Did you know the oldest geocache in Hungary is hidden in the newest castle in Hungary? FakeCastle is not trying to shield away from what it truly is. While it looks real, the castle is absolutely fake, but why? What’s the story behind this castle, and most importantly—what do you need to find the geocache there?

Old caches are a rarity in geocaching, but so are new castles. Cache owner skepticx saw an opportunity here and claimed the spot for one of Hungary’s stranger oddities. Tucked away in a forest north of Budapest rests a castle built for the movie set of Stars of Eger—and for our purposes, the set of another geocaching adventure.

Approaching the castle, the masonry appears ruinous as if it is from another time. Arches, cobblestone, and archer-windows are built throughout the structure to represent Eger Castle, the location of the movie which represents a famous battle. Navigating with your compass, you can choose to go through the labyrinth of tunnels and chambers in search of a ‘RealCache’ in a ‘FakeCastle.’

It was rumored that someone high-up in this ‘FakeKingdom’ loved birds and hid a FakeBirdhouse in the woods where they kept their journal. To this day, you can still find a journal inside. Once you’re within a few meters of the geocache, you are surrounded by trees; the old birdhouse rests low at the base of a tree.

Fortunately, birds cannot get inside to make a nest, which deters non-geocachers from disturbing the geocache that now rests there. The birdhouse is weathered from 24 years of publication and also from the 1,800 geocachers who found the cache over the years.

Inside is the container, some SWAG, and the logbook to fortify your find. The castle is worth exploring on your way out—except this time, you know a secret that no one else there likely knows: there’s a geocache in the shadows of this strange structure, and you found it!

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