Hiking in the Czech - Saxon Switzerland

You don’t have to travel throughout Europe to find a magical place for your vacation. You can find it right here in the Czech Republic. Wonderful scenery with spectacular rock formations, narrow passes, view towers, and mesas that stretch right up to the German border await your discovery. Walking through the countryside you can find Pravčická gate, the largest rock bridge in Europe, and many beautiful rocky viewpoints that tower up to the tree tops as well as great sailing in the canyon of Kamenice river. Discover the old rocky castles, and set out for the mythical empires of the dwarves, fairies, and robbers who used to live in this area.

Czech-Saxony Switzerland: 11-hour Itinerary

2-hour drive from Prague to Czech-Saxony Switzerland
1-hour hike to the Pravcicka Arch (Czech Republic)
30 min sightseeing at the Pravcicka Arch
1-hour hike back
30 min walk for the boat trip
30 min gorge boat trip
30 min walk back to the village
1-hour lunch
45 min transfer to the Bastei Bridge (Saxony, Germany)
1-hour sightseeing at Bastei Bridge
2-hour drive from Hrensko to Prague

Czech-Saxony Switzerland: Air Spa

Thanks to the unique topography of the area a stay here could benefit your health. Air gets heated on the rocky cliffs and mesas. This causes strong thermal updrafts to occur. These updrafts cause a mixing of the lower atmosphere with air higher up. The air up above is clean air blown in from the North Sea. This air mixes with the hot dry thermals and creates an especially healthy mix. The area has long been known as an “air spa”.

Pravicicka Gate (Czech Republic)

Pravčická gate is the biggest natural arch in Europe. It is considered the most beautiful natural formation in the Czech-Saxon Switzerland region. And it is the symbol of the whole area. In the deep woods, not far from Hřensko, surrounded by a mysterious peace sometimes time seems to stop. The dimensions of Pravčická Gate are impressive; the arch spans 26.5 meters. It is 16 meters high, 7-8m wide and the top flat is 21meters above the ground. Inseparable from Pravčická Brána is the holiday chateau known as the Falcon’s Nest built in1881. Today the first floor houses a museum of the National Park. The ground floor contains a preserved, period restaurant decorated with original paintings. The Pravcicka Gate is approx 4km away from the parking place at Hrensko. Open all year.

Gorge boat trips

Boat rides can be made in both directions on two river segments called Edmund’s Gorge and Wild Gorge. Access to the gorges is allowed only by boat. The gorges have the form of a rocky canyon with sheer, often vertical, walls from 50 to 150 meters high. Edmund (Quiet) Gorge measures 960 m and Wild Gorge is 450m. The ride through Edmund Gorge lasts about 20 minutes and through Wild Gorge 15 minutes. Open from April to the end of October.

Bastei Bridge (Saxony, Germany)

The picturesque Bastei Bridge, created from sandstone in 1851, is more than 75 meters long and has seven arches. It is situated over a 40-meter-deep ravine. It replaced a wooden bridge constructed in 1824. Back in 1812, a butcher ran a business selling bread, butter, beer, and brandy to hungry and thirsty visitors of the Bastei.  The views from the lookout point of Bastei Bridge at the rugged, craggy rocks called the Bastei are breathtaking as if jumping out of German Romanist landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich’s rendition of the area, called Rocks in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. Tourists flock there, as it boasts the highest number of visitors of all observation points in the park.