A classic tour of multiple Labe viewpoints south of Ústí – 22 km

• This is essentially an extended version of the ‘five viewpoints’ tour which circles around several spectacular views of the meandering Labe river with the scenic backdrop of the České Středohoří volcanic hills. The shorter ‘five viewpoints’ tour (up to 11km) already starts on the ridge high above the river, whereas this longer route starts at the river level, so involves more significant climbing but this allows more varied and exciting terrain to be explored.
• The route begins at the village of Dolní Zálezly, 7 km south of Ústí nad Labem. The village has a train station with regular connections to Ústí. There are also direct trains here from Prague.
• The suggested itinerary takes the undulating forest trail northwards towards Ústí for 5 km to reach the village of Vaňov before climbing steeply into the hills on the western side of the river. There are many spectacular viewpoints accessible from the trail that runs southwards, broadly following the ridgeline from Ústí towards Lovosice. The suggested itinerary visits six of these viewpoints as each gives a slightly different perspective of the dramatic volcanic landscape.
• The route on the ridgeline terminates just after the village of Dubice, where there is an old church and a restaurant with a panoramic terrace. There are a couple of different descent options back to Dolní Zálezly including an easy route along a quiet road or a more scenic (and steeper) descent following a nature trail that passes the Moravanský waterfall, which cascades in steps towards the Labe valley.
• The total route, if all the viewpoints are visited, is 22 km long with 560m of height to ascend/descend. The footpaths up to and down from the ridge are quite steep in places and this is overall quite a strenuous tour. There are refreshment options in Vaňov (including a well regarded Greek restaurant next to the ferry station), in Maravany (where there is a popular snack bar that serves pancakes from Friday to Sunday) and the terrace restaurant in Dubice.

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

• From the train station at Dolní Zálezly take the GREEN hiking trail in the direction of Ústí
• After the trail leaves to the village of Dolní Zálezly there is a long section in the woods before descending finally towards Vaňov to follow beside the railway line for around 1 km
• The GREEN trail meets the BLUE just before the ferry station (5.5 km from Dolní Zálezly station). Turn sharply left onto the BLUE trail
• Continue on the BLUE trail as it winds steeply up the hillside to reach the Skály trail junction after 2.7 km
• At the junction turn right onto the YELLOW trail. After 200m at the small parking area for paragliders turn right to reach the first viewpoint (Skály) in 400m
• Return back to the the Skály trail junction after visiting the viewpoint. At the junction continue on the YELLOW trail in the direction of Moravany
• After 1.7 km reach the Skalky junction and here turn left to reach the Skalky viewpoint in 500m (this is probably the best viewpoint on the tour and should not be skipped!)
• Return back to the Skalky junction and continue on the YELLOW trail for 3.2 km through Moravany (note the pancake snack on the left) to reach the Dubičky junction in the village of Dubice
• If wishing to visit the Doerell viewpoint, continue a further 600m on the YELLOW trail to reach the Doerellova vyhlídka junction and turn left to reach the viewpoint in a further 600m. Return back to Dubice village after visiting the viewpoint
• Back at the Dubičky junction join the GREEN trail and head towards the church – there is a fine viewpoint directly beside the church and also the restaurant terrace has a similar view
• Continue on the GREEN trail for 600m to reach the next viewpoint, which is on the far side of the transmitter tower, 100m off the main trail (at the transmitter there is a signpost pointing to the footpath leading to the viewpoint)
• Continue for 300m on the GREEN trail to reach the junction leading to the Mlynářův kámen viewpoint. Take the diversion trail which leads to the viewpoint in 200m and then return to the main trail (note – there is a new Via Ferrata constructed just below the viewpoint, so far unmarked on the map, and not yet sampled by the author)
• At the main trail, join the blue nature trail (blue-white triangles) which follows the main GREEN trail for 200m then then leaves the GREEN trail and continues for 500m to reach the Vodopád Moravanského p. junction
• At the junction, continue downhill following the blue nature trail beside the waterfalls, to reach the Dolní Zálezly train station in 2 km
• Note – this is quite a steep descent path through the forest. If preferring an easier descent leave the blue nature trail at the Vodopád Moravanského p. junction and take the yellow connecting nature trail into Moravany and from there take the BLUE hiking trail which follows the road as it winds back to Dolní Zálezly)