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outdoor |
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Outdoor life in the Czech Republic has many aspects going from a
peaceful stroll over wild climbing to white water rafting, where you
life is at stake. In brief: If you like outdoor activities (again)
the Czech Republic is the right place to go.
I have no illusions to cover any aspect of the subject, and I will
stick to some good advises, which do have the advantage that there is
no obligation to follow them. If I do not cover your particular
interest, let me know and may be I will do something about it.
Let us take this up front:
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Except your fellow man there are no species in the country dangerous to a healthy man. An adder is the "worst" you may see - you are lucky if you do as they a very shy.
- If you move yourself by the help of a motor driven
vehicle, you are far away from the way I regard the term
"outdoor". Therefore you will not find a word about off
roaders and other noisy disturbances.
- Maps are a must. If you buy them outside CZ you have too much money (better send them to me, please)! They are easy to buy via the web.
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The Czech Republic was created for walks/trekking/hiking/backpacking.
I will stay by the term hike. Hike then means anything from walking a
couple of hours to walking week after week with a rucksack on the
back, but whatever you fancy your needs may be satisfied.
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The trails are easy to combine in a manner to get just the right
length and difficulty that suits you. It is often a good idea to look
closer at the contour lines on the map when you plan a trip. The
Czech Republic is not exactly flat.
The Czechs use the nature a lot. Even minor children are able to user
their own legs to bring them forward!
Among the youth it is popular to hike for days. In the evening they
make a bonfire for cooking and comfort and when the time comes, they
just fall into their sleeping bags. If that is too primitive a more
civilised accommodation is never far away, and it is also possible to
plan the trip in a way that enables you to get food and drink without
having to walk for days. Do not be surprised if you suddenly spot a
Czech person among the trees (perhaps your hear something move about
in the bushes and start to wander if you remember wrong and there are
wild bears in the Czech Republic) if you think you are the only tree
in the forest: The national sport is not football or hockey, no, it
certainly is to collect mushrooms!
In short: Anything is possible, you just have to choose.
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By right the Czech Republic is popular among the bicycle people, but
let us get it right that if you origin from a low land as Denmark,
you will spend some time on your feet pushing you bike uphill. On the
positive side is that you afterwards may rest in peace while the bike
brings you downhill!
When said, it is time to get in the saddle and go ahead. In the same
manner as with the hiking trails all the country is marked up with
bicycle trails and it is recommended to buy a special bicycle map
like Shocart 1:75.000, which is easy to read even if you are not
comfortable with a map. |
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It is easy to plan a holiday where you go from accommodation to accommodation, let the accommodation be hotel, bed & breakfast or camping sites. If you hate to plan too much that is no problem either: You will not have a too difficult time trying to find accommodation without prior reservation.
If you do not want to bring your own bicycle first class bikes are for rent at many places.
You get almost any information available from Cykloserver
- if you are able to dig it out!
These sites are also about biking, but even messier and not very informative:
Bikezone
Bikeboy
Cesky svaz cyklistiky,
The Czech Bike Association, may be of interest for the competing biker.
Let me define vessel as something that floats on water. If you want
to show your yacht to the working class I do not consider the Czech
Republic as the premium choice, but if you insist you must enter the
country by the rive Labe (Elbe).
As far as I know it is not possible to rent a riverboat and cruise around.
If that is not what you want, the country with lot of waterways is
well suited for water activities.
If the vessel is a canoe, a kayak or a raft there are numerous rivers
appropriate for you, whether your destiny is to risk your life or
just flow peacefully with the family. If you bring the equipment
yourself you get useful information on the rivers and the required
skills at Paddling Guide.
If it got to be wild but somehow controlled, and if it may be close to Prague, my advice is to have a closer look at White Water Center.
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Personally I recommend sailing on the Moldau/Vltava river at Cesky
Krumlov. I is possible to rent an appropriate vessel at Malecek,
canoe, kayak or raft, and buy a trip of the right length and
roughness, i.e. you are by car transported south of the town and left
at the river, and the you paddle back to Cesky Krumlov. |
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If we go south a bit we come Lake Lipno, which is the biggest lake in the Czech Republic. It is an absolute centre for all kind of water sports, sail boats, windsurfers, rowing boats and pedal boats. It is possible to rent any of them on the spot. Especially the rowing boats give you a good exercise as the shape of the ores have an amazing similarity with a lolly stick, and they are almost as useable to bring you forward! The big lake is also a good choice if the purpose of the holiday is just to bath and rest. Hint: If you like to splash around in an inflatable rubber dinghy, you can buy them in a good quality and many sizes at a reasonable price in many places. |
Are you a windsurfer looking for gear you may have interest in a closer look at Lipno Windsurfing.
If the water of Lake Lipno becomes to quiet then go north again, pass Cesky Krumlov and continue to Ceske Budejovice, where you may enjoy water slalom. In kayak.
Angling is popular in the Czech Republic because of the many rivers
and lakes. The main specie is carp and the Czechs actually eat them.
I have also seen trout and in general is the diversity of species
growing as the water gets cleaner, which it does because the
administration is focused on stopping and reducing the pollution.
When it comes to fly fishing I must give up. I now absolutely nothing
about where it is possible.
I do not know the rules regarding fishing license, but do ask at the local tourist information.
Links to more information on the subject follows below. They are all
in Czech, but just go for it:
The sports fisher
looks like a mess but it is possible to find useful information.
Top Fishing
also contains useful information. If you are able to find it.
"The Fisherman's
Empire on the Internet". At least it sounds like something!
MRK offers among
more stuff some pictures. Then you can see what you may catch.
The Czech
Fisherman's Journal does also have a web site.
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It is on purpose I write climbing and not mountaineering as the Czech Republic does not exactly offers large areas of alpine sights. In general it is strictly forbidden to climb the rocks unless it is expressly allowed, which in real life means that you have to contact a tour operator or the local climb club to get access to the rocks. It is popular to climb the monolithic sandstone formations that are found at many locations in the country. Cesky Raj, The Bohemian Paradise, is the most famous resort and the picture to the right is from here. It is not a jakulff on the way up! If you look for serious mountaineering it may be a good idea to contact Cesky horolezecky svaz, the Czech Mountaineering Association. The best suggestion - and it is not bad at all - of a Czech site on climbing is adrex.cz, which even has parachuting, diving and cave climbing on the programme. The site is also in English. At Singing Rock it is possible to buy the necessary equipment. If it is affordable I do not know as I have not got the slightest knowledge on the issue, but it never harms to have a look. The site seems very professional and is also in English. If you are interested in books on the subject it could interest you to visit MusicaBona. Just enter mountaineering in the search field and press [enter]. |
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Outdoor life requires the right clothing and equipment, and if you
anyway are going to the Czech Republic you can save a lot of money
(at least if you origin from a heavy taxed country like Denmark). It
is my personal experience that the savings go for all kind of
equipment as clothing, sleeping bags, tents, rucksacks, boots aso.,
especially if you select Czech brands.
The usual chains like Intersport
are also present in the Czech Republic and though you may be lucky
and find a good bargain, but if you find a Czech store the worst
problem is to get out again before the credit card gets burning!
Again, I speak of personal experience.
There are more Czech based manufactures of outdoor clothing, camping and outdoor equipment. Not many are well known outside the country, but they may be compared to brands like Fjällräven and Hagløfs. Also when it comes to quality.
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Gemma
manufactures rucksacks and tents. |
Hannah - I wear a
jacket (bought by myself) from Hannah myself and have no problems
recommending the products. They have a factory store in Plzen.
Husky may well
be the biggest brand in the Czech Republic, judged by what I have
seen travelling the country.
Warmpeace is a
lovely name! Beside the production they have a shop of their own in Prague.
Rock Empire
manufactures, as the name slightly implies, mainly gear for mountaineering.
Humi Outdoor
manufactures clothing. The domain name indicates a sound sense of
humour! They have shops in more cities.
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A large Czech store chain is Hudy
Sport with shops spread over the country. |
Other shops I have spotted on the Internet follows sorted by the name
of the city in which they are found (I know none of them):
Brno, U100
Prague, ZPM Sport
has to shops in town
Pribram, AJV
Tabor, A5-Sport
Teplice nad Metují, Redpoint
Turnov, Sir Joseph
Just for the principle I let priroda.cz
end this page.
Priroda (with the diacritical hacek over the first "r") = nature.
Unless your Czech is rather good, I do not suppose the site is of any
use to you.
