Walks in the countryside around Planá and along the river Mže towards Stříbro : 13 km to 40 km

• Planá is an attractive town in west Bohemia, with a long history dating back to early Slavic times, some 1500 years ago. Somewhat more recently constructed, Planá’s main square is lined with pretty Baroque buildings. The town is situated in hilly farming countryside laced with numerous streams and small rivers, the largest being the Mže (which curiously is named the Berounka after reaching Plzeň) . The trails around Planá are quiet and peaceful, and often follow the fast flowing streams and rivers, which are dotted with picturesque granite boulders.
• Making use of the regional train line which runs between Karlovy Vary and Plzeň, it is possible to create a one way walk of varying lengths between Planá and villages situated on the train line in the direction of Plzeň. The train line partly follows a scenic valley created by the Mže river.
• The walk between Planá and Pavlovice stations is 13 km, between Planá and Ošelín the walk is 21 km and between Planá and Svojšín it is 28 km. The ultimate one day (extra long) hike along the Mže, follows the river downstream from Planá as far as Stříbro, creating a superb 40 km walk in total (note that the trail deviates from the river at several points, and involves nearly 500m of climbing, some of which is quite steep) . This trail is a section of the E6 European long distance path.
• For those preferring a circular route which starts and finishes in Planá, it is possible to head eastwards cross country from Planá and then join a trail which follows the Kosí stream as it flows to meet the Mže near Ošelín. The route then follows the Mže river and some tributary streams back to Planá. This circular route is between 33 km and 36 km in length depending which route is taken east out of Planá. Although most of the route is along the river and streams, there are two significant deviations away from the stream, resulting in 390m of height to climb-descend.
• The circular route is shown in the map below. There are almost no refreshment options on the circular route, so take plenty of supplies for the journey. If taking the ultimate one-way route between Planá and Stříbro, there are also relatively few options, apart from in Svojšín, at approximately the mid-point. After arriving in Planá, try the excellent Rybí restaurace on the main square or the excellent bakery on the opposite side of the square (map points 8 and 9 respectively).

Note: click ‘Show on map’ 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

• The following comments are directions for the circular walk starting in the town center of Planá. If choosing the one way route between the train stations starting at Planá station, head into the town center along the BLUE trail and then pick up the E6 path which follows the RED trail, initially southwards and then east to reach whichever station is chosen as the end point
• The circular walk assumes a start at the Planá bus station (there is small parking area nearby)
• From the bus station there are a number of options to reach the Kosí stream to the east of Planá. The quickest route is to follow the cycle route 2206 along the country roads for 6.8 km, to meet the Kosí stream trail – marked GREEN – at the Pod Křínovem junction (this reduces the walk to 34 km in total)
• The most scenic route – resulting in a 36 km total walk – is to take the YELLOW hiking trail out of Planá and meet the Kosí stream at Caltov after 6.5 km
• Whichever route is chosen, when reaching the Kosí stream turn right onto the GREEN trail and head in the direction of Osada Kosí potok
• It is 2.2 km from Caltov to Pod Křínovem and 9.2 km from Pod Křínovem to the Osada Kosí potok on the river Mže – the trail can be challenging at times, sometimes a bit overgrown in mid summer or with occasional fallen trees to by-pass. Route finding can also be a bit tricky (this trail is best followed using the mapy.cz phone application)
• Once at the Osada Kosí potok junction, the rest of the walk is not difficult to follow. Turn right onto the RED trail (the E6 path) in the direction of Planá
• The trail initially climbs away from the river to reach the village of Vížka after 2.4 km
• From Vížka the trail descends back to the river and continues alongside the Mže to reach the U Ústí junction after 6.6 km
• At U Ústí, turn right, staying on the RED trail and continue for 8.2 km to return back to the town square in Planá