Boží Dar claims to be the highest town in the Czech Republic, at about a thousand metres on the ridge of the Ore Mountains, and it has the climate to prove it: long winters, deep snow, and a cool, damp feel even in summer. The name means God's Gift, and the settlement was founded in the sixteenth century by miners who came after silver was found on the slopes. Abertamy, Horní Blatná and Mining Landscape are all part of the same story, a string of hill villages that grew up around the mines.
The Ore Mountains, called Krušné hory in Czech and Erzgebirge in German, have been mined for silver, tin, cobalt and later uranium for eight centuries, and in 2019 UNESCO recognised the mining landscape on both sides of the border. Jáchymov, a few kilometres away, is where the silver coin called the thaler, the ancestor of the word dollar, was first minted. Later, Marie Curie obtained her uranium ore from here, and in the twentieth century, Jáchymov was a place of forced labour in the uranium mines under the communist regime, a dark chapter that is remembered in local museums.
The landscape is a plateau of spruce forest, peat bog and open meadows, with old spoil heaps, adits and mine buildings among the trees. Wooden houses with steep roofs and shingled walls give the villages a Central European mountain look. In summer, it is green and cool, and in autumn, the forest is golden. In winter, cross-country skiers fill the trails, and the roads can be icy.
Riding here is pleasant on well-surfaced roads that climb through forest, with long bends and open ridge views, and traffic is light except on summer weekends. Fuel is not always available in the villages, so fill up in Jáchymov, Karlovy Vary or on the German side, and carry a little spare. Fog is common, and temperatures can be much lower than in the valley, so bring a warm layer. In the villages, you will find small cafes and guesthouses serving hearty Czech food, including dumplings and goulash. The nearby Klínovec, at 1,244 metres, is the highest peak of the range.