Krkonoše Mountain Roads

A 511 km loop

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Why this ride

Leave the city behind and spend the day on roads with texture. A 511 km loop that starts and ends near Kouřim, about 9 h 27 of riding. On the way it passes Jablonné v Podještědí, near Benešov nad Ploučnicí, near Kožlany and Třebotov. near Votice is the high point.

Roadbook

1. Fuel stop near Kouřim fuel

   Long before Prague dominated Bohemia, Kouřim was one of its centres of power. On a promontory above the Kouřimka stream lie the earthworks of Stará Kouřim, a vast early medieval Slavic hillfort that archaeologists consider one of the most important in the country. The later town, founded in the thirteenth century, still has stretches of its walls, a Gothic gate and the sturdy church of St Stephen, which together give this small place a strong sense of age.

   Kouřim also hosts an open-air museum of rural architecture, where timber farmhouses, barns and mills from across central Bohemia have been rebuilt, a pleasant stroll if you want a break from the saddle. The surrounding landscape is gently rolling farmland, with fields of wheat and rapeseed, orchards and small woods, and villages with baroque chapels and ponds.

   The roads are typical of central Bohemia: narrow, winding, and of variable quality. Some stretches are smooth new asphalt; others are patched and bumpy. Traffic is light, but tractors and local drivers can surprise you, and village speed limits are often enforced. To the east lies Kolín, a larger town on the Elbe with a Gothic cathedral, and Kutná Hora, the old silver-mining town with its famous bone chapel, is within easy reach for a detour.

   Kouřim is small, so for a wide choice of fuel head for Kolín or Český Brod, where stations and supermarkets are plentiful. Kouřim has a few pubs and cafés around its square, serving Czech staples like goulash, svíčková and of course beer. Stop, walk to the old walls, and enjoy one of the quieter historical towns of the region before continuing towards the mountains in the north.

2. Near Jablonné v Podještědí, on the way back swim

   The long ridge of Ještěd rises to the east, and on its summit stands one of the most unusual buildings in Central Europe: a hyperboloid tower that combines a television transmitter and a hotel, designed by the architect Karel Hubáček and completed in 1973, its silver cone visible for miles around. This stop is on the western side of the ridge, near the small town of Jablonné v Podještědí, in a landscape of hills, forests, ponds and villages on the way back from the Krkonoše.

   Jablonné is a quiet town, but it has a large Baroque basilica dedicated to St. Lawrence and St. Zdislava, a thirteenth-century noblewoman known for her charity, who was canonised in 1995. Just outside the town stands Lemberk Castle, where Zdislava lived, a Renaissance château on a rocky outcrop above the valley. To the north rise the Lusatian Mountains, a range of volcanic hills and sandstone rocks along the German border, with forests and good roads.

   For a swim, the area south-west of the point, around Stráž pod Ralskem and Hamr na Jezeře, has lakes and reservoirs with bathing spots, popular in summer. The landscape there has an unusual history: for decades, uranium was extracted underground by chemical leaching, and the clean-up is still going on, while the large military area of Ralsko, used by the Soviet army until 1991, has slowly been returned to nature. Swim only at official bathing spots, where the water quality is monitored.

   The roads around Jablonné are quiet and winding, passing through forests, over hills and through villages with old timber houses, typical of the region. The surface can be patchy on the minor roads, with potholes and gravel. Jablonné has a few shops and pubs, but for fuel, the larger towns of Česká Lípa, Liberec or Hrádek nad Nisou are more reliable. Remember the Czech rule of dipped headlights at all times.

3. Food stop near Benešov nad Ploučnicí food

   Few small towns can boast two Renaissance châteaux, but Benešov nad Ploučnicí has both, an upper and a lower castle standing side by side above the Ploučnice river. They were built in the sixteenth century by the Wartenberg and Salhausen families, and their gables, painted rooms and courtyards make a surprising sight in a town of a few thousand people. Guided tours run in season.

   The town sits in the valley of the Ploučnice, a winding river that flows west towards the Elbe at Děčín. The surrounding landscape is hilly and wooded, part of the volcanic uplands of northern Bohemia, with conical hills, basalt outcrops and small villages. To the north lies Bohemian Switzerland, a national park of sandstone towers, gorges and the famous Pravčická brána, the largest natural sandstone arch in Europe.

   The roads around Benešov are narrow and winding, following valleys and climbing over hills. They offer a satisfying ride, with plenty of curves and changing scenery, but the surfaces can be uneven and some villages have cobblestones. Traffic is light, apart from the main road through the valley. Watch for cyclists and hikers, especially near the national park.

   Benešov nad Ploučnicí has a few shops and pubs, and fuel can be found in the area, though the nearest large town is Děčín, on the Elbe, which has a wide range of services and a big château of its own. A stop in Benešov to see the castles is well worthwhile. Next, the road continues towards the Krkonoše, the highest mountains in the Czech Republic, through a succession of valleys, hills and forests.

4. Photo stop near Kožlany photo

   Kožlany is a small town on the high, rolling plateau north of Plzeň, and if the name rings a faint bell it is because Edvard Beneš was born here in 1884. The man who would become Czechoslovakia's second president, and who led the government in exile during the Second World War, grew up in a farming family in this quiet corner of western Bohemia. A memorial in the town marks the connection.

   The country around it is wide and open, a patchwork of big fields, scattered woods and villages built around a pond and a church. To the south, the land drops towards the deep, wooded valley of the Berounka, which loops and twists its way towards Prague through some of the prettiest scenery in the region. Castles perch above it here and there, and the river is popular with canoeists in summer.

   Riding up here is calm and rewarding. The roads cross the plateau in long, gentle curves, with surfaces that range from good to bumpy and patched, and traffic is usually light. Dropping down into the Berounka valley gives you something more interesting, with tighter bends and short, steep descents through forest. Watch for tractors and for gravel at junctions, and be ready for village speed limits, which are enforced.

   As a photo stop, the appeal is the sense of space: big skies, golden fields in summer, and the gentle geometry of Bohemian farmland. Fuel and food are available in Kralovice nearby and in Plzeň, a short ride south. If you have time, Plzeň's brewery, birthplace of the original pilsner lager, is a worthwhile detour, though best saved for after the ride.

5. Near Třebotov finish

   Just beyond Prague's south-western edge, the landscape changes abruptly. The city's apartment blocks give way to wooded hills and limestone cliffs, and the Berounka river winds through a valley lined with summer cottages, villages and the occasional factory. You start and finish on the plateau above the valley, near Třebotov and Černošice, a pleasant, practical place to start and finish rides without fighting through the centre of the capital.

   This is the edge of the Bohemian Karst, an area of limestone hills, caves and gorges that stretches west towards Karlštejn. The rock has been quarried for centuries, and some of the old quarries, now flooded and overgrown, are surprisingly beautiful; the most famous, nicknamed Velká Amerika, has sheer walls dropping to a turquoise lake and is sometimes called the Czech Grand Canyon. Karlštejn Castle, built by Emperor Charles IV in the fourteenth century to protect the crown jewels, stands on a hill above the Berounka a short ride away.

   The rides that start here head far to the north-east, to the Krkonoše and the Orlické Mountains near the Polish border, so the first part of the day is about covering distance. The Prague ring road will take you around the city, but on weekdays it clogs easily. The local roads in the Berounka valley are narrow and winding, with tight bends, railway crossings and cyclists, and they make a pleasant warm-up or cool-down at either end of the day.

   There are fuel stations in the surrounding villages and on the main roads towards Prague, and pubs and restaurants in Černošice and the other valley towns. Czech pubs are a fine place to end a ride, with cheap, hearty food and excellent beer, though remember that the legal blood alcohol limit for riding is zero. On summer weekends, the valley fills with Praguers heading to their cottages and to the river, so traffic can be slow. Early mornings, with mist rising from the river, are the most atmospheric time to ride.

6. Scenic stretch near Sedlčany scenic

   Sedlčany sits in the Central Bohemian uplands south of Prague, in a landscape of low hills, forests, fields and fishponds. The town itself is modest, with a market square, a Gothic church and a scattering of shops and cafés, but the countryside around it is the real attraction.

   To the west, the Vltava carves a deep, winding valley, flooded in stretches by the dams of the Vltava cascade. The Slapy and Orlík reservoirs create long, fjord-like lakes between steep wooded banks, and their shores are lined with holiday cabins and campsites. Castles and chateaux are scattered through the area, including Orlík, perched above the water, and Vysoký Chlumec on its rocky hill, home to a well-known brewery.

   The riding here is among the best close to Prague. Roads wind through forests and along valley sides, with plenty of bends, short climbs and descents, and views over the water. Surfaces vary, and some minor roads are narrow and rough, so take care. Traffic is light on weekdays but can increase on summer weekends when Praguers head to their cottages.

   Sedlčany has fuel, food and basic services. As a scenic stretch, it offers a taste of rural Bohemia at its most relaxed, with quiet roads, gentle landscapes and a sense of being far from the city, even though Prague is only an hour away.

7. High point near Votice pass

   The hills around Votice belong to the Central Bohemian uplands, a rumpled country of fields, fishponds and small forests between Prague and Tábor. Votice itself is a modest market town with a square, a church and a few thousand inhabitants, a quiet place where the main event of the day might be the arrival of the bus. It has a bakery, shops and fuel, which is all a rider really needs from it.

   The local landscape, though, has a legend attached. A short ride south-east rises Blaník, a forested hill that every Czech knows: according to folklore, an army of knights sleeps inside it, waiting to ride out and save the nation in its darkest hour. Smetana included the story in his cycle Má vlast, and the hill has a lookout tower on its summit. Even without the legend, the countryside around it is lovely, with long views over gentle ridges and small villages.

   The roads here are narrow and winding, rising over low hills and dipping into valleys with ponds and mills. Surfaces vary a lot, from fresh asphalt to patched and broken stretches, and village roads can have potholes deep enough to be a problem on a sports bike. Watch for tractors and for cars overtaking on blind crests. The D3 motorway runs nearby, handy for a quick escape back towards Prague, but the minor roads are where the pleasure lies.

   Benešov, the nearest larger town, has more choice of fuel and food, and its château of Konopiště, once the home of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose murder in Sarajevo triggered the First World War, is worth a stop if you have time. In Votice, a coffee on the square and a look at the old houses make a gentle pause before heading on into the rolling uplands.

8. Back to Krkonoše Mountain finish

   The title of this stop is a mountain range far to the north, but you are in the rolling farmland of central Bohemia, east of Prague, around the small town of Kouřim. The Krkonoše, the Giant Mountains on the Polish border, lie more than a hundred kilometres away, and this is the quiet, gentle country you cross on the way home. The land is a mixture of fields, orchards and woodland, with long views across the plain and the occasional church spire.

   Kouřim itself has an unusual claim. On a hill above the town stands an early medieval hillfort, a great ring of earth ramparts that was one of the main centres of the Slavic tribes before Prague rose to dominance, and it was still important in the tenth century. Below it, the town keeps a market square and a Gothic church with a high tower. A short walk from the centre is a skansen, an open-air museum of village buildings, with wooden cottages, barns and a windmill brought from villages across central Bohemia, so that you can walk through the countryside of a century ago.

   The surrounding region is a patchwork of agriculture and forest, with a mild climate and fertile soil, and the villages are quiet. Near Kostelec nad Černými Lesy, the forests belong to a school forest used for teaching and research, and old oak and beech trees stand beside the paths. In spring the orchards blossom, and in late summer the combine harvesters work the cereal fields from dawn to dark.

   For a rider finishing a long day, this is an easy landing. The roads are flat or gently rolling, with moderate traffic and a good surface, and the villages are so close together that you drop speed limits every few minutes. Speed cameras and police checks are common in Czech towns, so keep an eye on signs. Český Brod, about thirteen kilometres away, has fuel, shops and cafes, and Kostelec nad Černými Lesy has a few small places to eat. Try a plate of svíčková, beef in cream sauce with dumplings, and a glass of local beer, and be in Prague by dark.

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