Polabí

The flat, warm heart of Bohemia along the Labe — pine woods on sand, fertile fields, and easy kilometres between river towns.

For walking, the plain offers something the hill regions cannot: effortless long distances. Terrain never interrupts in Bohemia’s breadbasket, so this is where a 40 km day happens naturally — on riverside paths along the Labe, past fields and poplar lines, and through the pine woods that grow on the sandy terraces, Kersko’s forest colony (of Hrabal fame) being the best known. The one real climb on offer is Říp (461 m), the lone hill of the plain; everything else is level going between the river towns.

Interest comes in points rather than panoramas: the skanzen at Přerov nad Labem, wetland reserves in old river arms, Doksany convent on the lower Ohře edge of the region, and everywhere the dense rail network that lets a route start and end wherever it suits.