Dolní Povltaví

The Vltava below Prague. A wide farm plain with the river cut into it, small towns on the banks, and the ruin of Okoř waiting in a side valley.

Use this country for distance, not for views. It is flat, the paths are field tracks and quiet asphalt, and the S-trains from Prague stop every few kilometres along the river, so you can start and finish wherever the day allows. That makes it the place for a long walk in a short season, an early spring day when the hills are still muddy, or a winter Sunday with a few hours of light. The river is the line to follow, from Roztoky at Prague’s edge down to where it meets the Labe under Mělník.

The landmarks are modest and worth knowing. Levý Hradec above Roztoky holds the oldest church site in Bohemia. Between Roztoky and Kralupy the Vltava runs in a rocky trench, and the side valleys, Tiché údolí and the Únětice brook, are the only real climbing around. Nelahozeves has Dvořák’s birthplace under a Renaissance chateau, and Veltrusy a chateau park on the flood plain. Kralupy is an industrial town, so pass through it. Away from the river, the Zákolanský brook valley leads to Okoř, the castle ruin every Czech knows from the campfire song.