From Santini's Star

A 34 km crossing of the Žďárské vrchy from Santini's UNESCO star church at Žďár over Tisůvka and the primeval forest of Žákova hora, down the Svratka to Herálec and on to Hlinsko.

Give the first two hours to Žďár before you settle into the walking: the sights are front-loaded here, and nothing later in the day asks to be hurried for. Once you leave town the character flips — woods and ridge through the middle hours, river country to finish.

Start with the monastery-château and its courtyard café, then climb to Zelená hora — Santini’s five-pointed star church is, for me, one of the greatest pieces of architecture in the country, and seeing it early in an empty morning is the way to do it. From there the route leads north out of town through Stržanov and Škrdlovice into the woods of the central ridge.

The ridge section is the wild half: Tisůvka with the split rock wall of the Čertův kámen on its summit, then Žákova hora, where the trail passes through genuine primeval beech forest — no view, but the oldest protected woodland in the hills. The descent follows the young Svratka down to Herálec, after which the final third eases along the river country through Hamry into Hlinsko. If the legs still work, the timber quarter of Betlém is right by the route before the station.