Ralsko in the Clouds

A 39.1 km autumn weekend of two castle hills — Ralsko in the clouds, a night in Mimoň, the Hradčany airbase hangars, and Bezděz to finish.

Trains bracket the weekend — in at the Pertoltice pod Ralskem halt, out below Bezděz — with a town night in Mimoň splitting the days. In between lies the strange landscape of the former Ralsko military area: empty forest, straight concrete roads and Cold War hardware slowly disappearing into the pines.

Day 1 — Pertoltice over Ralsko to Mimoň

The climb starts almost from the station: Ralsko rises quickly to its 696 m summit ruin. We had weather that erased the famous view entirely — and the castle was arguably better for it, the broken towers standing in blowing cloud. The descent through Vranov leads into Mimoň for dinner and a bed.

Day 2 — through Hradčany to Bezděz

South of Mimoň the route enters the old military training area at Hradčany, where the former airbase still shows its hardened concrete aircraft shelters — walk past the huge green domes and guess their age. Beyond, long flat forest kilometres bring you under Bezděz, and the day earns its finale: the steep cobbled climb, the best-preserved of Přemysl Otakar’s castles, and the tower view over the whole Mácha country. The Vyhlídka pub in Bezděz village is the right debrief before the short walk to the station — we took the train one stop and slept in Doksy.