*The Radegast trail from Pustevny to Radhošť, one of Beskydy’s finest ridge walks: 8 km*

• In 862 AD, the Slavic ruler of Greater Moravia, Rastislav, made a request to the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople for ecclesiastical assistance. The Emperor quickly sent the monk Cyril and his brother Methodius, who together famously devised the first known Slavic alphabet and used this to translate biblical texts to support their missionary endeavours in Moravia. )
• During their stay in Moravia, the brothers were reputed to have visited the Radhošť mountain peak (1129m) in the Beskydy range. At the end of the 19th century a chapel was constructed on the summit and dedicated to the two saints – it is today the highest church in the country.
• The visit of Cyril and Methodius may have had been connected to the pagan name and possible ritual site of the mountain. Radhošť is the Czech name for Radegast, an old Slavic god, connected originally with a Slavic tribe based on the Elbe river. Ironically, a well known 20th century statue of Radegast now competes with that of the two saints, just a couple of kilometers further along the ridge.
• Another major attraction of the Radegast ridge is the settlement on the saddle at Pustevny. This was created at the end of the 19th century in an ornate folk architecture style, essentially to support tourist visits to the area. Today, Pustevny has multiple snack bars and restaurants welcoming vast numbers of tourists (and pilgrims) on their visit to Radhošť mountain.
• Despite the mountain’s popularity, the ridge walk between Pustevny and the Cyril and Methodius chapel at the highest point on the peak, is one of the most scenic in the Beskydy region, with far ranging views to both sides. The path along the ridge is a good one, and is manageable with a stroller. The distance from Pustevny, which is on a local bus route (and has a large paid car park) to the Radhošť chapel is just over 4 km. The ridge is far from flat, and the 8 km ‘there and back route’ has more than 200m of height to ascend/descend.
• There are several other approach options to get to the ridge, including a steep 3 km hike up from the car park near Trojanovice, on the north side of the mountain. The chair lift from close to the car park is a popular option instead of the hike up! Other longer approach routes from Rožnov pod Radhoštěm and the Bečva villages look attractive and may be covered on future pages in this guide.
• There are several refreshment options in Pustevny and along the ridge, but by far the most well known is the Libušín restaurant, which is in the largest of the ‘cottages’ in Pustevny. This cottage famously caught fire in 2014 and was finally reopened in 2020.

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 parking area (and bus stop) walk up the Pustevny settlement and then turn sharply left to join the trail along the ridge
• Follow the BLUE hiking trail all the way along the ridge to reach the Radegast statue after 1.4 km (there is a snack bar here, serving, of course, Radegast beer)
• Continue along the BLUE trail for a further 2.5 km to reach the chapel
• Return back the same way (note: if walking with a stroller there is one section of rocky steps 500m from the start of the route, which can be avoided by taking the road alternative)