Barefoot Park near to Budapest

But what does it exactly mean? Barefoot Park (Mezítlábas Park), which can be found only 50 km from the capital of Hungary, Budapest, is an extraordinary park, built up in quite an interesting and exciting way, where we are encouraged to take off our shoes and walk through a thematic path shoeless, barefoot.

In all, there are 21 various walking surfaces, by which we can get experience from plantar perception. At one part the challenge pops up in the form of rough basalt, elsewhere we can leave the mark of our feet on sagging peat. If you fancy it, you can wade into a creek, sense the cool, or the warmth of brick cladding on a sunlit hill-side. We can experience how hard it is to get to the top of a hill, being lengthwise split logs under our feet, and how much it changes, if we try the same with crosswise laid logs. The ability of balancing act is under constant test here. We will have the opportunity to observe, how our posture alters without wearing shoes. After the 25-30-minute-long route, at the end of the path, the initial insecure steps become completely natural walking. With a slight exaggaration you might even become taller in such a short period of time, as it is a pure fact, that walking barefoot demands more complex muscle-work, than if you do it in shoes, which has a beneficial effect on our posture.

We get continuous information from the boards, situated next to the walking surfaces, so you are always aware of the characteristics of the actual section and ground. The Barefoot Park can be visited in a small village of Fejér county, called Tabajd, only 45-50 km far from Budapest. The entrance of the park is right in the center of the village, next to the bridge and the statue of Saint John.

At the end of the path, you can find a playground, where children are free to play on till throwing a tantrum not wanting to go home, while parents and adults can have a rest, and take back the shoes, if you even want them anymore.

There are also fireplaces, where holiday-makers and visitors are allowed to have a picnic, though do not forget, that you are supposed to bring food with yourselves. The path’s full length is 800 meters, which can be taken by a convenient 20-30-minute-long walk. It can be an enjoyable fun, a useful relaxation for children and adults as well. I would say, it’s an absolute pleasant family program, but couples are welcome alike. To give you an extra information, you shall note, that the walking route is heading onto a little hill, to where you can get, using a stairway, and then downwards another, so the route itself is not passable with pram, but the playground is approachable from the parking lot.

In the Barefoot Park’s 50 km range, you can reach Budapest, Székesfehérvár, Tata and Tatabánya, just to mention the biggest cities, which are also worth the visit, and motorways are reachable in just 10 km northwise and southwise too.