With a few days free before our next trip away to The Balkans, we took the opportunity for a two-day road trip (15th to 16th July) to visit two neighbouring National Parks on the Czech-German border: Bohmeian Switzerland National Park (on the Czech side) and Saxon Switzerland National Park (on the German side).
We started our journey from Prague, where Pavel’s friend very kindly loaned us his Audi A5 for our trip. Talk about road tripping in style! From there, it was only a two-hour drive to the north where Bohemian Switzerland National Park is situated.
Bohemian Switzerland National Park (also known as “Czech Switzerland”) – shown as “A” on the above map
This is one of four National Parks in Czech Republic, located on the north of its “Bohemia” region. For those not aware, Czech Republic is divided into three “lands”: “Bohemia” which largely takes up the west side of Czech, “Moravia” which takes up the majority of the East, and “Czech Silesia” which takes up the northern section of the East. Despite each land forming Czech Republic as a whole, the three regions have their own distinct spoken dialects, with some subtle variations in words used.
Bohemian Switzerland National Park was named as such due to its visual similarity to the alpine country, with lush greenery, crystal clear rivers and streams, mountains and unique rock formations. The most symbolic rock formation of the National Park is the Pravčická Brána, the largest sandstone arch in Europe, which also featured in several scenes of the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
We spent a relaxing day here hiking a couple of its popular trails, Jetřichovice Rocks trail and the Pravčická Brána.
The Jetřichovice Rocks trail starts in the village of Jetřichovice, which has a number of small traditional pubs and restaurants and many typical Czech style houses surrounded by dense woods. It’s well worth a drive just through the picturesque village itself to check out the unique houses inhabited by the locals. The whole trail is approximately 14km long and takes about 4.5 hours, passing by a number of stunning sights and large rock viewpoints.
The Pravčická Brána trail starts in the village of Hřensko and is another picturesque trail which leads to the largest natural sandstone arch in Europe. The hike is approximately 7 km and takes 4-5 hours to complete. Being the most famous landmark of the National Park, there’s no shortage of tourists on the trail to visit the stunning sight, which was made even more famous by the movie The Chronicles of Narnia (although unfortunately you can’t walk on the Pravčicka Brána, unlike the characters in the movie!)
We stopped in at the beer garden at the top of the trail next to the Pravčická Brána for some beers and traditonal grilled sausage with bread rolls. The grilled sausages here in Czech, known as “párek” or “klobasy” are next level!
Saxon Switzerland National Park – shown as “B” on the map above
After staying overnight at a small village hotel near the Czech-German border (on the Czech side, of course, to save paying a German premium!) we headed across the border the next morning for Saxon Switzerland National Park to visit the well-known Bastei Bridge.
The Bastei Bridge is a man-made bridge built in 1851 (replacing the original wooden bridge) connecting towering rock formations carved from water erosion over a million years ago. From on top of the bridge, there are stunning panoramic views overlooking the Elbe River, Lilienstein mountain and Koenigstein Fortress.
The main base for visiting the Bastei is the small picturesque village of Rathen. Although filled with many tourist souvenir shops, the village still maintains a German charm with plenty of traditonal-style houses and buildings.
Before the walk to Bastei Bridge, we stopped in at a local restaurant for some German beers and schnitzel. Post-walk, some traditional German cakes and coffee were ticked off the bucket list. Well-earned after the afternoon hike!
