Křivoklátsko

Deep oak forests around the meandering Berounka — a UNESCO biosphere reserve with a royal castle at its heart and pheasant-quiet trails.

Rail is the way in and the way around: the line from Beroun to Rakovník follows the Berounka’s meanders, so one-way valley days come naturally — train to a halt, walk the river path between Nižbor, Roztoky and Skryje, train home from another. The pattern of the walking is river-and-ridge: viewpoint rocks like Čertova skála above the water, then long forest crossings over the hills with more deer than people. From Prague the whole thing starts around an hour and a quarter away.

This was royal hunting ground for centuries — Křivoklát castle, one of the oldest and finest Gothic castles in the country, was where Bohemian kings came to hunt — and that continuous forest cover is why the oak and hornbeam woods hold an old-growth richness rare at these altitudes.