A tour around the rocky viewpoints on Ještěd mountain: 10 km

• Ještěd is a popular mountain. With its prominent ‘futuristic’ hotel and TV mast, the summit of Ještěd is an iconic location in northern Bohemia. It is much visited, not least because a cable car runs to just below the summit during the summer (at weekends) and in winter (for skiers). There are also various parking options, including a paid parking area even closer to the summit than the cable car terminus.
• However, those visitors who use the travel options which reach close to the summit, generally miss out on the lovely approach walks that are available through the attractive forests that line the flanks of Ještěd. One of the best routes is a circular tour starting at the Výpřež parking area, situated on the northern flank of the mountain. In addition to a large (paid) parking there are bus connections from Liberec.
• Taking the long circular route to the summit starting at Výpřež enables a visit to the superb rocky viewpoints of Kamenná vrata and Červený kámen on the western side of the mountain. There are various shorter routes to the summit but following the mountain road as it winds around the western, southern and then eastern sides of the mountain is a tranquil way to enjoy the panoramic views over half of Bohemia.
• At the summit, the disc shaped hotel/restaurant awaits, with its astonishing 360 degree views. This was constructed in the 1960’s when the original hotel burnt down. There are several snack areas at the summit, but the restaurant on the second floor of the hotel serves good Czech food.
• There are a couple of return routes to Výpřež , but following the road as it winds down the mountain allows a visit to the Vířivé kameny, a series of spiky metamorphized rocks that have been given names of famous Swiss peaks, by the climbers who can often be seen scaling the rocks.
• Most of the route described above and shown on the map is along easy mountain roads or tracks. The visits to the viewpoints have short steeper sections, but these are optional visits and can be skipped if necessary. The route does undulate quite a bit on the circuit of the mountain and so there is a total of 430m height to ascend/descend on the 10 km route.

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 Výpřež parking area, take the YELLOW trail in the direction of Červený kámen
• After 800m there is a (200m) diversion marked to visit the spectacular rock of Kamenná vrata
• Return back to the main YELLOW trail and continue a further 1.2 km along the YELLOW trail until reaching the second diversion to visit the Červený kámen viewpoint – signposted to the right – and highly recommended
• Return back to the YELLOW trail after visiting the viewpoint and continue for 2.7 km to reach the Pláně pod Ještědem junction
• At Pláně pod Ještědem turn left and follow the RED trail along the ridge all the way to the summit , which is reached after 2.2 km (the last section is on the road)
• From the summit, return back along the same route following the RED trail as far as the parking area at Ještědka (700m from the summit)
• At Ještědka, join the GREEN trail which follows the road down the mountain to reach Výpřež in 2 km