5 Czech lakes to visit this long holiday weekend

Lake Lipno in South Bohemia is probably the most well-known Czech resort. The large lake has beaches, swimming, sailing, and windsurfing, while bike, in-line, and walking trails dot the area. Two of the more popular resort towns are Frymburk and Černá v Pošumaví. The Lipno area offers lots of activities for families, including a chair lift ride for the views and Aquaworld, with a play pool and waterslide. Two-wheel loving families will enjoy the special family route in the Bike Park, while older children can experience a rope park, Frisbee park, and bobsleigh track.

Staré Splavy is the lake’s other village, perhaps with a few more pubs and restaurants. A true Mácha experience needs to include camping, so head for Camp Borný on the large Pod Borným beach. They have spots for tents and caravans on grassy plots located midway between the beach and forest or you can rent a bungalow, which has its own bathroom. You can rent bikes and paddle boats or go windsurfing. There’s a small shop, toilets, and showers plus restaurant and space for campfires. If you prefer a roof and sheets, there’s a wealth of pensions and hotels in the area.

The silence of Šumava. Everyone who has been to these secluded mountains in southern Bohemia seems to comment on how quiet and peaceful it is. Šumava’s best feature is probably her lakes, Black and Devil’s Lakes in particular. These can’t be reached by car, but require some fairly strenuous hiking. Black Lake (Černé Jezero) is the country’s biggest naturally formed lake. If you make it there, you can follow the marked red trail to Devil’s Lake (Čertovo Jezero); Black Lake can be reached via the yellow hiking trail from Špičácké sedlo.

Be sure to purchase a hiking map and have plenty of water and food on hand if you are planning some hiking. For easier exploration, there are a number of nature trails, typically well-marked and graded. The Jezerní slat trail takes you through peat bogs while the Vintíř’s trail is a cross-border trail following an old Bavaria-Bohemia trade route. Enter another world with a wander through Boubínský prales, one of the most important primeval forests in Europe. Centuries-old trees, mushrooms, twisted roots, ferns, and fallen tree trunks covered in moss will certainly make you feel you took a wrong turn somewhere. Most of the villages in the region are small and focused on tourists (skiing is popular here in winter).