Devínska Kobyla

Devínska Kobyla (German Thebener Kogel, Hungarian Dévényi-tető) is a 514 m summit at the very south-western tip of the Little Carpathians, the highest peak of the Devín Carpathians and the highest point of Bratislava. It rises above the borough of Devín, about 9 km west of the centre of the Slovak capital, between Devínska Nová Ves, Devín and Dúbravka. This is where the Carpathians end: to the west and south the mountain is bounded by the Morava and the Danube, beyond which lies the Vienna Basin, and together with the Austrian Braunsberg opposite it forms the Devín Gate — the Danube's passage between the Alps and the Carpathians. To the east the ridge continues via Švábsky vrch and Kamzík above Bratislava.

Getting there / trails

• Green markings lead from Devínska Nová Ves straight to the summit.
• The red-marked Cesta hrdinov SNP passes below the summit: from Devín castle in the south and from the Slavín memorial in the south-east via Švábsky vrch. It is the same route that crosses the whole of Slovakia to the Dukla Pass.
• Green, yellow and blue markings lead from Devínska Nová Ves to the protected slopes and Sandberg and continue to Devín castle; there is also an educational trail about 4 km long.

An asphalt road also leads to the top, so the walk is easy to combine with the city, Devín castle and the Danube bank.

The lookout tower

The summit itself is wooded and built up, so the view from it is limited. But on 15 July 2020 a 21 m, 35-tonne lookout tower with 112 steps, funded by the borough of Devínska Nová Ves, opened on the site of the former military base. Locals call it «the praying mantis»: its shape was inspired by the European mantis that lives on Kobyla and by milk thistle. The tower offers an all-round panorama of the Little Carpathians, Záhorie and the Danubian Lowland, Austria and Hungary, and in good visibility the White Carpathians, Vtáčnik, Tribeč and the Alpine foothills.

Former missile base

In 1979–1983 an air-defence missile base (officially a «radio-technical air-defence post») was built on the summit as part of the Warsaw Pact defences against NATO aircraft and missiles. Four reinforced-concrete bunkers held 16 S-125 Neva missiles, and the garrison numbered 140 soldiers in 20 buildings. After 1989 the base lost its purpose, it was abandoned in the mid-1990s, and in 2000 the Ministry of Defence declared it surplus. The former barracks still stand empty.

Nature

The mountain lies in the Little Carpathians Protected Landscape Area, and since the mid-1960s its western and southern slopes have been a national nature reserve of about 101 ha. Unique xerothermic forest-steppes survive here: over 1,100 species of vascular plants, 234 species of fungi, 110 lichens and 100 mosses have been recorded in a small area. In spring the steppe slopes bloom with spring pheasant's eye, burning bush (Dictamnus) and bloody crane's-bill; remnants of original oak forest survive on the south-western slopes. Goat and sheep grazing has been brought back to restore the steppe. The whole massif is part of the Natura 2000 site «Devínska Kobyla» (about 643 ha).

On the western slope near Devínska Nová Ves lies Sandberg, one of the most important palaeontological sites in Slovakia. The yellow faces of an old sandpit show horizontal layers of Tertiary sea deposits 14–16 million years old, which have yielded fossils of more than 300 animal species.

Tips

This is a city «mountain» walk that works all year. In the reserve keep to marked paths, do not pick plants or fossils, and keep dogs on a lead. In an emergency call 112.

Photos: MarkBA, CC BY-SA 4.0; Svetovid, CC BY-SA 3.0; Punteador, CC BY-SA 4.0; Lure, CC BY-SA 3.0; Punteador, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.