Veľký Milič (Nagy-Milic)

Veľký Milič (Hungarian Nagy-Milic) is an 895 m summit right on the Slovak–Hungarian border, about 14 km south-east of Košice. For Slovakia it is a peak of the Slanské vrchy above the village of Slanská Huta; for Hungary it is the highest summit of the Zemplén Mountains (the country's 38th-highest mountain), near Hungary's northernmost point above the village of Füzér. Both ranges are parts of one volcanic Prešov–Tokaj chain that the state border crosses here. Milič is also a watershed and a linguistic boundary where the Hungarian and Slovak language areas meet.

Geologically Milič is what Hungarian geologists call a «ruin volcano»: the eroded remnant of a once huge volcano that blew apart. The summit ridges are stony, the slopes — especially the southern ones — steep, and the whole top is covered in continuous forest, so there is no view from it. The name is derived from a Slavic personal name based on «milъ» (dear); a document of 1270 mentions «Mylychkw», probably «Milič's stone».

On the summit

Next to the border stone stands a tall concrete geodetic obelisk from the interwar period, along with an information board of the Slovak educational trail Slanská Huta – Veľký Milič about the local flora, a table with benches and a sign of the former Slanec – Füzér tourist border crossing. The pedestrian crossing opened in 2006, and since both countries joined the Schengen area the border can be crossed freely here. An old wooden lookout tower on the summit itself ended up in the border zone and collapsed in the 1970s.

Getting there / trails

• From Slovakia: green markings along the border ridge from the Čatorňa junction or from the Veľký Milič saddle; yellow markings lead to the saddle from Malá Márovka and from the Malý Milič saddle. The easiest ascent is from the village of Slanská Huta.
• From Hungary: stage 27 of the National Blue Trail (Országos Kéktúra), Hollóháza – Nagy-Milic – Füzér, crosses the summit, where there is a stamp point. Milic was once the eastern end of this trail, and it was from here in 1979 that the film crew of the legendary Hungarian TV series «One and a Half Million Steps in Hungary», led by Pál Rockenbauer, set off.
• The international Via Carpatica Vulcanica and Via Slovakia routes also pass here.

The view

The best panorama is from the Károlyi lookout tower on the neighbouring top of Kis-Milic, about 500 m from the main summit: the tower is 16.8 m high with a viewing platform at 11 m. From there you can see the Slanské vrchy and Zemplén, the Košice basin, the East Slovak Lowland, Vihorlat, the Volovské vrchy and occasionally the Tatras. Hungarian sources add that on clear days the Ukrainian Carpathians and Romania's Gutâi can be seen too.

Nature

East of the summit lies the Veľký Milič National Nature Reserve, declared in 1967 over about 68 ha: it protects forests on volcanic rocks in the southern Slanské vrchy and important nesting sites of birds of prey. The northern part of the massif belongs to the Miličská skala natural monument — a distinctive rock outcrop about 250 m from the summit. The Trebeľa stream rises on the western slopes, while the eastern ones drain to the Roňava in the Bodrog basin.

Safety

The forest here is dense and lonely, and your phone may switch to a Hungarian network. In an emergency call 112, which works in both countries; in Slovakia also the Mountain Rescue Service (HZS): 18 300 (+421 18 300).

Photos: MVDr. Samuel Pačenovský, CC BY-SA 4.0; SamuT, CC BY 3.0; Derzsi Elekes Andor, CC BY-SA 3.0; MVDr. Samuel Pačenovský, CC BY-SA 4.0; Nyulasi Zsolt, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.