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.
357 km from Průhonice to Průhonice, about 6 h 09 of riding. On the way it passes Historic Centre of Prague, Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops, Mědník Hill Mining Landscape and Pöhlberg Mining Landscape. It crosses from Czechia into Germany - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 20 km this is Czech Bohemian Paradise Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Průhonice is a village on the south-eastern edge of Prague, close enough to the capital that you can hear the city's hum, and yet its park feels like a separate country. The park was shaped from the 1880s by Count Arnošt Emanuel Silva-Tarouca, a passionate plantsman who worked with the landscape designer Adolf Vaněk to create a naturalistic landscape of lakes, meadows and woodland. He collected trees and shrubs from across the temperate world, and the park is especially known for its rhododendrons, which bloom in a riot of colour around May.
Read the complete Průhonice Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Průhonice Park is where the day begins. Next is Historic Centre of Prague.
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 comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 104 km into the recorded legs you reach Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops. Next is Mědník Hill Mining Landscape.
Mědník is a small, steep hill on the Czech side of the Ore Mountains, or Krušné hory, the range that forms the border between Bohemia and Saxony. It rises above the village of Měděnec, whose name, like the hill's, comes from the Czech word for copper. For centuries, miners tunnelled into the hill for copper and iron ore, and the hill is now part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, inscribed by UNESCO in 2019 as a cross-border site.
Read the complete Mědník Hill Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mědník Hill Mining Landscape, about halfway. Next is Pöhlberg Mining Landscape.
The Pöhlberg is a basalt cone that stands up from the high Ore Mountains like a bump on a bedspread, and Annaberg-Buchholz lies at its feet. Both belong to the Erzgebirge mining region, which UNESCO listed in 2019 after eight centuries of digging for silver, tin, cobalt and later uranium. Annaberg was founded in the 1490s after a silver strike, and for a few decades it was among the richest places in Saxony. The money is still visible in the town's great late-Gothic hall church, St Anne's, whose tall, ribbed interior feels more like a cathedral than a parish church, and whose altar carvings were paid for by miners and mine owners hoping for luck underground.
Read the complete Pöhlberg Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pöhlberg Mining Landscape sits at 179 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mědník Hill Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape comes up about 203 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 254 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops. Next is back through 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 through Historic Centre of Prague, late in the day. Next is Průhonice Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Průhonice Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 357 km.
Průhonice Park → Historic Centre of Prague is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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 → Mědník Hill Mining Landscape is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mědník Hill Mining Landscape → Pöhlberg Mining Landscape is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pöhlberg Mining Landscape → back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape → back through Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops → back through Historic Centre of Prague is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Historic Centre of Prague → Průhonice Park is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.