You book your holiday, for couple reasons, but most importantly to relax and take it easy am i right? Unfortunately that is not always true to us. Sometimes we would need to have holiday after holiday, as what we been through has very far to a relaxed vacation.
This time we went to the mountains, so of course we expected to be tired due to walking several kilometers, what we did not expect though, were autumn temperatures and rainy weather for whole two days. We are always ready when it comes to where we want to go and what we want to see ( so we had maps with colorful circles on it), but we both had only one hoodie, which was intended to be for colder evenings and not for cold days. Temperatures dropped by like at least 15 degrees Celsius and we had to postpone our hike.
Also our vacation started with a flat tyre on granny's car and ended with police searching up our train and leaving it with quite a delay, but luckily this time, we did not have any troubles with accounts nor credit cards (at least something worked out.
Due to the sad and unexpected weather, we at least thought, that we would spend the entire time in the wellness area and then enjoy our dinner with some cocktail or so. Do you sense some trouble coming? Oh indeed there was. Every room could book an hour in their saunas and every other had to be paid. Whirlpool had to be booked (not available for that day) and paid. The only available thing was a swimming pool, which we regreted in just couple minutes. Very nice view of the mountains, but water´s temperature was probably even lower, than the temperature of the rain outside. Well we got in, but just for couple minutes and then we ran back to the room to have a tea and stay underneath the blankets.
Another bummer was our dinner. There were three meals to choose from, but you had to do so in the evening of the previous day. New hotel visitors had meal number one - chicken with ham and cheese and potatoes - ok you might call Claire picky, but she is a vegetarian and does not eat potatoes. Luckily salad does not need that much effort and so Claire was saved. Thank you Chef!
If we stick with the hotel topic, we can actually recommend you this one. It has very nice location - away from the center and quite close to the sloaps and hiking trails. Room walls are quite thin, but that is just the style of these houses which were built like that. I dare to say that 90% of mountain hotels are like that (as well as the one where we were the year before).
Their (cold) swimming pool has a nice terrace with a view as well as their restaurant which is just a floor above. Hotel offers classic rooms as well as apartments, where these have something like a tiny garden with the mountain view. Plus they accept dogs for 200,- per night (4 eur)
So in case you would like to book or check this 4* hotel Adam, you can do so here.
Nothing is as black as it seems though and so when it stopped raining, we went for a walk. The walk landed up to be a 15-kilometer tour around White Elbe (river). The path leads only slightly to the hill along the yellow trail, with a beautiful view of the slopes on the other side of the valley. In the middle of the way, you will find beautiful waterfalls right next to a cottage also called White Elbe, where you can grab something to eat, as it has a restaurant. You can sit there for a while and then head back to the town on a flat surface more like a road (just no cars there). This route is not so hard and is therefore suitable for children or older people.
13,5 km 4:30 h
2-cottage Bílé Labe, 3-Medvědín cable cart, 4-Špindlerův mlýn town
The next day, we were able to go for a proper tour i had planned in advance. According to google it was supposed to be something like 14 kilometers and so I decided to add one lake to our itinerary and it somehow landed up to be 24 kilometers at the end of our day. The route is really beautiful, so far the best I've ever hiked in the Czech republic. First you have to climb a hill from St. Peter, where there are natural stone stairs - it is a hell of a work-out! And then a beautiful view of the valley opens up right in front of you. The path here gets a bit narrow, right on the edge of the hill. I would even call it dangerous for little children, someone who does not enjoy heights and of course after rainy days, as it might get slippery.
Once you get to the top it is just a peaceful walk on a flat surface, until you reach a first cottage called Luční bouda. Here you can find a B&B, brewery, restaurant and even something like a cantina during the lunch hours. If you go straight from here zou reach the highest point of the Czech Republic Sněžka. If you go right, you go back to the town, but if you go left you soon cross over the czech polish boarder, where we needed to go to see the lake Mały Staw. The path here goes down quite fast (which was tiring on the way back), but the lake was totally worth those 6 kilometers. It is a stunning view!
21,5km 7,30 h
2-lookout Krakonoš, 3-no idea where it disappeared, 4-lake Maly Staw, 5-Luční bouda, 6-Výrovka
Špindlerův mlýn is still concidered to be a tourist town and with that, you always have to count with higher prices and people who are trying to make some money above average. Restaurants lure people in with ,,Real italian restaurant" - than you walk in and find out that their menu is full of burgers, you are sitting on a sheep skin and the pizza they just brought is nothing like the italian one. Maybe the shape match at least. Save those 200,- and walk little bit further from the center. There is a cabin, or a kiosk if you want, which offers an indoor and outdoor seating and way better food, prices and even staff.
Parking is paid in the entire town and so you better leave it by your hotel, or if you have it far than at the main parking P2 Hromovka where it costs 20,- for an hour (though we saw something else)
Video from this trip is on youtube
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