Tips for trips
Village Rohanov is located in the beautiful Sumava foothills just below Javorník Hill, in an area characterized by clean air and a high quality of the environment in general. The landscape in the immediate vicinity is slightly hilly, agricultural land alternates with forests, and the hills Javorník, Churáňov, Boubín and Mařský vrch can be seen. Really only few locations within Czech Republic have such a large area of beautiful, unspoilt nature left to be enjoyed in our country as in Šumava.
The forty-year hard closure by the communist regime of a large part of Šumava as an “enemy border zone” thus also had an upside side - a significant reduction in human activity and tourism contributed to the preservation of natural values. Today, this part of this territory is a National park. A large part of Šumava is forested, but there are also mountain meadows, heather-covered plains, bogs, the landscape is interwoven with many streams hidden in the grass and merging into mountain torrents.
Village Rohanov itself is a quiet place, located away from the most visited tourist centers, but nevertheless, it is an ideal gateway for trips to a large part of Sumava, which is made possible by its location on the road Strakonice - Churáňov. Local bus connections is well used for hikers. Lines to Churáňov, Vimperk and Kašperské Hory allow access to more distant places in the entire Sumava region from Strážné to Prášily. Cycling tourism has also seen a great boom in recent years and has become a trend for active leisure and relaxation. Sumava is, without an exaduration a cyclist's paradise, thanks to a number of traffic-free roads. Here you can just go for a short drive to a romantic corner, or just as easy plan a very challenging route. Travel destinations for bad weather are also plentiful. From Rohanov, it is possible to take a trip to a castle or chateau or visit some of the historic towns in the Šumava foothills. In addition to interesting architecture, they also have regional museums focused mainly on Sumava glassmaking.
You can also enrich your stay in Rohanov with a trip to neighbouring Germany. Within reach are the road border crossings Strážný - Philippsreut and Železná Ruda - Bayerisch Eisenstein, tourist border crossings for pedestrians and cyclists Bučina - Finsterau and Prášily - Gsenget - Scheuereck. In the summer, it is possible to use the ecological bus of the NP Šumava, line Horská Kvilda - Kvilda - Bučina, some of which connections are connected at the Bučina border crossing by the German Igel Bus line to Finsterau.
Kvilda
An important center of tourism in the central part of Šumava, a mountain village that is one of the highest in the Czech Republic and one of the most famous settlements in Šumava. We can find many accommodation facilities of all price categories and restaurants here. Kvilda is an ideal starting point for hikes for pedestrians and cyclists to the surrounding beautiful nature, e.g. to the source of the Vltava. The village and its surroundings become a true cross-country skiing paradise with the first snow, tens of kilometers of groomed cross-country tracks stretch through the picturesque landscape, and there is also a smaller downhill area right on Kvilda. In the summer season, a regular bus connection to the defunct village of Bučina is popular.
In addition to several other houses, the original wooden church of St. Štěpán, on whose place today's pseudo-Gothic sanctuary grew. It uses elements of Šumava folk architecture; its facade with a prismatic tower is - like the roofs - covered with shingles. In the reverently maintained cemetery, we can find several dozen German gravestones and nicely carved death boards by the side wall of the sanctuary. Above the lower part of the village by the road to Dolní Vltavica, there are several folk houses of the typical Šumava style with pilasters and folded lomens with a decorative end at the top. In the local part of Vilémov, a collection of small wooden houses of woodworkers from the 19th century has been preserved. The preserved medieval vaults near the Kvildský stream are protected as an archaeological monument.
Next to the church, on the 1st floor of the former school, now the municipal office, there is a year-round museum with a permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of Kvilda and the defunct Bučina. Opposite the church is the Šumava National Park information center with an exhibition dedicated to the mountain forest.
Kvilda also starred in several well-known Czech films. The plot of the novel King of Šumava by Rudolf Kalčík, who served as a border guard in Kvilda, takes place right here. The novel was also made into a film with Radovan Lukavský, Jiří Vala and Jiřina Švorcová in the lead roles.
Beech tree
A defunct mountain village, located almost at the Czech-German state border, in the past the highest seat not only in Šumava, but in the whole of Bohemia. During the 1st Republic, up to 400 inhabitants lived here in more than 50 houses, the vast majority of whom were of German nationality, there stood the building of the customs office, barracks of the financial guard, a hunting lodge, a game park, a school and a savings bank, the Fastner hotel, the Zum Tirolen inn and later also the Pešlova cottage . After 1945, the village was displaced, and because it was located in the border zone, it disappeared around 1956. After the fall of the communist regime, it saw at least a hint of revival. In 1992, the chapel of St. Michal, large information panels were installed and a border crossing for pedestrians and cyclists was opened, in 2004-06 the stylish Alpine Lookout Hotel was built on the original foundations of the Pešlova cottage. In good weather, distant Alpine peaks can be seen from the saddle in the upper part of the former village. In season, a "green" tourist bus from Kvilda, an electric bus from Finsterau and the area under Luzný from the German side go here.
If you are interested, what did the famous "iron curtain" look like on the Czechoslovak western border, which was built by the totalitarian communist regime from 1951? You will find out in Bučina, where a faithful copy of the so-called signal wall was built and made available in 2008, which was supposed to prevent disaffected people from fleeing to the west. The curtain consists of about 100 m long border barricades with barbed wire and a guard tower.
Kvilda Mounain
A small Šumava village on a mountain meadow in the middle of forests, one of the highest in the Czech Republic, with typical Šumava architecture. The most famous building here is the Pollauf Inn, today the Rankl Hotel, a typical Šumava building with a bell tower. Its history dates back to the Middle Ages, it used to be a pub and a toll booth on the Golden Path. Since 1757, the Pollauf family has been running a business here. It is here, in Pollauf's inn, that the plot of Klostermann's well-known novel In Paradise in Šumava begins. Currently, the village, made up of about 30 houses, is a popular winter and summer recreation center. The high position ensures plenty of snow throughout the winter. The information center is located in the building of the municipal office. Just like on the neighboring Kvilda, cross-country lovers enjoy themselves here in the winter months, a dense network of groomed tracks weaves through the winding plains here.
About two kilometers St. from Horská Kvilda, on the Ranklov meadow in the middle of forests and moors, stood the solitude of Ranklov. Josef Klostermann (1819-1888), nicknamed Rankl Sepp, a giant of a man and a strongman famous throughout the region, one of the characters in Karel Klostermann's novel V raji Šumavaském, came from there. He was well over two meters tall and had such strength that he easily put an overturned wagon back on its wheels. It was a piece of cake for him to settle any pub brawl. It is said that the museum in Vienna offered a considerable sum for his exceptional skeleton, but the strongman Sepp was not interested in making the body available for scientific research after his death. He is buried in the cemetery in Stachy, where he spent the last years of his life. His life-size wooden statue by Horská Kvilda cottager Ladislav Pavel is in his garden in Horská Kvilda opposite the Rankl hotel.
