Máchův kraj
lowlands
Pond-and-pine lowlands around Máchovo jezero with Bezděz's twin-towered silhouette — flat trails, sandstone edges and literary romance.
An hour and a half on the train to Doksy or Mimoň and the walking starts flat and stays flat: lakeside paths around Máchovo jezero, sandstone outcrops like the Ralsko country’s rocks, and long quiet stretches of forest road — easy-going terrain that makes this a good early-season or short-day region. Navigation takes care of itself, because Bezděz, the Gothic royal castle on its cone, is visible from nearly every clearing. Doksy and Staré Splavy have full services in season.
The lake at the centre is older than it looks — a pond founded by Charles IV in 1366, renamed in the 19th century for the poet Karel Hynek Mácha, whose romantic wanderings gave the whole region its name. Since 2014 the area shares its CHKO administration with neighbouring Kokořínsko.
At a glance
- Countryside
- Ponds, pine woods and castle rocks
- Protected as
- Part of CHKO Kokořínsko – Máchův kraj, since 2014
- Highest point
- Ralsko, 696 m
- From Prague
- About an hour and a half by train to Doksy or Mimoň
- Best time
- May to September — Máchovo jezero swims in summer
- Bases
- Doksy, Mimoň, Bělá pod Bezdězem
Places worth walking to
Zahrádky · 
Bezděz · Jestřebí · Ralsko · 
Sloup v Čechách · Starý Berštejn
