A walk in Ceské Švýcarsko – Bohemian Switzerland

The path to Pravcická brána © Ricky Yates

The path to Pravcická brána © Ricky Yates

On Monday 15th February, I took a proper ‘day-off’ and went for a near 20km walk in Ceské Švýcarsko – Bohemian Switzerland, the beginning of keeping the promise I made at the end of my previous but one blog post. I saw enough during my day trip, to encourage me to return and further explore this attractive area.

I drove north-west from Prague, to the port town of Decín on the Labe River, and then a further 12km north alongside the Labe, (which becomes the Elbe on entering Germany), to the border settlement of Hrensko. Here I turned onto a minor road along the Kamenice river valley to the eastern end of the settlement, where there was a designated car park in which I duly parked the ‘Carly’. According to a sign, its costs CZK 30 per hour to park, or CZK 120 for the day. But being a Monday in February, there was no attendant waiting to collect my fee!

Hrensko basically consists of hotels and other forms of accommodation, together with several bar-restaurants, all aimed to meet the needs of the visiting walker and tourist. Unfortunately, because of its proximity to the German border, it also has a number of ‘night clubs’ which are little more than euphemisms for brothels. These are almost exclusively patronised by visiting German males, especially at weekends.

From where I parked the ‘Carly’, I first walked for over 1.5km along a minor tarmac road, following the waymarking for the red walking route, to a point where the red route leaves the road and climbs up into the hills. I was glad I hadn’t followed my original instinct and driven to this point and tried to park, because there was a large sign saying that doing so, would result in a CZK 5000/£145.00 fine. It was either park back where I was parked, or alternatively a further 3km further on.

Pravcická brána © Ricky Yates

Pravcická brána © Ricky Yates

Climbing the red route took me to the most famous feature of Ceské Švýcarsko – Bohemian Switzerland – Pravcická brána. It has a span of 26.5 metres, an inside height of 16 metres, 8 metre maximum width and 3 metre arch and is the largest natural sandstone arch in Europe.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, a hotel and restaurant was built alongside this amazing natural feature, as you can see on the left of my photograph. These days, it functions as a National Park information centre and restaurant. Between November and March, it is only open at weekends meaning I couldn’t reward myself with a cool beer after my steep climb. Quite how supplies are delivered to the place I have no idea as there is no access road – just the footpath.

I met or passed a small number of other walkers on this route, all of whom were Germans! My ‘Dobrý den’ was greeted with blank looks, whilst ‘Guten Tag’ gained a positive response 🙂

Rear view of Pravcická brána © Ricky Yates

Rear view of Pravcická brána © Ricky Yates

Having descended 500m from Pravcická brána, I continued eastwards along the red route for a further 6.5km. This first gave me a rear view of the sandstone arch.

The path alongside cliffs © Ricky Yates

The path alongside cliffs © Ricky Yates

It then took me past rock cliffs…..

A view across Ceské Švýcarsko © Ricky Yates

A view across Ceské Švýcarsko © Ricky Yates

….and a series of amazing views. Unfortunately, at this point, my camera batteries decided to die so I have no further photographs.

The route itself was occasionally undulating but mainly level, until the last couple of kilometres when it descended to the small village of Mezní Louka. Walking this route I only met one other couple, coming in the opposite direction. Otherwise, I had the whole of the wilderness to myself.

I made my return journey to the ‘Carly’, first walking a green waymarked route along a minor road to the village of Mezná. Then it was the yellow waymarked route along a gravelled forestry track, finally followed in the reverse direction, by the same 1.5km minor road that I’d set out along several hours earlier.

10 comments to A walk in Ceské Švýcarsko – Bohemian Switzerland

  • Sean Mccann

    Hi Ricky,
    You lost no time returning to visit this beautiful area and who could blame you? That sandstone arch is impressive, more like something you would find in a desert region than in the midst of temperate Europe – another example of the long and wonderfully varied geological ‘history’ of seemingly ordinary everyday places. Thank you for a very informative post, this is another place to add to our ‘must see’ list for a future trip to Czechia.

    • Ricky

      Hi Sean,

      You lost no time in leaving this comment 🙂 Yes – I decided to act on what I’d recently written! The sandstone arch is impressive. I’d previously seen photographs but it was wonderful to see it in the flesh. As I wrote, the wider area of Ceské Švýcarsko remains on my list of places to further explore.

  • Hi Ricky. Thank you for visit and writting about nature of Bohemian Switzerland. You are welcome again. Another recommend for you and other, visit Jetrichovice viewpoints or Kyjov valley. Tourist guide Ales from Bohemian Switzerland – http://www.cottage.cz

    • Ricky

      Hi Aleš – Thank you for commenting again & for your recommendations. In return, I’ll let you have both of your backlinks 😉

  • What a great day trip! I had only more recently heard of Czech Switzerland (as first I had heard a lot about Czech Paradise) but I would absolutely love to spend some time there in the future and see that brana 🙂 Funny as I just recently spent some time in one of the other areas named for a different country, Czech Canada! How many more are there?

    • Ricky

      It was a great day trip, Cynthia. I’m sure you & Alex would enjoy exploring Czech Switzerland.

      It is funny how there is Czech Paradise, Czech Switzerland & Czech Canada. And I’ve visited all three! I don’t think there are any more ‘Czech countries’, but I could be wrong 😉

  • That sounds like a walk well worth the effort, Ricky. A pity your camera batteries ran out, but your photos still give a very good impression of a fascinating landscape.

    Sorry I’m late commenting. You posted when I was away and since then it’s taken me some time to shake off the bug I caught. Better late than never… 🙂

    • Ricky

      There is no need to apologise for being a bit late in commenting, Perpetua. You are one of my most faithful visitors & commenters & I do try to reciprocate 🙂

      It is a wonderful landscape & one to which I hope to return & discover more. And next time, the camera batteries will be fully charged & I’ll carry a spare pair as well!

  • Em

    The photos you did manage to get are stunning! That’s such a lovely walking area, and you captured it well. I remember hearing mostly German whilst visiting there, too. That’s a nice, long hike; well done for getting the exercise!

    • Ricky

      Thank you for the photo compliments, Em. As I said in reply to Perpetua, next time I’ll make sure my camera batteries are fully charged & take some spare ones too! Regarding language, it isn’t the first time when walking in border areas, that I’ve heard more German than Czech.