Why this ride
From Marienberg it runs 247 km to Marienberg; allow about 3 h 47 of riding. On the way it passes Žatec, Jáchymov Mining Landscape and back through Žatec. It crosses from Germany into Czechia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Marienberg Mining Town and Jáchymov Mining Landscape
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 247 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 47
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Marienberg Mining Town is where the day begins. Next is Žatec.
2. Žatec
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.
Read the complete Žatec write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Žatec comes up about 54 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jáchymov Mining Landscape.
3. Jáchymov Mining Landscape
The word dollar comes from this small town in the Ore Mountains. In the early sixteenth century, the silver mines of Jáchymov, then called Joachimsthal, were among the richest in Europe, and the coins minted here were called Joachimsthaler, shortened to thaler, which became daler and eventually dollar. The town grew rapidly, with thousands of miners, and it is now one component of the World Heritage inscription for the Erzgebirge mining region, shared between the Czech Republic and Germany. Its later history is darker and stranger.
Read the complete Jáchymov Mining Landscape write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 123 km into the recorded legs you reach Jáchymov Mining Landscape. Next is back through Žatec.
4. back through Žatec
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Žatec write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Žatec, late in the day. Next is Marienberg Mining Town.
5. Marienberg Mining Town
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Marienberg Mining Town write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Marienberg Mining Town. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Marienberg Mining Town to Žatec
Marienberg Mining Town → Žatec is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Žatec to Jáchymov Mining Landscape
Žatec → Jáchymov Mining Landscape is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jáchymov Mining Landscape to back through Žatec
Jáchymov Mining Landscape → back through Žatec is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Žatec to Marienberg Mining Town
back through Žatec → Marienberg Mining Town is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.