*Walks in the sandstone rocks near Helfenburk castle and Kalvárie hill: 7 km to 16 km*

• The landscape around the historic northern Bohemian town of Úštěk is full of surprises. Úštěk is neatly sandwiched between the volcanic hills of the České středohoří nature zone and the sandstone rock landscape of Kokořinsko. Walkers in this area can therefore enjoy the best of both worlds. Even better, the trails are relatively unknown.
• One highlight of the area is the ruin of Helfenburk castle, which is hidden in the dense forest a few kilometers from Úštěk . Helfenburk is one of the best preserved ‘rock castles’ in the country, primarily due to its late 19th century restoration, when discovering ‘romantic’ castle ruins became a major Bohemian tourist activity. The castle itself dates from the 14th century and has a superbly preserved outer fortification wall. It lies in an attractive mixed forest area, which is full of spectacular sandstone rock formations.
• Around 2 km northwest of Helfenburk stands the volcanic hill of Klavárie on which a Baroque pilgrimage site was created at the beginning of the 18th century by the Jesuit order. The short walk up the hill from the nearby village of Ostré is popular partly due to the excellent panorama from the terrace below the chapel. There is an excellent pension-restaurant in Ostré with a pleasant outside seating area (normally open Thursday to Sunday).
• Both sites can quickly be visited by starting in the village of Ostré itself (there is a local bus connection and a parking area below the village). The trip to Helfenburk and back and the tour of Kalvárie hill is around 7 km if done this way. Note that the paths to Helfenburk are quite narrow and steep in places.
• For a more varied longer trip, start in the pretty town of Úštěk, which is itself worth exploring, either on a separate short walk, including a visit to the nearby swimming lake of Chmelař (see the description here) or in combination with the tour to Helfenburk and Kalvárie.
• This highly recommended full round trip is 16 km long with 320m of height to ascend-descend. As mentioned above the paths around Helfenburk are occasionally steep and narrow. in addition to the nice restaurant in Ostré there are plenty of cafés in Úštěk, including a scenic outdoor spot in the castle courtyard.

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

• Starting at the Úštěk train station (which is on the Louny – Česká Lípa regional line) follow the BLUE hiking trail for 600m into the center of Úštěk (if driving, there is parking along the main street in Úštěk)
• From Úštěk center follow the BLUE trail for 4 km to reach the trail junction of Ptačí důl. Here, there is an option to continue on the BLUE trail to reach Hilfenburk directly by following the path along the stream valley
• A nicer (1 km longer) option is to turn right at the Ptačí důl to follow the red triangle marked diversion path (marked Helfenburk 2.5 km)
• The route climbs to the sandstone ridge above the stream and circles around to reach the castle in 2.2 km
• Take a moment to walk around the castle area before continuing on the red triangle path to reach the junction of Hrádecký důl in 600m
• At Hrádecký důl, stay on the red triangle path circling around the opposite side of the sandstone rock valley (note the good viewpoints back towards Helfenburk) to finally reach after 2.2 km the junction of Ostré – obec
• At the junction, turn right onto the YELLOW trail walking through the village – the restaurant Pod Kalvárií is reached after 500m
• From the village, climb the short distance – 200m – to the viewpoint below the Baroque chapel and then return back to the YELLOW trail
• Follow the YELLOW trail for 2.6 km to reach the junction of Lukovsko
• At Lukovsko turn left onto the RED trail and follow this back to Úštěk train station, which is reached in 3 km