been established in Hungary, so now we have more than 9,000 kilometers of cycling routes. It is planned that by 2020, the entire cycle path network will approach 15,000 kilometers.
One of Hungary’s most spectacular cycling developments is in the section between Tiszafüred and Poroszló. With the construction of this last section, Lake Tisza can now be completely cycled around. The length of the round trip is around 67 km.
Another excellent cycling development is the Eger-Egerszalók cycling path, which will be an essential part of the EuroVelo 14 route, which was also handed over in 2021.
