CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 301 km round trip from Prague - roughly 5 h 11 in the saddle. The stops in between: Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops, Marienberg Mining Town and back through Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops. It crosses from Czechia into Germany - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Prague is one of the few big European capitals that came through the twentieth century with its medieval and baroque centre mostly intact, and the result is a city of spires, bridges and cobbled lanes on either side of the Vltava. The castle, on its hill on the left bank, is the largest ancient castle complex in the world by area, with St Vitus Cathedral at its heart, and across the river the Old Town spreads in a maze of squares and passages. Charles Bridge, begun by Charles IV in 1357, links the two banks, lined with baroque statues of saints and busy at every hour. In the Old Town Square, the astronomical clock, from the fifteenth century, strikes the hour with a parade of apostles, to the delight of the crowd.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Prague write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Centre of Prague is where the day begins. Next is Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops.
If you have ever drunk a Czech lager, you have tasted Žatec. The town, known in German as Saaz, has been at the centre of a hop-growing region for centuries, and Saaz hops, with their delicate, spicy aroma, are considered among the finest in the world, prized by brewers from Pilsen to Japan. In 2023, Žatec and the landscape of Saaz hops became a World Heritage site, recognised for its hop gardens, drying kilns, packing houses and warehouses, which together tell the story of an industry that shaped the town and its surroundings. In the old town, many of the tall buildings with rows of small ventilation windows in their roofs were used to dry and store the hops.
Read the complete Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops comes up about 84 km into the recorded legs. Next is Marienberg Mining Town.
In 1521 Duke Heinrich of Saxony founded a new town in the Ore Mountains to house miners drawn by recent silver strikes, and he had it laid out on a regular grid around a huge square market place, following Renaissance ideas of the ideal city. Marienberg is the result, and its plan is still clearly visible, with straight streets, the town church, the Zschopau gate and a stretch of town wall. The town is part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, the cross-border World Heritage Site inscribed in 2019, which recognises eight hundred years of mining in these mountains.
Read the complete Marienberg Mining Town write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 150 km into the recorded legs you reach Marienberg Mining Town. Next is back through Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops, late in the day. Next is Historic Centre of Prague.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Prague write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Historic Centre of Prague. That is the ride.
Historic Centre of Prague → Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops → Marienberg Mining Town is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Marienberg Mining Town → back through Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops → Historic Centre of Prague is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.