The ‘Via Czechia’ trail system: with specific focus on the 1058 km ‘northern route’

• Over the years, many ‘long distance’ walking routes have been created to take advantage of the extraordinary network of marked trails throughout the Czech Republic. For a short discussion on the current landscape of the alternative routes, see the following article.
• As noted in the article, one of the most useful resources for planning a long multiday trek in the Czech Republic is the Via Czechia site. This project, which started in 2020, maps six different multiday routes between different border points. The six routes follow trails totaling over 10000 km.
• The most challenging (but arguably most rewarding) of the six routes is undoubtedly the northern trail, which traverses 1058 km of trails, starting at most western point in the Czech Republic (on the German border around 30 km northwest of Cheb) and finishing at the most easterly point, on the Polish border at the far edge of the Beskydy hills. The route is divided into 47 stages with an average length of 20-25 km, starting and finishing at a possible accommodation option. The route is mostly in the mountain regions and there is a lot of height to ascend/descend (upwards of 50,000m!).
• It seems unlikely that many people will tackle the route in a single journey – certainly this particular author will not be attempting to do so (although one way or the other he does expect to have explored most of the trails by 2026)! Some will divide the walk into segments to be tackled perhaps in a series of separate 2 to 5-day walks. Others will simply pick and choose the most appealing sections.
• Specific recommendations for the ‘best’ multiday segments from the northern trail (and other Via Czechia routes) can be found by searching in the relevant regions, using the ‘multiday’ filter. This author’s current favourite segment from the northern trail is the 3-day route traversing the Jizerské hory between Chrastava and Harrachov (with nights spent in the pilgrimage town of Hejnice and the mountain village of Jizerka). Other segments will be highlighted in due course!

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.