During this hike, we’re going to visit one of the most beautiful natural spots in the vicinity of Prague – the deep, rocky canyon of River Vltava between Stechovice and Slapy, some 30 km south of the Czech capital. The area is known in Czech as Svatojánské proudy which translates as St. John’s rapids, after the Czech saint Jan (John) Nepomuk.

For its wild, rugged scenery, Svatojanske proudy have been a popular destination for day trips from Prague since the 19th century and the country’s oldest hiking trail was marked here in 1889. Later, it became the cradle of Czech tramping movement.

Beware: Words tramp and tramping have entirely different meaning in the Czech context! Basically, the Tramps were (and still are) people who wanted to escape the city, and live, at least at weekends, like characters from adventure books set in the American Wild West. Tramps established thousands of provisional settlements across the country and named them after places in America, e.g. Hudson, Little Bighorn or Oregon City. Nice article about Czech tramping is on Wikipedia.

The rapids are no longer there – they were flooded when the Stechovice Dam was built during the WWII, but the river canyon between Stechovice and Slapy has remained an isolated and romantic place.

DIFFICULTY: Medium

Despite of being only 15 km long, this hike is relatively demanding. The trail along the Stechovice reservoir is rocky and narrow and straddles up and down the steep bank of the lake. And, in the last third of the hike, we will walk up the Homole Hill, to see the reservoir on the top. In total the route overcomes about 660 meters/2200 feet of vertical gain.

LOGISTICS

We’ll meet at the BUS stop which is right in front of Prague -Smichov train station (Metro B “Smichovske nadrazi”). See the photo below.

Our bus leaves at 9:05 and the ride to the hike’s starting point takes about 40 minutes.

We will have about 7 hours to complete the hike and then take bus back to Prague. We’ll have a picnic lunch on the trail

As usual, I’m going to book a restaurant for after-the-trip dinner&socializing :-).

Bring with you

Good hiking shoes, raincoat, packed lunch, water and snack and of course, good mood!

PRICE

350 CZK or 150 CZK with Discovery Pass 

Includes bus fare both ways, planning and organization)

Children < 16 accompanied by adult pay 100 CZK! (in cash on the day)

I look forward to hiking with you!

Cheers,

Filip

P.S.

Please note: Due to the trip’s logistics, the number of participants is limited to 20. Don’t hesitate and book your place!