Adrspach, Natural Park in the Czech Republic

Adrspach, Natural Park in the Czech Republic

Hello again! Today I am back to finish off our last trip to the Czech Republic. Previously I spoke to you about the Punkva caves and Olomouc here, the first step of our tour through Czech Republic. Today I am bringing you the second part of the trip: Ardspach, which I have already told you about. It is a natural park, whose main features are the landscapes formed out of cities of rocks. Enormous rocks, tall and narrow that seem as if they are going to fall on top of you. It is definitely one of the most unique landscapes that I have ever seen.

Important information

Before starting, I would like to say that Adrspach is just one part of the Natural Park. THe other part is called Teplice Rocks. We didn't know this until we got there and honestly, if we had known, maybe we would have planned the trip differently. Adrspach is in the north and Teplice Rocks is more to the south, but they are both connected. In fact, you can go by foot from one to the other, completing the whole route that the park offers. In the end we only visited Adrspach because we didn't have time for more.

What people usually do so that the walk isn't as intense is to park in Adrspach, go around that specific area, go back to the car, go to Teplice, park and then go round the Teplice area. We didn't have time for much so we just stayed in Adrspach and we decided to make the most of our time there.

We woke up in Hronov, a town in the Czech Republic, almost in the middle of nowhere but with good accommodation. A small and very welcoming hostel, with a big breakfast and a receptionist who spoke Spanish. The day that we got up, we knew that all the guests in the Hotel Prajzko were there for the same reason as us: to go to Adrspach. We knew that because they were all wearing the same kind of clothing: walking boots, a tracksuit and a jacket. FInally, after a few fried eggs, yoghurt with fruit and a coffee, we went off towards Adrspach.

During the half hour journey I was already wondering about what we were going to come across, since we were in the middle of the mountains and we went past small little countryside houses which had their own allotments. We also saw lots of horses, sheep and in the last bit we started to see those stone cities in the distance, since all the rocks stood out through the tree tops.

We got there and we were able to park for free in one of the many car-parks which are at the park entrance. We bought the entrance ticket which cost us 40 Korunas (with the student card) and we started walking.

As soon as we crossed the entrance, we came across a lake with extremely crystal waters with the trees perfectly reflected in it. The ducks swam around in peace and there were hardly any people, it was really nice. We started walking and we began to see the shapes that the rocks formed naturally: an anvil, an elephant, a small tortoise, a bridge, a ladder... Although my favourite was this: the lovers. You can see perfectly the shape of one face giving a kiss to the other.

To look at Adrspach, the height of the rocks and their very strange shapes it is necessary to have some form of reference to be able to compare it with the huge size of these rocks. Here I will leave you this photo, where you can see a person standing next to the rock and this works well as a scale so that you can see its true size. This rock specifically is called "the sugar cone" which means "ice-cream cone". You really have to let your imagination fly.

Something that also caught our attention in this Natural Park is that it had a sculpture of the German writer Goethe, on top of quite a big stone. The information written about this monument was in Czech, but we translated it and we discovered that it was a tribute to Goethe. The writer was not only interested in literature but he also had a special interest in Natural Sciences. That is why he had one of the biggest collections of different kinds of rocks and even some writings related to this theme. For all of these reasons and also because in his day, Goethe visited this Natural Park, they decided to build this sculpture as a memorial.

As we kept progressing we came across some very original landscapes like the following: This gorge was super narrow and made me feel tiny. The photos are really impressive. For me it was one of the best parts of the route. Just at the end, you come across the elephant square.

The walk kept getting more and more complicated. Never-ending ladders, long uphills and downhills and very steep slopes. Along the walk we came across a few waterfalls, a very small one and a medium-sized one. They are quite famous points along the route so there were quite a few visitors taking photos of them. We decided to stop to have a snack at the side of the river, where at certain times of the day there are some small boats which take you along the lake. It is quite a pretty place due to the water, the little boats and the colour of the trees. After a bit, we continued on to finish off the route.

We had to go past more gorges like this one, where the maximum width was 50 cm. From there on, it isn't suitable for everyone nor for those who suffer from claustrophobia. We kept on walking between really high rocks which were everywhere. One of the best points was almost at the end, from which you have an almost complete panoramic view of the whole park and you can see the top of each rock and the height of all the trees.

And now finishing of, I will tell you about an interesting part of the whole walk in Adrspach, which is this door right before going in the gorge; where it seems like the walls keep getting more and more narrow. This door reminds me of the series The Lord of the Rings, specifically the door where the Fellowship of the Ring access the Mines of Moria.

It took us around 3 hours to the whole rout, but we did it really peacefully. For those interested, it is important to mention that there are lots of pushchairs in the area so the ground is perfectly suited for a walk with your family. Even though comparisons are the worst, I have to say that Bohemian Switzerland was more impressive than Adrspach and there were also a lot less people there (maybe because the route is a lot more difficult). Saying that, I was really excited to get to know places in the Czech Republic and not just simply stay in Prague, the capital.

And this is everything that I wanted to tell you about this Natural Park. Thank you for reading this post, and I'll see you for the next one! I hope that you have enjoyed the photos. Best wishes!

Photo gallery