*From Kašperské Hory to Sušice via Kašperk castle and Sedlo lookout: 14 km*

• Kašperské Hory is one of the oldest and most significant towns in the Šumava region, with a history stretching back to the 13th century when mining activities began along the Otava river valley. The magnificent Kašperk castle was constructed on a nearby hill in the 14th century to protect the new ‘golden’ trade route and the town prospered.
• Yet the the region’s potential wealth was known long before the medieval lords arrived in Kašperské Hory. On two prominent hills just a few kilometres from today’s town, Celtic tribes built two formidable hillforts around 500 BC. One is today called Giant’s castle (and is the highest hillfort in Bohemia). The second is situated on the nearly as high Sedlo mountain (905m) with its broad plateau. Both hillforts can be reached on trails starting from Kašperské Hory.
• An excellent way to visit both Kašperk castle and Sedlo (which also has a superb modern viewing tower and has some interesting rock formations) on the same trip is the one way 14.3 km route from Kašperské Hory to Sušice. The latter town is one of important gateway towns to the Šumava region, but is attractive in own right, scenically situated directly on the Otava river.
• Kašperské Hory and Sušice both have direct bus connections with Prague and there is regular public transport back from Sušice to Kašperské Hory at the end of the route. Note, there are separate (shorter) routes to both attractions included elsewhere in this site – for more information, click the links above.
• The route is generally on easy forest footpaths, but the ascent to Sedlo is quite steep, ascending an exciting rocky slope. There is 375m of ascent and 625m of descent on the journey. There are no refreshment options directly on the trail, but plenty of choice in both Kašperské Hory and Sušice.

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 in the town square in Kašperské Hory, join the GREEN trail in the direction of Kašperk
• The castle is reached in 3.2 km (note – a short diversion to the right on the YELLOW trail leads to the viewpoint at Pustý hrádek – this is the best view of the castle)
• from the trail junction in front of the castle, join the YELLOW trail in the direction of U Nového Dvoru, which is reached in 700m
• At the junction, join the RED trail in the direction of Sedlo
• The summit, hillfort and lookout is reached in 3.1 km
• From the lookout continue on the RED trail towards Sušice. The edge of the town, with the first bus stop back to Kašperské Hory (on Dlouhoveská street) is reached after 7.2 km (it is a further 400m into the town centre)