Normafa

Normafa is a clearing on a ridge at about 475 metres in the Buda hills, and it has been the city's upland walking ground since the nineteenth century. The name comes from a beech tree under which an opera singer is said to have performed an aria from Bellini's Norma in 1840; the tree was destroyed by lightning in 1927 and a plaque marks where it stood. What draws people now is simpler: forest paths in every direction, views out over the city and the Buda hills, sledging on the slopes in snow, and a row of stalls whose thick apple and cottage-cheese strudel has become the fixed reason for the trip. The cogwheel railway and the Children's Railway both reach the area.

The landscape

• The strudel stalls - the reason half the visitors climb the hill.
• The Norma beech plaque - where the tree the place is named for stood.
• Forest paths across the ridge - walking in every direction from the clearing.
• Sledging slopes in winter - the open ground when snow falls.

When to go

Year round: autumn colour, winter sledging, spring and summer walking. Half a day. Weekends are busy with families; weekday mornings are quiet.

Practical notes

Views are partial and screened by trees in leaf. The stalls are crowded on weekends with real queues. Snow is unreliable in recent winters. Public transport up is slow and involves a change.

Nearby

Janos Hill and the Elisabeth Lookout are a walk away; the Children's Railway passes close.

Key facts