Adventure travel: Visit Czechia's most extreme attractions this summer

The Czech Republic is famous for its easy-going summer lifestyle. Czechs are an outdoorsy bunch, and there’s nothing that locals enjoy more than a relaxed spin on a bike, a gentle paddle on a river, or just chilling in a shady beer garden with a cool beer. There’s lots on offer too for those who wish for something a little more adventurous. Here’s our round-up of five extreme attractions, each guaranteed to get your pulse racing.

High cliffs straddle both sides of the river Elbe as it flows through Děčín, a small city in northwest Bohemia. Imperious and unassailable, Děčín castle sits high on one side. The opposite cliff, however, belongs to the adrenaline junkies, who launch their own assaults on the massif. Kitted out with helmets, ropes, and carabiners and straining hard for handholds and footholds, these intrepid climbers come here to conquer the city’s web of via ferrata routes.

The name via ferrata comes from the Italian term for iron path, inspired by the metal cables, hooks, rungs, and ladders that enable climbers to propel themselves upwards on specially constructed climbing routes. There are 16 such routes on the Shephard’s Bluff (Pastýřská stěna) outcrop, each ranging in difficulty from A (easy) to D (very difficult). The climbing routes are free to use, but they are closed during wet weather.

Experienced climbers with their own gear can just rock up and tackle one of the more challenging routes, while beginners are able to hire gear on-site, and even hire a guide to help them up. The views from the top, looking down across the river at the castle with the city at its feet, make all the effort worthwhile.

While a via ferrata climb will bring you to great heights, a bungee jump will get you back down again – very quickly. Czech adventure outfit Adrop.cz offers a variety of bungee jumping experiences of different heights, from different objects in different locations, each with its own heady mix of adrenaline/pure terror.

If you’re looking for an "introduction" to bungee jumping, you can launch yourself off a television tower in Harrachov, falling a mere 36 meters.

If that wasn’t enough, you can even opt for a swing bungee, and sail into the valley beneath the bridge like a human pendulum.

Finally, if you’re looking for a really high drop, then it’s possible to bungee from a crane in several Czech cities, including Prague, Pilsen, and Brno. Expect to be hoisted upwards to a height of 110 meters (for reference, the top of the tower of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague is 99.6 meters) on a tiny gibbet-like platform, before you tumble forwards into nothingness.

If you enjoy the thrill of heights but prefer not to dangle upside down from your ankles, then perhaps the Sky Bridge 721 is just the thing for you. This 721-meter-long pedestrian suspension bridge is the longest of its kind anywhere in the world. Slung high in the Jeseníky mountains in northern Moravia, this engineering marvel stretches between the ridge of Chlum Mountain (1,135 meters) to the ridge of Slamník Mountain (1,125 meters) on the other, spanning the valley of the Mylnský Stream in a spectacular fashion.

At only 1.2 meters wide, the walkway is just wide enough for two people to squeeze past each other. The bridge can support 500 people at a time, so numbers are regulated through ticketed timeslots. The walkway vibrates underfoot, and the wind can make the whole bridge sway, so much so that it will be closed for safety reasons if the wind speed exceeds 72 km/h. 

Unfortunately, dogs aren’t allowed on the bridge. Nor is it suitable for bikes, wheelchairs, or pushcarts (or as the operators recommend, those who are afraid of heights!). On the upside, the enclosed handrails mean that it’s suitable for children of all ages and heights – just don’t carry them on your shoulders! 

If you manage to cross SkyBridge 721 without fainting, then you can look forward to a high-adrenaline trip back down Slamník Mountain on the Mammoth Alpine Coaster. At over 3 kilometers, this is the longest metal bob track (bobová drahá) in the Czech Republic. After belting yourself into your bob cart, you set off on a special three-rail track down the mountain, with a brake lever held firmly in your hand. Are you brave enough not to pull it?

Expect to pick up speeds of up to 50 km/h, encountering 25 lightning-fast turns as you rattle down the mountainside. Highlights include a 360-degree turn, a 24-meter-long tunnel, and a high-speed figure-eight loop. Views flash by as the track dips around boulders and soars between the trees. It’s pure exhilaration, and then all too soon you’ve reached the end of the track. Luckily, there’s a cable car to bring you right back up to the start point. This time you’re not going to touch the brake, right?

Most Czech rivers tend to plod on by at a rather sedate pace. This has given rise to a very particular type of Czech rafting, with boats packed with Czechs of all ages, gently paddling downstream shouting "Ahoj!" to each other and stopping frequently at riverside pubs to top up their beers. It’s the type of rafting where nobody gets wet unless they really want to. And then, there’s white water rafting which takes a slalom course at Veltrusy – which is something else entirely.

The slalom course at Veltrusy is man-made, adjacent to a weir on the Vltava, north of Prague. The weir can divert water into the slalom course on demand, creating a fast-flowing whitewater that sloshes down the 330-meter-long course, the longest in the Czech Republic. Adventure tour operator Prague Rafting organizes rafting trips and supplies all the gear, plus an instructor who will help you guide your boat through the waves and eddies, and safely through the infamous "washing machine." This is the type of rafting where you will get wet. Very, very wet.