A circular route to the Vítkův vrch viewpoint and restaurant from Karlovy Vary: 9 km (extendable)
- The walk up to Vítkův vrch viewpoint from Karlovy Vary is a popular half day trip, rewarded with panoramic views back towards the spa city and over the runway of Karlovy Vary airport. It is quite fun to watch the private jets land from the restaurant terrace and speculate on which country the occupants hail from (although you would not get very good odds if you were placing a bet).
- There are essentially two routes up the hill from the center of Karlovy Vary; one following the course of the Tepla river, past the Hotel Pupp and then heading up the western flank of Vítkův vrch, the other climbing up the northern flank of the hill, after traversing the residential quarter on the east side of town, dominated by the landmark hotel Imperial. The latter is the gentler of the two routes, so is generally chosen as the descent route, but the circuit can be done in either direction.
- The circuit is just under 9 km long, with 260m of height to ascend/descend, none of which is difficult. The Hotel Vítkova Hora on the summit of the hill has a good restaurant with a large summer terrace and is open to non residents.
- For a slightly longer trip, return back to Karlovy Vary via the Goethe tower (which has an even better view and a very nice café for refreshments). This extension adds 2 km to 3 km depending on the route chosen to descend from the tower. See the following page for a description of the Goethe tower walk from Karlovy Vary.
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
- Starting from the center of Karlovy Vary, follow the RED trail along the Tepla river, past the Hotel Pupp and along to the Beethovenův altán junction, reached after around 2 km (depending on the actual starting point in town)
- At Beethovenův altán, join the YELLOW trail for 1.9 km to reach the U chaty básníků junction
- At U chaty básníků, turn right onto the BLUE trail, continuing uphill for 500m to reach the viewpoint and restaurant
- For the return journey, retrace the steps on the BLUE trail to the U chaty básníků junction and continue downhill on the BLUE trail all the way back to the city center
