Brdy

Half a century of military closure left an empty forest highland an hour from Prague — opened in 2016, still the loneliest walking in central Bohemia.

Most walks here aim at one of two places: Tok (865 m), the highest point of central Bohemia, or the Padrťské ponds in their open basin — with forest, heathland over the old artillery ranges, and an unusual silence in between. What you will not pass is a village, a pub or a through-road; the army’s ninety years erased them. The closure began in 1926, and the CHKO dates from the day the area reopened, 1 January 2016.

Walking here means planning like for real mountains, minus the altitude: distances between water and services are long, waymarking is younger and thinner than elsewhere, and the reward is exactly that. Příbram on the eastern edge is the practical base; a few marked routes also enter from the Hřebeny ridge that runs toward Prague.