*A tour of the forests and villages close to the 13th century castle of Bezděž – 14 km to 18 km*

• Bezděz is the best preserved 13th century castle in Bohemia, constructed by the famous Přemyslid ruler, Otakar II, to protect the trade route from the Czech royal town of Mělník to Zittau in Germany. It stands proud on a twin volcanic peak at a lofty 606m altitude overlooking the forests and villages of the pretty Kokořínsko region.
• For details of different direct and indirect approaches to view Bezděz castle see the separate page here. The walk on this page actually skirts around Bezděz hill to sample some of the attractive forest areas and pretty villages in this historic part of the country. However, it can easily be combined with an ascent to Bezděz castle (adding 2 km and 150 m to the route).
• One of the nicest aspects of the Kokořínsko region is the number of villages with well preserved folk architecture (usually half or fully timbered) dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. The recommended route visits two of these villages, Žďár and its neighbor Kruh. Žďár is particularly notable for the village street that descends through a sandstone rock gorge, where the old village houses are actually built into the rock.
• The trail between Bezděz and the villages of Žďár and Kruh is part of the 60 km long ‘Máchova cesta’, a route named after the 19th century poet K.H. Mácha, who visited the castle many times on his frequent trips to the region.
• Much of the route is in the attractive mixed forests, with sandy footpaths lined with blueberry bushes and occasional sandstone rock cliffs, which makes the route nicely varied, but undemanding, with around 250m of height to ascend-descend, none of which is steep. The total route (excluding the ascent to the castle) is 18 km, but the route can be shortened to 14 km by skipping the extension to Kruh village. In Bezděz there are several refreshment options, including the pub U Vejra, which serves good food and has a nice terrace with a view of the castle.

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

Directions

• If travelling by train (Bezděz has a station, which is on the regional line from Mladá Boleslav) take the GREEN hiking path in the direction of Skalsko. If driving, park in one of the paid parking areas below the castle and walk down the road for around 2 km on the BLUE trail to reach the station
• Follow the GREEN trail for 4.9 km through the forest areas until reach the main road. The GREEN trail turns left along the road, but instead turn right and follow the public road for 1.7 km until reaching the village of Žďár
• If wanting to do the full walk, turn left onto the RED trail and follow this for 1.7 km into the pretty village of Kruh, and then return back the same route to Žďár
• In Žďár, follow the RED trail down the narrow side street to the left that follows a sandstone rock gorge, with several example of folk architecture embedded in the rock
• The REDS trail leads after 5.7 km (with a hill at the end) into the village of Bezděz – the pub is on the right side and the (optional) ascent to the castle on the left
• Continue from Bezděz village down the road on the BLUE trail for 2.3 km to reach the train station