Walks to Starý Herštejn castle and lookout tower in Český les: 2 km to 9 km

• The walk up to the ruins of Starý Herštejn castle from the small car park below the ruins is quite steep, but is rewarded with a fine panoramic view of the Český les hills from the top of the lookout tower. The lookout was reconstructed in 2020 from the remnants of the 13th century bergfrit tower, using medieval techniques and equipment. The original castle had served as a border outpost until the early 16th century when it was besieged and destroyed.
• It is little over a 2 km round trip from the car park to the tower, so this is quite a short walk. The hike can be extended to around 9 km by taking a loop through the forest to visit the former Augustinian monastery in Pivoň. This complex began in the 13th century and was badly damaged by both the Hussites in the 15th century and the Swedish army in the 17th century. The impressive church of St Mary, which is attached to the decaying monastery is slowly being reconstructed. At present the area is inaccessible.
• If just undertaking the there and back walk from the car park, this involves around 130m of height to ascend-descend on a rocky forest footpath. It is double that if taking the full 9 km loop through Pivoň. None of the paths are particularly difficult, but if icy of snowy the route could be tricky. There are no refreshment spots on this walk during the day apart from an occasionally equipped self-service Lesní bar at map point 7.

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 Vranovské sedlo parking area below Starý Helfštejn, take the RED trail in the direction of Starý Helfštejn junction, which is reached after 1 km. It is 200m from this junction to the tower, following the red diversion markers
• Return back to the Starý Helfštejn junction and, if undertaking the full loop, continue on the RED trail for a further 2.6 km to reach the Liščí domky junction. There join the 2141 cycle path which leads into Pivoň (note, it is possible to take the forest footpath marked as a YELLOW trail also to Pivoň, but this adds an exra quite steep ascent and descent, without the reward of the good views achieved in the cycle path)
• From Pivoň take the GREEN trail back to the parking area at Vranovské sedlo