Two people, two kids, one dog, a lot of mountains
Magic Mountain is Dan and Anett. We moved from Budapest to Noszvaj, at the foot of the Bükk hills, to be closer to the places we keep going back to. This is what we do with the rest of our time.
Dan
I have been walking in the mountains for most of my life, and guiding groups since I qualified as a UIMLA International Mountain Leader in [YEAR]. I'm a member of the Romanian mountain guides' society (SGLM), which is also where our pricing comes from.
I plan every route around the group that's coming: how long the days really take, where the water is, and where we get off the ridge if the weather turns. Where I can, I walk it first.
The rest of the week I'm a UX researcher, which is a long way of saying I ask a lot of questions and I listen to the answers. It turns out to be useful on a hike too.
Anett
I'm a yoga teacher and I look after the family side of Magic Mountain: the weekends where the kids set the pace and the grown-ups get to slow down. I also run the marketing, so if you found us on Instagram, that was me. Closer to home, I organise Családi kalandozások a Bükkben: short hikes in the Bükk for mums with small children, no guide certificate required, just good company and a lookout tower at the end.
We have two small children ourselves, so every family trip is planned by someone who has carried a tired four-year-old down a hill. Short legs, snack stops and a lookout tower at the end are not afterthoughts; they are the plan.
The mountains change how you see things
A few days of walking, with no signal and nothing to decide except when to stop for lunch, does something to people. We've watched it happen enough times to trust it: how you see yourself, how you handle hard things, what you think you need.
So we pick places that tell a story, historical, cultural or simply geological, and where we can, ones the crowds haven't found. We keep groups small. We stay in huts and guesthouses run by locals. And we try to send everyone home with three things: dramatic landscapes, unexpected discoveries, and sincere human connection.
UIMLA International Mountain Leader
The international standard for leading groups in non-glaciated mountain terrain. #weareuimla
SGLM, Romania
Societatea Ghizilor și Liderilor Montani. We guide at the society's professional rates. #societateaghizilor
Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Georgia
Weekend trips in the Hungarian and Slovak hills to week-long treks in the Carpathians and the Caucasus.