Adršpach Rock City

Rock FormationsBroumovsko, Hradec Králové Bölgesi,Czechia

Thousands of sandstone towers in northern Czechia that a forest fire uncovered in 1824, split by gorges so cold that mountain spruce grows on floors.

September·Edge of season

Sep–Oct

The summer crush eases and the pram keeps sailing to the end of October before it is pulled for winter; cool, bright walking with the surrounding forest turning while the gorge spruce stays green.

Year-round The sandstone towers, spruce-filled cold-air gorges and two lakes stand year-round, the one-way circuit ticketed daily but 24 December; boats, nesting falcons, the winter icefall and the cleared length of the loop shift by season.

Adršpach Rock City is a labyrinth of sandstone towers near the Polish border in northern Czechia, and people were visiting it before it was visible. Curious travellers from Silesia had been finding their way in since about 1700, and Goethe walked in in 1790, when the towers still stood buried in thick forest. What they came to see was a wood. Then in 1824 a forest fire burned the trees off the slopes and the labyrinth stood exposed for the first time: hundreds of pillars cut out of a sandstone plateau by streams working down its cracks. The open stone maze people photograph today is younger than the tourism itself. Nobody stood on top of any of it until 1923, when a German climbing club worked out how to get up the crumbling rock. Climbers still work these walls, and you usually hear them before you see them. The circuit runs one way on boardwalks and stairways that push between walls so close the sky shrinks to a bright strip, and at the Mouse Hole the gap narrows to fifty centimetres. Stepping down into a gorge, you feel the temperature drop with you. Cold air pools on these floors and barely stirs, the sharpest such inversion of any Czech rock city. Snow in the narrowest passages can last into summer, and mountain spruce grows down here while pine dries on the rims above. The towers stand close enough to read one by one: the Lovers, at 81.4 metres the tallest, and the Sugarloaf, wider across the top than at its base. Near the entrance a flooded pit, dug for sand until 1971 and filled by groundwater, shows its stone shelves through the water. Deeper in, a small lake is wedged between the walls, and a wooden punt carries a handful of people over it, the same crossing visitors have been making for more than 150 years. That lake is the waterfall's supply as well. The Great Waterfall does not run on its own: it is held behind a sluice, and when that opens the water drops sixteen metres into the gorge in one burst.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Book a timed ticket online before you travel — daily numbers are capped and summer dates sell out; once the online allocation is gone, nothing is sold at the gate.
Be at the gate when it opens — the circuit runs one way, so a late start means shuffling through the narrow passages in a queue that cannot overtake.
Do not assume the Great Waterfall will be falling — the flow comes through a sluice from the lake above, so a dry cliff usually just means waiting for the next release.
Wet sandstone steps turn greasy — the gorge floors stay damp and shaded for days after rain, so wear shoes with real grip rather than smooth soles.
Adršpach and Teplice are two separate rock towns — most visitors only walk the Adršpach circuit, so the neighbouring Teplice loop keeps its towers and gorges far quieter.

Things to do

1
Walk the boardwalks into the cold gorges
The circuit runs on planking and stairways that push between walls so close the sky shrinks to a bright strip overhead; at the Mouse Hole the gap narrows to 50 centimetres. Step down into the gorge and the temperature drops with you — the cold air lying on the floor is why spruce grows down here and pine grows above.
2
Pick out the Lovers and the Sugarloaf
Towers line up against the sky, and the trail passes close enough to read them one by one: the Lovers, at 81.4 metres the tallest here, and the Sugarloaf, wider across the top than at its base. Look for the small pines rooted on the bare summits, and for climbers moving on the walls.
3
Look down on the flooded quarry lake
Sand was dug out of this hollow until 1971, then groundwater filled the pit and left water so clear the stone shelves show through it. From the trail the lake sits green against the grey towers, with the village and its meadows spread out beyond.
4
Cross the rock lake in a flat-bottomed pram
A wooden punt carries a handful of people across the small lake wedged between the walls — the same crossing visitors have been making for more than 150 years. It lasts only a few minutes, and the boatman talks the whole way while the rock throws his voice back.
5
Wait for the sluice at the Great Waterfall
The Great Waterfall does not run on its own. The lake above is held back by a sluice, and when it opens the water drops 16 metres into the gorge in a single burst. Come in deep winter and the whole fall has set into a column of ice.

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Nearby

133 km