Szemlo-Hegyi Barlang (Showcave)
Szemlo-Hegyi Barlang (Showcave)
4
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
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4.0
89 reviews
Excellent
44
Very good
30
Average
10
Poor
3
Terrible
2
David R
37 contributions
Aug 2024 • Couples
Lovely cave complex which is easy to access and suitable for a wide age range and abilities. The man who sold us the tickets (sorry don’t know his name!) was very very helpful and friendly. He advised about getting an audio set if the group was mainly Hungarian as the guide would speak mostly in that language. Once he knew the make up of the tour he came across to us and gave us the audio devices. The tour guide was very good and did some in English too. Ponchos were also made available (as it is a bit chilly in the cave) and my wife was even given a puffer jacket.
Written 2 August 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
PamikeG
Rockaway, NJ33 contributions
Jul 2021 • Family
This tour was amazing and stared off a new family hobby. 3-D video was included and interesting-but I don’t know if they usually offer English showtimes (the rest of my family understands Hungarian). The tour was about 40 minutes long- the perfect amount of time to see if your family is interested. The path was relatively easy to walk just be sure to bring a light sweatshirt even in the summer because the caves are always 11C. The audio guide was great as well and I was able to keep along nicely by just guessing the next number when the tour began to move.
Written 21 July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Stephen R
Rennes, France52 contributions
Apr 2023
After seeing the good reviews, I went to check it out. The tour was 40 minutes long (20 minutes in, 20 minutes back), but the return trip was along the same path so there was no extra information. The "guide" carried a flashlight and didn't say a word. Instead, we had to use one of those audio guide things which talked forever and was very dry and boring. I got way more information from a real geologist who was on the tour.
Written 29 April 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kamal P
Byron Bay, Australia8,758 contributions
Jun 2023 • Family
Natural underground limestone tunnels or caves network, as extensive as what is existing in Budapest was not something I was aware of until I visited one such - the Szemlo-Hegyi Barlang so close to the capital. It was an easy access to the location travelling by public bus. There were tours arranged on a set time table and prior to commencement a fine screen presentation was held in a projection room to familiarise with what was to be seen with our own eyes a little while later. Presentation and explanations by the guide was in English and it was very clear and interesting. Caves themselves were exciting as they were having natural geological formations and Calcium based minerals developed that may have taken millions of years to reach the current status. There were limestone formations and shapes resembling corals in the sea or imaginary solidified fireworks, pop corns or cauliflowers.
After descending through a passage the temperature in the corridors of the caves were cool but manageable. Interesting formations were lit up so as the path way to guide the visitors. The limestone cave at Szemlo-Hegyi of Budapest was smaller to some other caves I have visited before but somewhat exciting.
After descending through a passage the temperature in the corridors of the caves were cool but manageable. Interesting formations were lit up so as the path way to guide the visitors. The limestone cave at Szemlo-Hegyi of Budapest was smaller to some other caves I have visited before but somewhat exciting.
Written 24 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bollejef
Leuven, Belgium46 contributions
Nov 2021 • Couples
A bit expensive but lucky for us they gave us the student price. You receive an audioguide that explains a bit about the caves. It is about 40min, but the caves are not very big. Easily accessible inside the caves as the path is made of cement. Slightly outside the center, but a bus stop is found nearby.
Written 14 November 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
acme15
Singapore, Singapore110 contributions
Mar 2013 • Couples
Szemlőhegyi cave offers a 1-hr guided tour. The caves are clean, well-maintained, and are nicely-lit. It's quite a showpiece.
It was my first visit to a cave, The guided tour was a leisurely, family-friendly tour. I went on a weekend with my husband and our tour had mostly families with kids.
Tour guide was nice and friendly. He explained at the start of the trip that as it's a primarily hugarian group that day, the tour will be conducted in hungarian and he may not have time to explain in english (we were the only 2 english-speaking visitors for that tour), however, he will try to answer any questions we have. He then passed us an english brochure containing comprehensive descriptions for every 'check point' / feature in the cave, so that we can read it while he explains in hungarian to the rest of the group. A pre-installed torchlight app on your smartphone may come in handy as it was a bit too dark to read at some parts of the walk.
In the caves - we were taken down corridors of well-built walking paths (baby stroller friendly) and the guide will stop at selected features and explain that in hungarian. There were interesting formations and they usually will have endearing names for it, such as rose/ flower garden, witch, polar bear, sinking ship, and some funny ones such as mother-in-law's tongue.. etc. I can't remember the exact names but it was something similar.
After explaining in hungarian, he did come up to us and repeat everything again in English. The tour guide did everything right to make us feel included, and also made an effort to chat up with us and answer all the cave-questions we have. In fact, I think we chatted more than he did to the hungarian visitors, which was quite different from what I expected at the beginning - when I thought that was the end of our interaction when we were given the brochure to 'sort things out on our own'.
At one point, the guide also put on some soothing music in the background through the PA system while the visitors were given some time to walk around freely in the section of the cave. That created an even nicer atmosphere and was my favourite part of the visit. See short video here: http://youtu.be/K62Agp38POQ (watch in HD).
On our walk back to the entrance, the guide made everyone gather around and then he turned off the lights in the cave for a short while to let us experience how pitch-black it was in the cave.
There's also a small exhibit where you can visit before or after the guided tour. We were 10mins late for the tour so had to join the next hour's tour. Therefore we had ample time at the exhibit before the tour - can be done within 15 - 45mins, depending on your interest level in the cave systems. Some of the exhibits were not in english, that was a bit of a bummer, but there were also some good information in English (showing what are the things you can find in the caves, different type of rocks, what is a cave, how many caves are there in Hungary, etc). Pretty good information if you go with schooling children as I think it should be fascinating to them. There were also some live-sized mannequins on the upper level showing cave rescues, and various types of knots.
It was an interesting experience for us as we've never been into a cave before. I feel it's worth going if you are pressed for time, or want a relaxing visit to the caves, especially if you are travelling with children and the elderly. It's a worthwhile educational trip for the whole family and I highly recommend it for families. If you are the adventurous type, then I think you are better off heading to the Palvolgyi Cave for the adrenalin-pumping 2.5-3 hours caving experience.
I visited the Szemlőhegyi Cave in the morning before heading for the caving experience at Palvolgyi Cave (check my review for Palvolgyi Barlang). Palvolgyi cave also offers a 1hr guided tour similar to Szemlőhegyi cave and I think they offer combined tickets for the 2x 1hr tours if you want to do both. I didn't not try the 1hr guided tour at Palvolgyi cave so can't offer my opinion. They are less than 2km away from each other. The lady at the sales desk said we can walk to Palvolgyi cave from Szemlőhegyi cave, but we chose not to because Buda is hilly, we needed to conserve energy for the caving, and we are generally the lazy/ comfort-seeking type of tourists ;) We took the bus down to Kolosy ter and boarded another bus to Palvolgyi cave. Both are around 5 stops from Kolosy ter.
Tips:
1) Allocate ample time to get there as there ar only 3-4 buses per hour. We wasted some time to locate the correct bus stop to board our bus there.
2) Ask for keys to the locker and put your bags inside before the tour if you don't want to carry your backpack during the tour. You will need to provide an ID to exchange for the key.
3) There's a cafe and toilets on site
4) Free wifi - good to keep you occupied if you are there early and are done with the exhibit.
5) Bring jacket - it's around 11~13 degrees in the cave all year round.
It was my first visit to a cave, The guided tour was a leisurely, family-friendly tour. I went on a weekend with my husband and our tour had mostly families with kids.
Tour guide was nice and friendly. He explained at the start of the trip that as it's a primarily hugarian group that day, the tour will be conducted in hungarian and he may not have time to explain in english (we were the only 2 english-speaking visitors for that tour), however, he will try to answer any questions we have. He then passed us an english brochure containing comprehensive descriptions for every 'check point' / feature in the cave, so that we can read it while he explains in hungarian to the rest of the group. A pre-installed torchlight app on your smartphone may come in handy as it was a bit too dark to read at some parts of the walk.
In the caves - we were taken down corridors of well-built walking paths (baby stroller friendly) and the guide will stop at selected features and explain that in hungarian. There were interesting formations and they usually will have endearing names for it, such as rose/ flower garden, witch, polar bear, sinking ship, and some funny ones such as mother-in-law's tongue.. etc. I can't remember the exact names but it was something similar.
After explaining in hungarian, he did come up to us and repeat everything again in English. The tour guide did everything right to make us feel included, and also made an effort to chat up with us and answer all the cave-questions we have. In fact, I think we chatted more than he did to the hungarian visitors, which was quite different from what I expected at the beginning - when I thought that was the end of our interaction when we were given the brochure to 'sort things out on our own'.
At one point, the guide also put on some soothing music in the background through the PA system while the visitors were given some time to walk around freely in the section of the cave. That created an even nicer atmosphere and was my favourite part of the visit. See short video here: http://youtu.be/K62Agp38POQ (watch in HD).
On our walk back to the entrance, the guide made everyone gather around and then he turned off the lights in the cave for a short while to let us experience how pitch-black it was in the cave.
There's also a small exhibit where you can visit before or after the guided tour. We were 10mins late for the tour so had to join the next hour's tour. Therefore we had ample time at the exhibit before the tour - can be done within 15 - 45mins, depending on your interest level in the cave systems. Some of the exhibits were not in english, that was a bit of a bummer, but there were also some good information in English (showing what are the things you can find in the caves, different type of rocks, what is a cave, how many caves are there in Hungary, etc). Pretty good information if you go with schooling children as I think it should be fascinating to them. There were also some live-sized mannequins on the upper level showing cave rescues, and various types of knots.
It was an interesting experience for us as we've never been into a cave before. I feel it's worth going if you are pressed for time, or want a relaxing visit to the caves, especially if you are travelling with children and the elderly. It's a worthwhile educational trip for the whole family and I highly recommend it for families. If you are the adventurous type, then I think you are better off heading to the Palvolgyi Cave for the adrenalin-pumping 2.5-3 hours caving experience.
I visited the Szemlőhegyi Cave in the morning before heading for the caving experience at Palvolgyi Cave (check my review for Palvolgyi Barlang). Palvolgyi cave also offers a 1hr guided tour similar to Szemlőhegyi cave and I think they offer combined tickets for the 2x 1hr tours if you want to do both. I didn't not try the 1hr guided tour at Palvolgyi cave so can't offer my opinion. They are less than 2km away from each other. The lady at the sales desk said we can walk to Palvolgyi cave from Szemlőhegyi cave, but we chose not to because Buda is hilly, we needed to conserve energy for the caving, and we are generally the lazy/ comfort-seeking type of tourists ;) We took the bus down to Kolosy ter and boarded another bus to Palvolgyi cave. Both are around 5 stops from Kolosy ter.
Tips:
1) Allocate ample time to get there as there ar only 3-4 buses per hour. We wasted some time to locate the correct bus stop to board our bus there.
2) Ask for keys to the locker and put your bags inside before the tour if you don't want to carry your backpack during the tour. You will need to provide an ID to exchange for the key.
3) There's a cafe and toilets on site
4) Free wifi - good to keep you occupied if you are there early and are done with the exhibit.
5) Bring jacket - it's around 11~13 degrees in the cave all year round.
Written 26 March 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
AMWard
Dursley, UK120 contributions
Szemlo-hegy show cave
This is an interesting cave for me I cave as a hobby in England and Wales (and some times other bits of the world) and the caves I am used to are (mostly) formed in carboniferous limestone by solutional activity via down flow of water. This cave is of thermal origin caused by an up welling of warm mineral rich water from a deep level the water that has been underground for a considerable time and is rich in minerals in solution. This cave is also in the city limits of Budapest with housing on all sides it is not to hard to reach by public transport. Take the bus number 29 (from the city centre) to Barlang utca the cave is a 200 meter from there, it is open every day except Monday
We found the show cave staff the most friendly and helpful I have ever meet .Inside the entrance building has a display of caves in the Budapest area and is well worth looking at. The cave is 2.2Km long with 500 meters open to the public the paths in the cave are well made and easy to follow. there are lots of mineral formations to look at .In some places the passages are high (up to 15 metres and 3 to 5 meters wide).
All in all a very worth while trip away from the normal Budapest tourist areas.
This is an interesting cave for me I cave as a hobby in England and Wales (and some times other bits of the world) and the caves I am used to are (mostly) formed in carboniferous limestone by solutional activity via down flow of water. This cave is of thermal origin caused by an up welling of warm mineral rich water from a deep level the water that has been underground for a considerable time and is rich in minerals in solution. This cave is also in the city limits of Budapest with housing on all sides it is not to hard to reach by public transport. Take the bus number 29 (from the city centre) to Barlang utca the cave is a 200 meter from there, it is open every day except Monday
We found the show cave staff the most friendly and helpful I have ever meet .Inside the entrance building has a display of caves in the Budapest area and is well worth looking at. The cave is 2.2Km long with 500 meters open to the public the paths in the cave are well made and easy to follow. there are lots of mineral formations to look at .In some places the passages are high (up to 15 metres and 3 to 5 meters wide).
All in all a very worth while trip away from the normal Budapest tourist areas.
Written 15 March 2005
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Beekysky
Edinburgh, UK87 contributions
Nov 2013 • Couples
We went here first as it was easily found on the tourist map (bus 29 direct or bus 91/11 with a walk). Mostly sloping paved paths, good for people with mobility issues or very young children as there is also an 'interactive exhibition'. The guide was very knowledgeable, obviously passionate about her work, even though her English struggled at times to keep up with her knowledge and enthusiasm. The guy at the front desk was terrible, on the phone the whole time and we had to stand there for ages before he sold us our ticket. Tours are on the hour and they are closed on Tuesdays.
Written 16 November 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Marchidanu A
89 contributions
Jan 2018 • Couples
The cave is not very big or spectacular, but it has portions that are nice and look like cauliflower.The ticket is 3-4 euro (if you choose to take tickets for multiple caves, the price is lower- there are 4-5 caves in the same region).
Written 9 January 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sarah H
London, UK43 contributions
Jan 2016 • Friends
The caves are out of the city centre but it is reachable by bus. Tours are every hour so make sure you try to get there on the hour (departs 15mins past). It isn't a strenuous tour so it's suitable for most people and kids, it gets a bit chilly down in the caves so I would make sure you have a jacket if visiting in the summer. Our group was consisted of a school group and a Hungarian family, we were the only ones who didn't speak Hungarian but the tour guide was great. He let us know to stick with the group and on the way back he'd explain all the stages of the tour to us in English which was great. Would highly recommend a visit!
Written 31 January 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Is the cave will be open on December 28, 2018? - Thank you.
Written 11 December 2018
Buo giorno costo biglietto? Esistono tour in italiano? Gtaxie
Written 30 August 2018
How to get there by public transport? Thank you!
Written 26 June 2018
Can you dig for crystals/minerals here? Or are there places you can do that in Hu?
Written 15 June 2017
Not here for sure ... but I recollect there were other caves around Budapest which gives you a more authentic caving experience - not sure if you can actually dig for minerals there though!
Check out PÁLVÖLGYI CAVES
Written 16 June 2017
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