Zvičina is the highest point for miles around in the Podkrkonoší foothills and a crossroads you can set out from in any direction. On top there is a baroque church, a chalet with a rotating lookout dome, and ski slopes in winter. This guide covers what is up there, how to get there and when it is worth the walk.
The top of Zvičina is not a bare hill with a sign. Three unrelated things ended up here, and together they give the place its character.
The baroque church was built between 1706 and 1711 on the site of a wooden chapel raised in 1584 and dedicated to Jan Hus.
Count Ferdinand Kotulínský commissioned the stone building and dedicated it to John of Nepomuk before his canonisation in 1729. The change of patron was no accident. It is a textbook piece of the Counter-Reformation: a Hussite dedication replaced by the saint the Catholic church was promoting at the time.
A tourist chalet was built here in 1891. The Czech Tourist Club took it over with the surrounding land in 1900 and added a tower in 1925 and 1926. It opened on 25 April 1926.
The lookout is a glazed dome that rotates. You turn it yourself with a large wheel and work your way around the whole horizon. There is nothing else like it in the region.
The chalet was named after the writer Karel Václav Rais on 29 May 1927. He came from nearby Bělohrad and loved Zvičina; a memorial plaque was unveiled the same day.
Telecommunication masts stand next to the chalet. They get in the way of photographs, but they also make Zvičina recognisable from anywhere in the region.
On a clear day the view reaches a long way. Named landmarks include:
One thing you cannot see from the tower, and there is a story behind it. The view of the Giant Mountains is blocked by a forest that German tourists planted here deliberately in the nineteenth century. For the ridge you have to drop below the summit to the meadows, where the mountains open up in full. A clear morning or the hour before sunset is best.
The summit is a walking crossroads where trails of all four colours meet. You can walk up from several sides and none of the climbs is demanding.
about 4 km, one hour
The shortest and most natural way. You leave the house, cross the village and climb the southern slope. The gradient is gentle and children manage it easily. Come back the same way, or loop around the far side.
the northern side
The approach from the north, where the ski slope runs in winter. The path goes through forest, which makes it pleasant in summer because it stays in the shade.
the longer option
For anyone who wants to combine the hill with the birthplace of the poet Karel Jaromír Erben. Longer, but it crosses lovely countryside.
By car you can drive up from Horní Brusnice in the north, or from the south through Třebihošť or Miletín. There is parking by the chalet, though it fills up on fine weekends. Walking up from the house takes about the same time and is far nicer.
The northern slope becomes a small ski area. There are four runs plus a children’s one, served by three lifts, and there is evening skiing.
Seven cross-country loops run around the hill: Zvičina to Bílá Třemešná in two variants, Zvičina to Kal, Kal to Pecka, Zvičina to Miletín, Uhlejov to Bezník and Bezník to Bělohrad. When there is snow you can set off on skis straight from our gate.
Lifts and track grooming depend on snow, which is not the same every year in these foothills. Check the current state with the ski area.
In February 2025 two hikers found two containers in a stone wall on the south-western slope of Zvičina. Inside were 598 gold coins and more than thirty pieces of jewellery, snuffboxes and oddments. Seven kilograms in all, of which 5,230 grams were pure gold.
The finders handed the hoard to the Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Hradec Králové. The assay office confirmed the gold and the regional authority paid them a reward of 11.7 million crowns.
Nobody knows who buried it. The only certainty is that it went into the ground after 1921. The Second World War and the currency reform of 1953 are both plausible, but the owner remains unknown. Zvičina kept its secret.
Visibility is best once a cold front has cleared the air. That is when Milešovka and Bezděz come into view. In winter the summit sometimes rises above an inversion while the valleys stay under fog.
The light is low and soft, the landscape takes on colour and the mountain ridge stands out. It is the best hour of the day for photographs. Walking back at dusk is straightforward on the marked trail, but bring a headlamp.
May, September and October are the quietest on top and the countryside is at its best. November fog has its own appeal, though that one is for the hardier.
Our house stands in Třebihošť right under the southern slope. You can walk to the summit from the gate and come back to the hot tub. A tiny house for two, all year round.