A circular route from Čelkavice along the Lužnice river with a visit to Tábor zoo in Větrovy : 10 km

• On a visit to the historic town of Tábor and looking for an easy circular walking route which gives the option of visiting the town’s popular zoo, consider the route shown in the map below. It starts with a section along the beautiful Lužnice river and then climbs into the hills to the south of Tábor to reach the village of Větrovy, where the zoo is located. There is also an interesting lookout tower close to the zoo, called Hýlačka, which is worth a short detour (note there is an entrance fee, payable with coins only).
• This trip is an extension to (and can be combined with) the basic Tábor city tour, which is outlined here. The start and finish point is by the river at the Čelkovice spa trail junction, which is connected by bus with the train-bus station, some 2 km walk away.
• Along the river are a number of historical mills and the first section of path also follows a nature trail in the Pintovka forest path. There are also a number of impressive carved wooden statues lining the route. The 10 km route involves just under 200m of height to ascend-descend. None of the paths are difficult, but the trail up from the river to Větrovy is not really suitable for strollers.
• There is a snack bar at the zoo, while back in Tábor there are many other good refreshment options, with a number of fine cafés and restaurants lining its historic streets. In particular, the Moccacafé, just off Pražská street, serves excellent Italian ice cream – on sunny weekends there is often a long queue outside!

Note: click ‘Show on map’ above to go to a full screen version directly on the mapy.cz site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file

Directions

• At the Čelkovice – spa trail junction, join follow the riverside path heading AWAY from the town
• Continue on this path for 400m until reaching the RED hiking trail at the road bridge
• Continue besides the river on the RED trail for 2.6 km to reach the Vlčí důl – Lužnice, where the RED trail branches in two. Take the branch heading uphill in the direction of Větrovy
• After 3 km reach the Větrovy – pod Hýlačkou junction. If wanting to visit the Hýlačka viewing tower, turn right onto the BLUE trail. The tower is 80m along the path
• Return back to the junction after visiting the tower and continue on the RED trail for 150m to rech a road junction. The zoo entrance is 300m along the road to the right
• Return back to the RED trail after visiting the zoo and continue for 200m, until reaching a bend in the road, where the RED trail continues right along the road, and a footpath heads downhill. Take the footpath, which is marked with green/white nature trail markers
• The nature trail shortly joins up with the GREEN hiking trail and continues downhill to return directly back to the start point at Čelkovice, which is reached in 2.1 km