Bohemian Switzerland is what happens when soft sandstone meets millions of years of water and patience. The result is a landscape that looks borrowed from a Chinese scroll painting — towering rock pillars, natural arches, narrow gorges where rivers have cut corridors through the stone. The Pravčická Brána, Europe’s largest natural sandstone arch, spans sixteen meters above a forested valley and is the kind of formation that makes you reconsider what rock is capable of.
The Kamenice River gorge offers a different perspective: flat-bottomed boats glide silently through narrow channels where the cliffs rise so close on either side that you could touch both walls. The trails through the park range from gentle riverside walks to scrambles up iron ladders bolted into cliff faces. Mezná and Hřensko serve as base camps — small villages with pensions and restaurants where the trout is fresh and the beer is cold after a day on the trails.
When to go: May through October for hiking. Autumn colors in late September and October are spectacular against the sandstone.