This is the very Switzerland that is split in half by the German-Czech border. It had been on my wishlist for a long time, and now I finally made it there, so I’m sharing it with you. The main attraction of this region is its sandstone rock massif, which nature has shaped into very unusual forms in some places.

I should say right away that the day before our flight, the little one twisted his ankle, so we had to change everything. Anything that required too much walking was replaced, and the rest I did by myself while the other “travelers” were sleeping. But I’ll still briefly include the logistics for the places we didn’t visit, I had already prepared everything, and it would be a shame to waste it.

I made a map with all the points for you:

So, in my opinion, the highlights are:

Bastei Bridge

Bastei Bridge is an iconic place, a stone bridge set among the rocks. It looks nice at sunset, but it is probably better to come a couple of hours earlier, while the bridge is still lit by the sun. Or very early in the morning, before the crowds arrive and while there are still spaces in the upper parking lot, which is about a 10-minute walk away.

Besides the walk to the bridge itself, you can see the ruins of Neurathen Castle, sit on the panoramic restaurant terrace, and follow several trails with different views, including the mossy Schwedenlöcher and the descent to the nearby town of Rathen. In short, plan at least half a day here – the place is worth it, even if all you do is stand and admire the views. If you still have time, the miniature park Kleine Sächsische Schweiz and the trail to Wasserfall Lohmener Klamm are also nearby.

Tisá Walls

Tisá Walls are a rock labyrinth with bizarre shapes. The area is divided into two main routes: the Great Walls, where 56 rocks have names, and the Small Walls, with 19 named formations. Mapy.cz is very convenient to use there – all the rock figures are marked. It is better to download the region offline in advance.

I started my “Small Walls” route near the “Tourist Hut,” then followed the green trail to the “Rock Square,” made a short climb to the “Great Walls,” returned, went up to the cliff edge, and completed the loop. It took less than two hours, with many stops just to look around. If you do both routes in full, it may take around three hours. You can also start the route from the church in the village of Tisá itself.

A few minutes’ drive away, there are also easy routes from the village of Ostrov through lakes and rocks, as well as to the Děčínský Sněžník observation tower.

Pravčická Gate is a large rock arch, 16 by 26 meters. Nearby is the pretty “Falcon’s Nest” chateau with a restaurant. Access to the gate itself is paid, 125 CZK, and the fee is collected on site.
There are two main ways to get there. The first starts in the village of Hřensko: from the “Three Springs” junction, the red trail leads to the gate for about 2.5 km. This is the most popular and quite steep climb, taking around 45–60 minutes one way. The second option is longer but gentler, from the village of Mezní Louka along Gabriela’s Trail. It is about 6.5 km long and takes 1.5–2 hours one way. In my opinion, the best option would be to walk through from Mezní Louka to the gate and descend to Hřensko, but then you need to get back to the parking lot. If only we had two cars…)

From Mezní Louka, you can also go down to the river and take a boat ride between the rocks. Wild Gorge is closer and open. Edmund Gorge is farther away and seems to still be closed after the 2022 fires, although they promised to reopen it this summer.

Königstein Fortress is a unique, huge fortress on a mountain and one that has never been taken.

From the parking lot to the entrance, you can either walk about 800 meters or take a paid shuttle. The main route follows the fortress wall and is about 1.8 km long. This panoramic trail offers views of the Elbe River and the rocks of Saxon Switzerland. Inside the walls, there are also exhibitions in the former barracks and cellars. To walk around the walls, see the deepest well in Saxony at 152 meters, and visit several permanent exhibitions, plan at least 3–4 hours.

The last two places dropped out of our route because of the limitations I mentioned above, so we replaced them with Kletterpark Altenberg, which has lots of children’s activities, and Wildpark Osterzgebirge, something like a zoo in nature, in the same area.

We traditionally ended the day in thermal baths, we love that, and there is not much else to do in the evening anyway. Once we went to Aquacentrum Teplice, but there is not much for adults there; if you are already in Teplice, go to Thermalium instead. After Bastei, we went to Mariba Freizeitwelt Neustadt, but for adults, Toskana Therme Bad Schandau is better.

I can’t say much about public transport, as we traveled by car. If you are coming from the German side, check the Czech road payment rules. In the Czech Republic, it is a good idea to have some Czech crowns in cash. We had no problems at the borders. It seemed to us that the Czech side was cheaper and tastier.

Among restaurants, we remembered Restaurace Bunkr somewhere on the way to Teplice. It was homestyle, tasty, and almost indecently cheap.

Where to stay probably depends on where you are coming from. Since we arrived from Prague and also wanted to spend a day in Dresden, we stayed in a very cheap apartment between Teplice and Děčín, and from there everything was no more than an hour away by car. By the way, Teplice is quite a pleasant town, with its own sights and a beautiful park with a lake. Děčín is also fine, but the most convenient option is probably Bad Schandau, as it is closer to the bridge and the gate, and the fortress is not far either.