Sušice

The gateway town of the Šumava on the Otava — a long square, gold-panning history in the river, and the matchstick factory that once supplied half of Europe.

Sušice calls itself the gate of the Šumava, and earns it: the Otava arrives fresh from the mountains past the town’s long square, and every route into the western Šumava seems to pass through. The river gave the town its first living — medieval gold-panning — and the 19th century gave it the second: the SOLO match factory, whose matches lit stoves across Europe for a century and a half. Today the town is the practical base of the region, with shops, pubs, accommodation and buses into the hills; Svatobor with its tower and hut stands directly above.