Skip to content
CurveScout

CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Žatec and Freiberg Mining Landscape

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
342 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 58
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.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

From Žatec it runs 342 km to Žatec; allow about 5 h 58 of riding. On the way it passes Mědník Hill Mining Landscape, Rother Berg Mining Landscape, Lauta Mining Landscape and Freiberg Mining Landscape. It crosses from Czechia into Germany - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Mědník Hill Mining Landscape.

  2. 2. 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.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Mědník Hill Mining Landscape comes up about 51 km into the recorded legs. Next is Rother Berg Mining Landscape.

  3. 3. Rother Berg Mining Landscape

    Schwarzenberg, in the western Erzgebirge, is a town of steep streets, slate roofs and a castle and church perched on a rock above the Schwarzwasser river, and the hills around it are riddled with old mine workings. The Rother Berg, the red mountain, takes its name from the iron ore that colours its soil, and it is one of the components of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, the cross-border UNESCO site listed in 2019. For eight centuries, miners in these mountains dug for silver, tin, iron, cobalt and later uranium, and their work shaped not only the landscape but the culture of the whole region.

    Read the complete Rother Berg Mining Landscape write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Rother Berg Mining Landscape. Next is Lauta Mining Landscape.

  4. 4. Lauta Mining Landscape

    Marienberg was laid out in 1521 as a planned silver town, with a vast square market place and streets set in a grid, an idea of urban order that was new in this part of Europe. Lauta, today a district of Marienberg, lies among the old mine workings, spoil heaps and shafts that fed that wealth, and it is one of the components of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, the cross-border World Heritage Site shared by Saxony and the Czech Republic and inscribed in 2019.

    Read the complete Lauta Mining Landscape write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Lauta Mining Landscape, about halfway. Next is Freiberg Mining Landscape.

  5. 5. Freiberg Mining Landscape

    Silver was found near Freiberg in 1168, and within a few decades the town had become one of the richest in Saxony. For eight centuries, miners dug ever deeper into the hills, and the wealth they brought up paid for churches, palaces and the splendours of Dresden. Freiberg's Bergakademie, founded in 1765, is the oldest mining university in the world still operating, and its mineral collection is one of the finest anywhere. The town and its mining landscape are part of the Erzgebirge mining region listed by UNESCO, shared between Germany and the Czech Republic.

    Read the complete Freiberg Mining Landscape write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Freiberg Mining Landscape sits at 162 km, about halfway. Next is back through Lauta Mining Landscape.

  6. 6. back through Lauta Mining Landscape

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Lauta Mining Landscape write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Lauta Mining Landscape comes up about 213 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape.

  7. 7. back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Rother Berg Mining Landscape write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 255 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape. Next is back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape.

  8. 8. back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Mědník Hill Mining Landscape write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape, late in the day. Next is Žatec.

  9. 9. 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

    The route ends here after 342 km.

Leg by leg

Žatec to Mědník Hill Mining Landscape

Žatec → Mědník Hill Mining Landscape is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Mědník Hill Mining Landscape to Rother Berg Mining Landscape

Mědník Hill Mining Landscape → Rother Berg Mining Landscape is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Rother Berg Mining Landscape to Lauta Mining Landscape

Rother Berg Mining Landscape → Lauta Mining Landscape is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Lauta Mining Landscape to Freiberg Mining Landscape

Lauta Mining Landscape → Freiberg Mining Landscape is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Freiberg Mining Landscape to back through Lauta Mining Landscape

Freiberg Mining Landscape → back through Lauta Mining Landscape is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Lauta Mining Landscape to back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape

back through Lauta Mining Landscape → back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape to back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape

back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape → back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape to Žatec

back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape → Žatec is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

More motorcycle rides nearby