*A circular route to the Svatý Jan pod Skalou from Beroun train station: 13 km to 18 km*

• The historic monastery complex at Svatý Jan pod Skalou is an important monument in the Český kras protected nature zone. It is somewhat hidden away in a narrow valley created by the Loděnice stream and so outside the main summer season is often very quiet. It is, nevertheless, a good target for walks of various lengths in the attractive limestone landscape. The walk on this page is a circular loop starting and finishing at Beroun mainline station, which has frequent connections with Prague. There is also a large Park & Ride car park, next to the station.
• Svatý Jan monastery is dramatically situated beneath a towering limestone crag. The viewpoint from the crag is well frequented (particularly on sunny weekends) despite the stiff climb to the top from the valley floor. The view down onto the roof of the Baroque monastery is justly famous, but more visitors are attracted to Svatý Jan because of its colorful history.
• This was the legendary site where in the 9th century, Bohemia’s first Christian hermit, St Ivan, worshipped in a limestone cave. Today, the cave may be visited (when the church is open – daily in mid-summer, just at weekends for the rest of the year). The cave is reputed to contain the oldest stone altar in Bohemia. Directly outside the cave, a spring emerges which is strongly mineralized and was viewed as having healing properties (the water takes over 20 years to seep through the surrounding limestone rock before it emerges from St Ivan’s cave).
• An early medieval chapel was built on the site, which then became a Benedictine monastery in the mid 11th century. In the 15th century, the Hussite army destroyed the mother monastery on the island near Davle on the Vltava, and the surviving monks relocated to Svatý Jan. The site became increasingly famous as a pilgrimage location, so the church and monastery buildings were enlarged and reconstructed in the 17th and 18th centuries to their current Baroque forms.
• The shortest route to Svatý Jan from Beroun station follows a section of the central Bohemian branch of the Camino de Santiago (St James’ Way) for 5 km to reach the monastery. The hike up to the lookout is a 1 km climb up the crag behind the monastery. Those who do not enjoy quite steep ascents and descents may want to skip the climb and possibly enjoy a coffee in the Kavárna near the church (map point 4).
• From Svatý Jan, a nice way to loop back to the station is to follow the Loděnice stream until it joins the Berounka river near the village of Srbsko and then follow the river upstream to reach Beroun (the return journey route is 8 km long). The path passes the U Krobiána pub in Hostim (open seasonally at weekends during the day – map point 5). Alternatively, it is worth considering a 1 km diversion downstream to get to Srbsko, to visit one of the restaurants there, including Restaurant U Berounky (map point 7), which has a pleasant terrace overlooking the river.
• If tackling the climb to the viewpoint overlooking the monastery as well as taking the diversion to Srbsko, the total route is just over 18 km long, with 370m of height gained-lost. Apart from the relatively steep ascent and descent to the Svatý Jan viewpoint, the trails are easy, on a mix of asphalt road or cycle track and forest footpath.

Note: click ‘Show on map’ above to go to a full screen version directly on the mapy.cz site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file

Directions

• Start the walk at Beroun train station, joining the RED trail heading towards Svatý Jan
• Stay on the RED trail for 4.9 km to reach the monastery complex.
• If planning on visiting the viewpoint (visible immediately above the monastery with a prominent cross) take the red triangle marked path to reach the cross (krížek). Return back down the same route
• For the return journey join the YELLOW trail heading towards Hostim
• After 3.3 km reach the Berounka riverbank at the V Kozle junction. If planning on visiting Srbsko, turn left, remaining on the YELLOW trail for a further 1.4 km
• To return to Beroun station, follow the cycle path directly beside the river until reaching the RED trail used on the outbound route (map point 8)
• Return back to the station on the RED trail