This range of 300m- to 400m-high foothills of the Austrian Alps, some 5km south and southwest of the city centre, is Sopron’s playground. It’s a great place for hiking and walking, but is not without bitter memories, for it was here that partisans and Jews were executed by Nazis and the fascist Hungarian Arrow Cross during WWII. You can climb to the top of Károly Lookout on the hill (394m) west of the Lővér hotel; walk to Taródi Castle , ‘crazy man’s castle’, built by eccentric local Istvan Taród in the 1950s and still owned by his descendants; if someone is in, they’ll usually let you have a look around.
The hills are a 15- to 20-minute walk from the city centre.
