Lake Macha

Machovo jezero was made in the fourteenth century on the order of Charles IV as a fishpond, Velky rybnik, and it is still technically that - dammed, shallow, warm and about three hundred and fifty hectares, with sandy shores because it lies in sandstone country. It was renamed in 1961 after Karel Hynek Macha, whose narrative poem Maj of 1836 - the central text of Czech Romanticism, known by heart in fragments across the country - is set in this landscape, with the ruined castle of Bezdez on the hill above standing in the poem. The lake became a summer resort in the twentieth century and it is now one of the busiest inland bathing places in Bohemia, with beaches at Doksy and Stare Splavy, boat trips, and a great deal of holiday accommodation. Around it are sandstone reserves and the Kokorinsko-Machuv kraj protected area.

What you actually see

• A fourteenth-century fishpond - dammed under Charles IV and still one technically.
• Sandy shores - the sandstone country giving beaches rather than mud.
• Macha's landscape - the setting of Maj, the central Czech Romantic poem.
• Bezdez above - the ruined castle on the hill in the poem.

When to go

June to September. A day.

Honest expectations

It is a busy resort in July and August, with crowded beaches and full accommodation. The water is shallow and warm, which means algae blooms in hot summers and occasional bathing bans. Check water quality reports.

Nearby

Bezdez castle is on the hill above; Kokorinsko is south.