Vlhošť in Winter

A 25.5 km point-to-point hike from Blíževedly over the Vlhošť summit and along the Holany ponds to Kravaře.

This is a walk through the borderland where the České středohoří hills give way to the sandstone and pond country of the Máchův kraj — one hill worth climbing, then kilometres of level lanes along old fishponds. It works well even in winter, when the ponds are still and the pubs are empty; the route was walked between Christmas and New Year.

From Blíževedly station the way heads east through the woods to Hvězda, a hamlet of timber-framed houses at the foot of Vlhošť. The climb that follows is the one real effort of the day — a short out-and-back spur takes you to the summit itself, the highest point of the whole protected area, before the route drops east off the hill and the terrain changes completely.

The rest of the day is pond country. Level paths lead past the chain of fishponds to Holany at their eastern end, then turn back west along the water through the hamlet of Rybnov and past Stvolínky with its bishops’ chateau. The final stretch crosses low open ground to Kravaře, where the U Doušů pub sits right at the finish — dinner here before the train is the natural way to end the day. The Kravaře v Čechách halt below the village is on the same Lovosice–Česká Lípa line you started from, so the walk closes its own loop by rail.