*Walks to the summit of Klet’ (1084m), the highest point in Blanský les: 6 km to 10 km*

• Blanský les is a mostly forested upland Protected Landscape Area, which begins a few kilometers southwest of České Budějovice. It is an attractive area, dominated by the massif of Klet’ mountain (1084m), composed of very old metamorphized rock.
• At the summit of Klet’ stands Bohemia’s oldest stone tourist lookout tower, dating from 1825, together with a somewhat taller but much less attractive TV transmitter. Next to the tower is a mountain hut which offers excellent food, and accommodation for those wishing to stay the night. The view from the tower is superb and on a clear day the Austrian alps are clearly visible. The view alone is worth the hike up the mountain. Just off the summit is a small observatory, which offers public tours.
• The easiest way up the peak is to take the single person chairlift, which runs from a just above the car park near Holubov village. For those with more energy, there are various routes up, starting from all sides of the mountain. The most direct route begins at the Holubov car park and ascends directly underneath the chair lift. The height ascended is around 400m. A similar route (which avoids the gaze of those taking the easy route up) is an unmarked path around 100m to the left of the chairlift, which again ascends the mountain pretty directly. This path is unmarked but easy to follow and not particularly steep. The marked trails follow a more circuitous route up the mountain. One suggestion is included in the directions below.
• Once at the top, the ascent of the stone tower is highly recommended as is the food in the mountain hut. For the descent the suggested route follows the ridgeline, past the TV transmitter and then a series of interesting rock towers whose cracked form is due to the erosion processes of successive ice ages. The twisting path gently descends through the mostly beech forest.
• Taking the indirect marked hiking trails up and then down creates a 9.5 km circuit, which can be shortened by taking the direct route following the line of the chairlift. The suggested route also covers most of the Klet’ nature trail, with dual language information boards, that circuits the top section of the mountain.

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

• Start at the (usually paid) car park above the village of Holubov. The car park is 1.5 km from the village center, where there are buses to/from Český Krumlov
• From the car park, for the direct route up the mountain, follow the unmarked trail beneath the chairlift, or the parallel path 100m to the left of the chairlift
• For the indirect route on marked trails, take the GREEN trail from the car park on the mountain road for 2.3 km to reach the U tunelu trail junction
• From U tunelu, the most direct route stays on the GREEN trail. The final section is steeper and directly below the chair lift. The summit is reached in 1.5km on this trail
• For a longer (but less steep) route, at U tunelu, take the YELLOW trail which follows a mountain road for 3.6 km to reach the summit (note – this trail is used for the descent)
• For the return route, take the YELLOW trail initiallz along the ridge past the transmitter and then gently descend back to U tunelu which is reached in 3.6km
• At U tunelu stay on the YELLOW trail in the direction of the Horní Moučka trail junction, which is reached after 1.2 km
• At Horní Moučka turn right onto the country lane, passing in front of the house on the corner. This lane, which is a marked cycle route, leads directly back to the car park in 800m