Javořice Country to Telč

A 39.1 km walk across the Javořice highlands from Horní Cerekev to UNESCO-listed Telč, with a night in Počátky on the way.

The walk starts at the Horní Cerekev railway station — from Prague that means a change in Veselí nad Lužnicí.

To Počátky

The route eases in gently: rolling highland fields and woods through Horní Ves and Lísek, then the forest around Svatá Kateřina, a small woodland spa by a chapel spring, before dropping into Počátky at about km 12. The town is worth the stop it forces: a tidy little square with not much to do and no need for more. U Karásků on the square pours a good beer, and there is B&B accommodation for the night — I stayed there and it did the job.

Over the hills to Telč

From Počátky the route climbs into the Javořice highlands. The Kališťská alej — a long avenue of old trees — leads out towards Horní Dubenky, where a French bistro makes an improbable and excellent lunch stop for a village this size. Past the glassmaking village of Janštejn the woods thicken and the granite starts showing through: the twin towers of Míchova skála are the viewpoint of the whole route (an easy scramble to the top), and a 1.7 km green link connects them with Javořice — at 837 m the highest point of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, wooded, mast-topped and viewless, ticked for its own sake. The descent runs through Řásná and Vanov, and the arrival is the best part: Telč appears across its ponds, and the walk ends on one of the most beautiful squares in the country, with the rail station a short walk beyond it.