Krkonoše in winter - Rokytnice nad Jizerou and surroundings

Visited in: February 2014

As you probably noticed, snow conditions were terrible this winter in the Czech Republic. But who could have known couple of months ago when we booked our winter holiday? Well as I am not a big fan of cross-country skiing we spent most of the days hiking.

Weather can change quickly in the mountains and weather forecast is not always reliable... you can meet all possible conditions in one day so be ready for that:)

 

Tip for cheap accommodation: 170 CZK per night. http://www.erlebaska.cz/ at 1020 m. - noisy but everything else is fine. You have to cook yourself or go up 300 metres to a restaurant. It is a few kilometres up from Rokytnice nad Jizerou or you can order a car from Dvoračky to take you there (and mainly your baggages), 600 CZK one way.

"Dvoračky" restaurant was our base every day with Budvar beer, amazing soup ("krkonošské kyselo") and blueberry cakes and dumplings. http://www.dvoracky.cz/cs/

They have their own lift and short slope but you can ski through the forest and reach Lysá hora slopes for - usually - pretty good skiing. 

There are quite many trips you can do (this one quite easily on cross-country ski, too); the easiest and probably most beautiful is red trail up to the ridge - map http://mapy.cz/s/9qaX - enjoy the view while going towards "Vrbatova bouda" (1397 m). There you can get some refreshment (9.30-16.00) and stop at memorial of Hanč and Vrbata who both died in 1913 during 50 km ski competition because of the weather change (to cut the story short).

From there you can continue on red trail further away from Dvoračky, or, what I would recommend, turn to the right direction Labská bouda passing Pančavský waterfall (vodopád). You can have another beer at Labská bouda, however despite promoting their own microbrewery, they didn't have anything but Budvar at the time we were there. They also offer accommodation which may be an option if you are planning a trip for more days and don't want to go down from the ridge http://www.labskabouda.cz/en

Take a very short detour to Labský vodopád (waterfall) and continue to Pramen Labe (spring of river Labe that is, in the end, 1154 km long) but you won't see anything if there is snow. Here you can turn back to close the circle - follow yellow and later green trail to the crossroads "U Růženčiny zahrádky" where you reach again red trail leading back to Dvoračky.

Another pretty nice hike about 16 km (with more ups and downs on the way) was from Dvoračky to Horní Mísečky on green trail and then up to the ridge following yellow trail to Vrbatova bouda and then red trail back to Dvoračky. 

Trip to Harrachov was mainly motivated by our desire to visit local brewery:) The hike itself is a bit boring despite nice nature around - 7 km straight down the hill on green trail and the same way up http://mapy.cz/s/9qBQ (but if we had a bit more time we would definitely take different trail to go back - specifically the blue one heading to Mumlavský vodopád / waterfall, really nice place! Then we would just continue to "Krakonošova snídaně", then yellow, blue and green back to Dvoračky).

The actual town Harrachov is pretty scary in my view. "Las Vegas casino, Venice pizzeria, Amsterdam café"... certainly not places I'd visit when being in this region. But we had to pass them all to reach the brewery! http://www.sklarnaharrachov.cz/ - beer and food were pretty good so it was worth it. If you have some time you can also visit excursion in their traditional glass production hall. Of course skiing is another possibility what to do if there is enough snow:)

I'm sure you can see plenty of other possibilities where to go... I have some places on my list for next time, like a farm "Hucul" http://www.hucul.cz/ofarme.php with accommodation, horses and other animals, horse-riding, and allegedly very good restaurant with beef of their own production (Scottish highland cows). 

Btw. if you are interested in the mysterious man with a long beard,  wooden stick and hat with bird feathers - Krakonoš - whose pictures and sculptures and name is almost everywhere in this region - there is a quite nice text in English at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BCbezahl