6 Kid-Friendly Bohemian Switzerland Hiking Trails

We love hiking and sharing our appreciation of nature with our kids. We were so excited when we discovered Bohemian Switzerland National Park (České Švýcarsko), the Czech Republic’s newest national park. During our family visit to this beautiful region, we enjoyed many excellent kid-friendly Bohemian Switzerland hiking trails.

Bohemian Switzerland is technically part of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, but it is mostly hills compared to the nearby peaks of the European Alps. This Czechia national park has tons of hiking, ranging from short kid-friendly hikes, to the more challenging, yet very rewarding Wild Gorge loop.

As an added bonus you can visit both the Bohemian and Saxon Switzerland National Parks in the same trip.

We visited Bohemian Switzerland with our kids when they were 2 & 4 years old respectively. Our kids were at a tricky age – they were old enough to walk reasonable distances, but they were not able to do any epic mountain trails yet. Thankfully, we easily found kid-friendly hikes in Bohemian Switzerland National Park that they could either hike all or a portion of.

This post contains compensated links.

We did lots of family-friendly hikes during our 18 day family trip to the Czech Republic and the hiking in Bohemian Switzerland was some of the best. Here are the Bohemian Switzerland hiking trails we enjoyed during our visit:

6 Family-Friendly Hikes in Bohemian Switzerland

1. Mariina Vyhlidka Lookout Trail

After settling into our vacation home rental in Bynovec, we drove to Jetrichovice for a short afternoon hike. The Bohemian Switzerland National Park boundary begins just north of town and there is a beautiful, kid-friendly hike up to a couple of viewpoints. The return trip is approximately 3 miles (5km) in total.

There is a free parking lot near the Mariina Vyhlidka Lookout trailhead. From here, the trail starts as a flat, paved path, but soon transitions to a dirt & sand mixture as your enter a beautiful valley.

The Mariina Vyhlidka Lookout hiking path is surrounded on both sides by dense forest, with towering sandstone stones and cliffs mixed in for an amazing effect. The hike climbs steadily upward, with most of it being stairs made from cut logs or simply cut out of the sandstone itself.

After 0.7 miles (1.2 km), you arrive at the junction which takes you the Mariina Vyhlidka (Mary Prospect) lookout. The stairs up to the lookout go for 0.3 miles (0.5 km) and are very steep. We held our kids pretty close for safety reasons. 

The Bohemian Switzerland National Park views from the Mary Prospect lookout are stunning. You will be rewarded with views of the surrounding hills & the forest, sandstone slabs of rock emerging from the forest canopy, the nearby towns and surrounding farmland – so worth the effort!

Despite the hike to this point being mostly up stairs, it wasn’t really that hard for the first section up to the stairs.

Our 4.5 year old daughter hiked up the whole way to the Mary Prospect Lookout, with only a little help when the stairs were too high or we felt it was a little too dangerous. Even our little guy (2.5 years old) hiked all the way to the top, with a little more help as many of the steps were too tall for him. We used toddler carriers for the walk back down the stairs as they were way too long and steep for them.

The walk to Vileminina Vyhildka (Wilhelmine’s View) is much easier. The easy walk is around 0.5 miles (0.8km) and is mostly flat, with a transition to uphill towards the end. The views from this lookout were equally amazing, with a good view of the first lookout, which is always kind of fun.

2. Tisa Walls

The next morning, we drove 35 minutes to the town of Tisa to hike around the Tisa Walls. The Tisa Walls are a series of rock outcrops which tower dramatically above the town. What makes this an especially kid-friendly Bohemian Switzerland hike are the rock formations.

The Tisa Walls rock formations are especially fun to explore as 75 of them have been identified as looking like things (faces, turtles, decapitated mayor’s, etc), so you and your kids will spend the whole time looking around and using your imagination.

You can buy an inexpensive map for Tisa Walls from the entry booths which tells you what each of the 75 formations look like. Each one has a number associated with it and is painted on the rock.

Visiting the Tisa Walls was one of the best things to do in Bohemian Switzerland with kids. It is a super fun place for kids to run around and explore.

The sandstone rocks of the Tisa Walls tower overhead and there are all kinds of rocks to climb or hide behind, fissures in the rocks to explore, holes to poke your head out of, stairs to climb, lookouts to enjoy, etc. Our kids were having so much fun that they ran around for at least the first two hours!

There are two entrances to the Tisa Walls – one outside of town by a restaurant and one in town by the cemetery. We recommend starting at the cemetery entrance as it allows you to easily walk both loops around the Tisa Walls.

3. Male Tiske Steny Loop Trail

We walked the Male Tiske Steny loop of the Tisa Walls first. This loop is the shorter one of the two easy Tisa Walls trails, but is more fun for kids as there are very few fences to keep them from exploring the rocks. Our kids loved this loop and they had the time of their lives running in and around the rocks, exploring and playing games.

This loop includes a few climbs up stairs to viewpoints at the top of the outcrops. The views are beautiful of course, but I admit to being a little nervous with the kids up so high with no guard rails.

4. Velke Tiske Steny Loop Trail

The Velke Tiske Steny loop around the Tisa Walls is longer and less fun for the kids than the first. This loop has more guard rails to keep people on the path and away from the rocks. This, coupled with the fact that we needed to hurry things along for nap time, meant the kids couldn’t play as much in the rocks.

This easy hiking loop featured a few segments where you stray from the rocks and walk through a beautiful forest, but these segments don’t take long. 

Shortly after we passed the famous turtle and mushroom formation, we found ourselves by the restaurant near the other park entrance. It turns out that we missed the trail which loops back to our Tisa Walls entrance.

The nice lady working the booth did a good job explaining where to go, despite her lack of English. The last leg of this Tisa Walls hiking loop walks along the top of the rocks, giving sweeping views of the town and land beyond.

5. Hiking the Wild Gorge Loop to Pravcicka Brana

Our second full day was an epic hiking day as we tackled one of the best things to do in Bohemian Switzerland! Our main activity for the day was to hike the loop from Pravcicka Brana to Menzi Louka to the Edmond and Wild Gorges to Hrensko. 

This amazing hike in Bohemian Switzerland includes two short boat rides in the gorges and spans 12.5 miles (20 km). We spent 6 hours on this spectacular Bohemian Switzerland hiking trail with our kids.

There are so many natural wonders to see on this hike. Pravcicka Brana is the largest natural stone bridge in Europe. The short trail to the arch is reasonably steep uphill, but afterwards, it is either flat or downhill.

After the arch, you start Gabriella’s Path; an exceptionally beautiful hike with towering sandstone cliffs on one side and panoramic views on the other.

After Gabriella’s Path, you descend down the mountain through Menzi Louka and enter the Wild Gorge where the hike becomes a lot of fun. The path follows the river and alternates between being on land and on elevated wooden pathways over-top the river.

The scenery here is insanely beautiful and it really is a special hike in Bohemian Switzerland. At two stages of this hike, the trail ends and you must board a boat, powered by guides using long poles (think gondoliers in Venice…).

Due to the distance of this trail, it might not be a kid-friendly Bohemian Switzerland hike for everyone. This amazing hike was obviously too long for our kids to walk themselves, so we had them in their carriers for parts of the hike.

6. Bastei Bridge in Saxon Switzerland Germany

Though we had already had a very long day of hiking with our kids in Bohemian Switzerland, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity of driving across into Germany to see the famous Bastei Bridge! Immediately after the Wild Gorge hike, we hopped in the car and drove 35 minutes north, to Rathen, Germany to enjoy the easy walk along the Bastei Bridge.

This area is part of the Saxon Switzerland National Park, the companion park to the Czech Republic Bohemian Switzerland National Park. And seeing the Bastei Bridge is one of the best things to do in Saxon Switzerland National Park.

After parking in Rathen, we put the kids back in their carriers and began the 1 mile uphill hike to the Bastei Bridge. Being so close to the Bohemian Switzerland National Park, it’s no surprise that the scenery here is equally amazing. A few points along the way, there are lookouts where you can enjoy sweeping views of the Elbe River below.

Bastei is a famous rock formation in Germany. The aptly named Bastei Bridge is a 250 foot (76 m) long bridge which spans the tops of several of these towering rocks. The walk across the bridge is short, but offers many spectacular views of the surrounding rock formations.

Past the bridge there are two pathways which lead to alternate viewpoints, offering amazing views of the bridge itself and the rock formations.

Found this post helpful? Pin It For Later!