Were you aware that the Czech Republic has its only little slice of Switzerland? Well, at least in name. They might not be quite as imposing as the mountain ranges in the alps, but we found the sandstone formations of the Bohemian Switzerland absolutely beautiful and well-worth checking out.

We recently spent a weekend in this amazing corner of the country. Here’s what we learned about the Bohemian Switzerland.

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Where is the Bohemian Switzerland National Park Located?

The National Park sits in the northernmost part of Bohemia and acutally is part of a transborder natural area shared with the Germany called Elbe Sandstone Mountains (“Elbsandsteingebirge” in German / “Děčinská vrchovina” in Czech).

It’s a super atmospheric place with countless hiking trails that you could spend weeks exploring. We didn’t have that kind of time, but we took a long day-hike which passed all the most important sights in the area, which I’ll describe below.

How to Get to the Bohemian Switzerland

The Czech Republic has a good network of trains and long-distance buses. In most cases, you’ll have to connect in Děčín, which is about 20 minutes by train or bus from Hřensko. Děčín can be reached by train from all over the country, for instance from Prague’s Main Train Station (about 1 hour 45 minutes/about 200 CZK). You can search for connections on the website of the Czech National Train Network.

To reach Hřensko, you can use Bus 434 from Děčín Main Station to Krásna Lípa, which passes through Hřensko and takes about 20 minutes.

Alternatively, there is a train going to “Bahnhof Schöna” station on the German Side of the Elbe/Labe River, from where you’ll have to take the ferry across the river, which runs between 7.30 AM and 9.30 PM from April to October and from 8.30 AM to 5.30 PM from November to March. The crossing is also included in the price of the train ticket.

You can also travel to the same train station from the Saxon Switzerland area in Germany. Trains from Bad Schandau to Schöna take only about 10 minutes, while Bad Schandau can be reached by train from Dresden in about 45 minutes.

As both Germany and the Czech Republic are member states of the Schengen Area, the border can be crossed without going through customs, which speeds up the trip.

Organized Tours to the Bohemian Switzerland

If sorting out the transport yourself seems like too much of a hassle, there are plenty of organized day trips to the area, both from Prague, as well as from Dresden on the German side. You can have a look below for some well-rated options.

What to See and Do in the Bohemian Switzerland

Pravčická Brána Stone Arch

In my opinion, this large natural sandstone arch, which is sometimes also called by its German name “Prebischtor”, is the one place in the National Park that you definitely shouldn’t miss.

With a span of 26.5 m (87 ft.) and an inside height of 16 m (52 ft.) it’s the largest of its kind in Europe and the symbol for the entire National Park. 

Until the early 1980s, people actually were allowed to walk on top of the arch, but since then the area has been off-limits, which was definitely a good move, conservation-wise. That said, there are loads of great viewpoints in the area surrounding the arch.

The pretty wooden building huddling near the cliff next to the gate is the Falcon’s Nest Restaurant from the 1880s. It’s still active, so you can stop inside for a snack and or have one of Bohemia’s famous lager beers at one of the outdoor tables, like we did.

The gate can be visited from 10am to 6pm every day from April to October, and from 10am to 4pm only on Saturday and Sunday from November to March. The entrance to the area is 95 CZK or 4 €.

Edmund’s Gorge (Edmundova Soutěska)

Near Mezná, a few kilometers south from the Pravčická Brána Arch, the small Kamenice River, which flows through the area, enters a narrow wooded canyon. You can explore parts of it on food, but the most interesting sections of the gorge can only be reached by boarding one of the small wooden boats that ply the canyon.

When we did the trip, the ferryman pointed out different rock formations in Czech and English and there’s even a tiny waterfall, although the water has to be dammed and released when the boat is nearby. We thought it was a super fun trip and definitely worth the fare of 80 CZK.

To get to the quay from Hřensko in the west, you’ll have to follow the pretty path east along the river from the eastern end of the village for about 20 minutes. If you’re coming from Mezná in the east, you’ll have to walk down to the river south of the village and then follow a path west inside the gorge for about 15 minutes to the quay.

The trail along the river is very pretty itself and sometimes leads through short tunnels in the sandstone walls. You can combine a visit to the gorge with a trip to Pravčická Brána by doing a longer day-hike (see below).

Hřensko Village

I guess the main reason most people come to pretty Hřensko is to use it as a base for hikes in the surrounding mountains, but we thought it was worth spending some time strolling around town, too.

The village stretches out along both sides of the Kamenice river, and you can check out a handful of historic buildings, like the Hotel Labe at the western end of the village, and the small baroque Church of Jan Nepomucký.

Another place I recommend dropping by are the old gasworks on the south side of the river, which kind of look like a fairytale castle.

Hřensko also has many small restaurants that serve the typical, always tasty Czech fare, like goulash, dumplings and lager beer. We can recommend Restaurace U Draka, but there are plenty of other options as well.

A Great One-Day Hike in the Bohemian Switzerland

You can visit all the places I’ve described above in an easy, but longish round-hike from Hřensko. The whole tour is about 17 km or 10.5 mi. and took us the better part of a day, as we took our time exploring the area around Pravčická Brána Arch and the Edmund’s Gorge.

The hiking loop is marked with a green diagonal slash and starts at the eastern end of Hřensko village, from where it first follows the road and then gently climbs up through the forest towards the Stone Arch.

From there, it follows the ridge of the mountains. We liked the many interesting rock formations on this part of the hike, like the Křídelní stěny (“Wing Wall”), a high cliff of weathered sandstone. There’s also a cool beehive-shaped rock that we kept spotting through the trees on our right-hand side.

Afterwards, the path drops to the small village of Mezná, where you could stop for a snack and drink (or push on like we did). The trail then goes into the beautiful Edmund’s Gorge and follows the Kamenice River, which was my favourite part of the entire hike, as it’s very atmospheric.

Finally, you’ll reach the quay, where you have to take the boat along the otherwise inaccessible part of the gorge and continue west through the valley of the Kamenice on the other side until you finally arrive back in Hřensko, where the loop started.

Map of the Bohemian Switzerland Area

All the places I’ve described and the route of the hike can be found in this map of the National Park.

Where to Stay in the Bohemian Switzerland

We stayed in Hřensko, which seems to be the place where most people base themselves. We stayed at a small guest house called Ubytovani u Krivaku (Tel. +420 607680005), located on Hřensko’s main street.

Mezna 85 in the nearby village of the same name is another budget option, while Hotel Kotva and the cute fairy tale-esque Stary Plynarna in the old gasworks would be more prices options.

Where to Go Next

Jablonné v Podještědi, a pretty small town in Northern Bohemia

Karlovy Vary, a beautiful Spa Town in the western part of Bohemia