*A visit to the Hora Matky Boží pilgrimage site above the east Bohemian town of Králíky: 8 km*

• Králíky is an historic east Bohemian town that sits at the three-way border between Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Králíky guards the southern entrance to Mladkov pass, one of the main historic routes heading north ocross the Sudeten mountains into Silesia, Prussia and Poland. On the far side of the Mladkov pass lies the strategically important Kłodzko region, which is today part of Poland but which has been fought over for at least a thousand years.
• Prior to World War II, Kłodzko was part of Germany, having been captured by Prussia from the Habsburg Empire in the 18th century. Before the Prussian seizure of Kłodzko (or Kladsko, to give it its Czech name), the region was attached to the Bohemian crown lands for most of the Medieval period. After WWII, the region returned to Poland together with the broader Silesian area (despite some grumbles from the Czechoslovak side!)
• Králíky naturally became defensively important once the Kladsko region had fallen into German hands. As the most likely entrance point into Bohemia from the north, Králíky received special attention when creating border fortifications – especially in the 1930’s during the rise of the Nazi regime. The story of those fortifications is covered elsewhere but the impressive military museum in Králíky is the reason many visitors will stop in the town.
• Králíky has clearly been a major trade and pilgrimage route for centuries, if not millennia. In 1701, Králíky native, Tobias Jan Becker, built a monastery on a prominent hill overlooking the town. Becker had just been appointed Bishop of the Hradec Králové region. In the years before the loss of the Kladsko region to the Prussians (1742), the monastery attracted pilgrims in their hundreds of thousands.
• Hora Matky Boží remains one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Bohemia today. As of 2025, the site is undergoing extensive renovation, but it remains a spectacular hilltop Baroque complex, well worth the two kilometer hike up from Králíky. There are fine views over the surrounding hills. Once there, it is also worth exploring the area at the top – there are a variety of good viewpoints, including a viewing platform at map point 4.
• The direct walk up to the hill top along the ‘Way of the Cross’ footpath is not particularly steep but there is a more winding path for the descent, if preferred. The direct route passes through a beautiful tree alley – voted ‘2023 alley of the year’.
• Next to the pilgrimage monastery, there is a well regarded seasonal restaurant. For those just needing light refreshments, there are some good cafés back in Králíky, the best of which is probably Kavárna Reichl which has a pleasant garden area (map point 7). The full suggested route, visiting the different viewpoints, is around 8 km long with just over 200m of height to ascend-descend.

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

Directions

• From the center of town follow the YELLOW trail to the monastery complex. One at the monastery explore the hilltop area – the lookout tower is a further 1 km along the YELLOW trail
• For variety (and a gentler descent) take the GREEN trail back down the hill