The smell gives Žatec away in late summer. The fields around this small town in northwestern Bohemia are planted with hops, tall green vines climbing up wires on wooden poles, and when harvest comes in August, the air fills with their resinous, slightly bitter scent. Saaz hops, named after the German form of the town's name, have been prized by brewers for centuries for their fine aroma, and they are a key ingredient in Czech pilsner lagers. In 2023, UNESCO inscribed Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops, recognising the town's hop warehouses, drying kilns, packing houses and the surrounding hop gardens as a unique agricultural and industrial heritage.
The town itself has a well-preserved old centre with a Gothic church, a baroque square and narrow lanes, and the streets around it are lined with tall hop warehouses, their small windows designed for ventilation. The Hop Museum explains the history of the crop and its processing, and the Temple of Hops and Beer, with a lookout tower and a hop astronomical clock, is a quirky attraction. Žatec was a largely German-speaking town until 1945, when the German population was expelled after the Second World War, a painful chapter that is still part of local memory.
The roads around Žatec run through the Ohře river valley and the rolling hop country, with gentle curves, good surfaces and light traffic. The hop gardens make a striking sight from the saddle, especially in summer when the vines are at full height. Head north toward the Krušné hory, the Ore Mountains, and the roads climb into forests and old mining country, with steep gradients and more technical bends. The Ore Mountains straddle the border with Germany and form part of the UNESCO Erzgebirge mining region, with old silver mines and mining towns. Weather here can be cold and wet, even in summer, so pack layers.
Žatec is a town of roughly twenty thousand people with fuel, shops, restaurants and pubs. It would be a crime to visit without trying the local beer, so if you are finished riding for the day, settle into a pub and order a fresh lager brewed with Saaz hops, along with hearty Czech food like roast pork, dumplings and sauerkraut. Walk the old town, visit the Hop Museum, and breathe in the scent of the fields. It is a place where agriculture and culture are inseparable.