Over Krásno to Bečov
Slavkovský les · CHKO Slavkovský les · Point to point · hiked October 2021
A 22.9 km day two across the Slavkovský les — Loket and its castle, the spiral tower of Krásno, and the descent to Bečov nad Teplou.
Day two leaves the flat spa country behind, but there is no reason to hurry out in the morning: give Loket its due first — the town in its river elbow is one of the finest small townscapes in Bohemia, and the castle earns the entry fee.
The route then climbs steadily south-east away from the Ohře, through woods and old mining ground to Horní Slavkov, whose tin wealth once rivalled anything in the Krušné hory.
Above Krásno waits the day’s highlight: the Krásenský vrch tower, a stone cone wound with an outside spiral ramp like a Mesopotamian minaret — walk the 120 steps for the whole plateau at once. From there it is rolling high country and then the drop into the Teplá valley to Bečov nad Teplou, where the castle holds the St Maurus reliquary and the scenic railway winds you out of the hills.
Practical info
| Start | Loket railway station — by train, bus |
|---|---|
| End | Bečov nad Teplou railway station — by train, bus |
| Terrain | forest path |
| Links | Open route on Mapy.com |
| GPX | Download track |
On the way
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Loket
A gothic castle town wrapped in a loop of the Ohře — "the elbow" that gave it its name — with a romanesque-gothic royal castle, Goethe memories and one perfect huddle of roofs.
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Krásenský vrch
A 25 m stone lookout tower of 1935 climbed by an external spiral ramp modelled on the Samarra minaret — an unemployment-relief build that became one of the country's loveliest towers.
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Bečov nad Teplou
A little town in the Teplá valley whose castle-and-chateau complex guards the reliquary of St Maurus — after the crown jewels, the country's most precious goldsmith's work, hidden under a chapel floor until 1985.