Český Krumlov Long Day

A 391 km loop

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Why this ride

Built for flow, views and useful stops rather than navigation busywork. A 391 km loop that starts and ends near Prague, about 4 h 54 of riding. The stops in between: Milevsko and Český Krumlov.

Roadbook

1. Prague start

   Prague does not need introduction, but it does need a plan if you are leaving it by motorcycle. The city lies on the Vltava river in the heart of Bohemia, with a skyline of spires and towers climbing the hill to the castle, and a medieval centre that survived the twentieth century better than most. The Charles Bridge, begun in 1357 under Emperor Charles IV, is lined with baroque statues and almost always full of people. The Old Town Square has its astronomical clock, dating back to the fifteenth century, and Vyšehrad, the rock above the river, holds an old church and a quiet cemetery where Dvořák and Smetana are buried.

   Beer is the unofficial national religion, and Prague is its cathedral. Czechs drink more beer per head than any other nation, and the pubs serve it fresh, cold and cheap, with pork knuckle, dumplings and sauerkraut. The pilsner style was born in Plzeň, not far west, in 1842, and a glass of unfiltered lager in a cellar pub is the way to start. If you are riding, stick to the coffee and save the beer for the evening.

   Leaving the city is the hard part. Traffic is heavy, trams run on cobbled streets, and the rails and wet stones can be treacherous for a motorcycle, so take care. Fuel is easy and cheap, and there are many large stations on the ring road. Motorcycles do not need the motorway vignette in the Czech Republic, though rules change, so check. Heading northeast toward Bohemian Paradise, the road crosses farmland and small towns, past Mladá Boleslav, where the Škoda car factory has been making vehicles since the 1890s.

   Beyond, the landscape rises into sandstone rock towers and forested ridges, with castles perched on volcanic rocks, and the quiet roads are a fine contrast to the capital. Start early, avoid the morning rush, and enjoy the moment when the city falls behind and the fields open. Spring and early autumn are the best seasons, when the light is soft and the crowds thinner.

2. Milevsko fuel

   Milevsko is a quiet South Bohemian town on the rolling uplands between the Vltava and the Lužnice, and you will probably not have heard of it. It deserves a little more credit than a passing fill-up, though, because on its edge stands one of the oldest monasteries in Bohemia: a Premonstratensian abbey founded in the late twelfth century, with a Romanesque basilica that has survived, much altered, through wars, fires and the long communist decades. The monastery grounds are calm and green, and walking around the old walls takes only a few minutes.

   The town itself is modest, with a square, a few churches and the services you would expect in a place of about nine thousand people: fuel, supermarkets, bakeries and pubs where a Czech lunch of soup and goulash costs very little. It is a practical stop on the long day to Český Krumlov, roughly halfway between Prague and the south.

   What makes this part of the ride worth it lies west of town. The Vltava here has been dammed into a long chain of reservoirs, and the Orlík reservoir winds through a deep, forested valley like a Scandinavian fjord. The Žďákov Bridge, a huge steel arch, carries the road high above the water, and the view from it takes some beating anywhere in Bohemia. On the shore stand two famous castles: Orlík, a white romantic château perched on a rock above the lake, and Zvíkov, an older, rugged royal castle at the meeting of the Vltava and the Otava, often called the king of Czech castles.

   The roads around Milevsko are typical of the Czech countryside: narrow, sometimes patched, winding through fields, forests and villages, with little traffic outside the main routes. They can be a joy on a dry day, but watch out for tractors, potholes and loose gravel at junctions. Czech law requires dipped headlights at all times, and there is a zero-tolerance policy on alcohol for drivers and riders, so save the beer for the evening. In summer, the reservoirs fill with holidaymakers; in spring and autumn, the roads are quieter and the forests smell of resin.

3. Český Krumlov food

   The Vltava makes a series of tight loops through the south Bohemian hills, and Český Krumlov sits inside one of them like a stone kept in a closed hand. The old town, the castle on its rock above the river, and the bridges and rooftops are all squeezed into the bend. It is a very small place, only about fourteen thousand people, but it has the air of something much larger, because for centuries it was the seat of powerful noble families, first the Rosenbergs and later the Schwarzenbergs and Eggenbergs, who built and rebuilt the castle until it had grown into dozens of buildings around a string of courtyards.

   The castle has a famous Baroque theatre, one of the best-preserved in Europe, with its original stage machinery, and a tower that you can climb for the view across the red roofs. The moat is home to bears, a tradition that goes back centuries and that visitors either love or find a bit strange. The painter Egon Schiele, whose mother came from here, lived in the town for a short time and left an art centre in his name.

   This is a day trip on the way between Austria and Bohemia, since the ride runs from Schlögen on the Danube, and the road north over the border passes through quiet wooded hills, with small villages and long views across the forests of the Šumava. Surfaces vary, the bends are mostly gentle and traffic can be heavy on weekends. The last stretch into town is narrow and slow, and the old centre is largely closed to cars, so park outside and walk in.

   There are fuel stations on the approaches, and the town has more restaurants than you will ever need, many of them offering Czech classics: roast pork, dumplings, goulash, and trdelník, the sweet rolled pastry that is sold on every corner. Afternoons in summer are busy, and the best light and the least crowd come early in the morning or at dusk, when the river lights up under the castle.

   Spring and autumn are quieter. If you can, walk down to the river and watch the rafts and canoes go by, because this is also one of the great paddling rivers of Central Europe.

4. Prague finish

Where this sits

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