christravelblog
Wow, you are in a sense travelling on a kind of preferential lane! :-O Out of curiousity, do the private tours also depend on this wonderful press pass?

Astraftis
preferential a bit..... i do need to return writings of course. it's not "for free".

I often ask for a more quick tour as the regular tourists. less explanation (I do research before/later anyway).
allthough I prefer to see all by myself but sometimes it's not possible.

Žatec and the landscape of Saaz hops
I almost forget sharing the interactive map I found several months ago:
https://arcg.is/1fqSiz
Be aware that it is only for the hard-core hops enthusiasts. There are (almost) all hops-related monuments in Czechia with their brief description and photos (in Czech language only). Paradoxically, there is everything outside the town of Žatec, but Žatec with its Prague suburb is almost not covered at all.

Pavel
oh cool! yes i'm hops guru. haha. love beer but more into craft beer. with my world travels and me ticking off beers (yes there is an app for called untappd) now at over 8000 different beers :-)

christravelblog
I am into craft beer too. But the traditional Czech beer drinking is more about volume and spending many many hours in a pub, therefore Pilsner lager type of beer is the only option. It is maybe a part of national culture, on the other hand I am not sure if it is good to be a nation of alcoholics...
What I like on the map of hops related sites is that somebody, probably in the frame of a grant project but with a big portion of enthusiasm, is willing to explore every single house to find and document the remainings of almost abandoned tradition.

For my annual hardcore-on-my-own-without-family WHS trip, I had planned to go mountain biking through Georgia and Armenia - unfortunately, I have to endure another corona disappointment. So I have just emergency planned an alternative mountain bike/WHS trip in Czechia. As there seems to be a lot of local knowledge, I was wondering if you could provide a little help and/or opinions.

1. Passau -> Cesky Krumlov (cycle 110km 2400m)
2. Cesky Krumlov -> Holasovice -> Telc (cycle 147km 1850m)
3. Telc -> Trebic (cycle) -> Brno (cycle 107km 1300m)
4. Brno -> Zďár nad Sázavou (train) -> Tugendhat Villa (train) -> Brno
5. Brno -> Valtice (train) -> Lednice (cycle) -> Kromeríz (cycle + train?) -> Olomouc (cycle + train?)
6. Olomouc -> Litomysl (train) -> Kutna Hora (cycle 100km 800m)
7. Kutna Hora -> Kladruby nad Labem (cycle) -> Prague (cycle + train)
8. Prague
9. Prague (evening -> Amsterdam)

After the first 2 heavy days I have possibilities of taking the train as an escape!

I would prefer to sleep in pretty, atmospheric towns. How is Brno? I have a ticket at 15:00 for Tugendhat Villa, would it be best to stay a second night in Brno after the visit or move onto in Lednice?

How are my other choices of sleeping locations, Telc, Olomouc, Kutna Hora?

Between Lednice and Olomouc I will combine cycle and train which are the prettiest/hilly sections?

Am I missing any really worth while non-whs sights or interesting mountain bike areas (mountains) on or near the route?

Thanks for any input - real experience is worth lots of internet searching!

paul
Hi! A pity nobody answered you, I am sorry I didn't notice, for what little help I might have been... have you done the trip in the end? How was it?

Me too.


No knowledge re cycling. Would be curious how it went. But: There are loads of cyclist, especially along the Labem/Elbe.


Small country, good railways. So that shouldn't be much of an issue.


For Czechia, essentially all old towns are atmospheric. Brno is, too.


No idea. I just go by whatever is listed on booking.

I did the route in late September on a hardtail MTB. This was a pretty hardcore route - not very technical but the majority on single tracks, hiking trails and fire roads through some great forest. I had no baggage except for a small hiking rugzak. Lots of climbing!

I missed 2 tentative sites due to tired legs and taking the train. I would have have liked to visit the Sites of Great Moravia but couldn't make a good connection. The trains are very cheap and very good, ideal for the long, less interesting stretches or if you get desperate. I slept every night in a WHS or town with WHS always in interesting and affordable accommodation.

The highlight, other than the obvious Prague was Tugendhat Villa, I did the extended tour with a good guide - a great site! A surprise was how much I enjoyed Valtice/Lenice - charging through the forest ticking off every folly and ruin - and cycling through the paddocks in Kladruby nad Labem.

Non WHS highlights: seeing beavers somewhere in the forest and a really technical footpath on the way to Litomysl.

Obviously I am a cyclist (both MTB and race bikes) and I have seen a lot of WHS from a bike. The Czech republic is ideal for cycling; the routes are wild and pretty and each WHS is a convenient place to sleep. This enables/forces you to immerse yourself a little more than the standard tick-fest in a car or public transport.

Actual itinerary:

1. Passau -> Cesky Krumlov (cycle) [110km ^2400m]
2. Cesky Krumlov -> Holasovice -> České Budějovice (cycle) - Stojcin (train) -> Telc (cycle) [75km ^1150m]
3. Telc -> Trebic (cycle) [43km ^570m]
4. Trebic -> Zďár nad Sázavou (cycle) -> Brno (train) Tugendhat Villa [61km ^921m]
5. Brno -> Lednice (train) -> Valtice (cycle) -> Breclav (cycle) -> Kromeríz (train) -> Olomouc (train) [46km ^247m]
6. Olomouc -> Ceska Trebova (train) -> Litomysl (cycle) -> Choceň (cycle) -> Kutna Hora (train) [38km ^520m]
7. Kutna Hora -> Kladruby nad Labem (cycle) -> Prague (train) [39km ^210m]
8. Prague
9. Prague (evening -> Amsterdam)

[cycle distance ^cycle ascent]

Oh thanks for that update Paul, sorry I also missed your initial request for info.

But it looks like a great trip. Lednice/ Valtice does certainly seem like the ideal place to go cycling

paul
It looks as it was a funny riding tour!


I also found the guided tour really expansive and professional. It is a very well managed site indeed.

Just a couple of curiousities on my part:


Did you perchance passed by Vimperk/Winterberg or Kvilda/Außergefild? Maybe it's too much to the north? I did a hike there and put a foot in Germany near the Siebensteinkopf. I remember being a little bit disappointed because almost all trails were roadlike or even paved for bikes! :-)


Did you go in the pond landscape, maybe yo uremember where or what the highlights were? I passed there only by car, but had some envy for the many cyclists I saw!

No, this was too far north, I did go through the ski area Hochficht, in Austria.


I am a bit anti-social and often ride on hiking trails - although I never saw anyone in the whole week.


I had planned to go from Holasovice through Trebon, but I had to wait quite long for my Dumplings and Deer stew in Holasovice, which meant that I had another large beer, which meant that my legs weren't the best that day. It was a bit ambitious anyway. Because the trains are so good I almost always had an escape.