*The Bohemian-Moravian Cyril & Methodius trail from Levý Hradec to Velehrad: 420 km*
- The Cyril & Methodius route is a series of interlinked hiking trails connected with the life and mission of the 9th century Byzantine missionaries, Saints Cyril and Methodius. The route was established by the Council of Europe in 2021 and now comprises over 5,000 km of trails, spanning 10 countries. The Saints – who were brothers – are most famous for helping bring Christianity to the Slavic lands. They are most closely associated Great Moravian Empire, where Methodius became the first Archbishop.
- The Czech Republic has six different Cyril & Methodius trails, all which end at the pilgrimage site of Velehrad, in the eastern Moravian Zlín region. Velehrad was (in folk tradition) the seat of Methodius after he became archbishop. It is also the site of Moravia’s first Cistercian monastery.
- The Bohemian-Moravian trail runs eastwards for approximately 420 km starting at the site of the first Bohemian church, at Levý Hradec (10 km to the north of Prague) and finishing at Velehrad. This is one of the very best multiday walks in the country.
- The route traverses Prague, heading first along the Vltava and then cross country to reach the Sázava river. There are multiple days spent beside the Sázava, before crossing the ‘border’ between Bohemia and Moravia. The route then traverses the Moravian kras region to the north of Brno, before finally approaching Velehrad in eastern Moravia.
- In some ways this particular route might more properly be called the Bořivoj trail, since it was the first historically documented ruler of the Přemyslid dynasty – Bořivoj I – who founded the church on Levý Hradec after he had made journey to be baptized in Moravia, possibly by Methodius himself. There is no direct evidence that either Cyril or Methodius actually travelled to Bohemia!
- The author is walking this trail from July to September 2026. Write ups of the twenty individual stages will appear below when completed! Note: the quoted 420 km route distance does not include diversions to visit the many historical or cultural sites and viewpoints along the way. It also does not take into account the need to identify public transport or accommodation options at the beginning and end of each stage or good refreshment spots. The total actual hiking distance will therefore be at least 450 km.
- Stage 1: Levý Hradec to Prague Castle: 19 km
- Stage 2: Prague Castle to Průhonice: 26 km
- Stage 3: Průhonice to Pyšely: 26 km
- Stage 4: Pyšely to Sázava: 27 km
- Stage 5: Sázava to Český Šternberk: 19 km
- Stage 6: Český Šternberk to Zruč nad Sázavou: 24 km
- Stage 7: Zruč nad Sázavou to Ledeč nad Sázavou: 25 km
- Stage 8: Ledeč nad Sázavou to Světlá nad Sázavou: 17 km
- Stage 9: Světla nad Sázavou to Havlíčkův Brod: 20 km
- Stage 10: Havlíčkův Brod to Přibyslav: 19 km
- Stage 11: Přibyslav to Žďár nad Sázavou: 18 km
- Stage 12: Žďár nad Sázavou to Nové Město na Moravě: 18 km
- Stage 13: Nové Město na Moravě to Bystřice nad Pernštejnem: 26 km
- Stage 14: Bystřice nad Pernštejnem to Tišnov: 32 km
- Stage 15: Tišnov to Vranov u Brna: 30 km
- Stage 16: Vranov u Brna to Křtiny: 16 km
- Stage 17: Křtiny to Rousínov: 19 km
- Stage 18: Rousínov to Bučovice: 17 km
- Stages 19 and 20 to follow shortly…!
Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’ to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.cz site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.
Directions
- Directions for each Stage will appear in the individual stage write ups, linked above
