Sumava National Park

Sumava is the largest national park in the country, a broad and fairly low range of forested ridges along the Bavarian and Austrian border, continuous with the Bavarian Forest park on the German side. Its character is quiet rather than dramatic: spruce and beech forest, raised peat bogs crossed on boardwalks, slow brown streams stained by peat, glacial lakes in cirques under the ridges, and wide meadows where villages once stood and were never rebuilt. Lynx, red deer and black grouse live here, and the bogs hold plants found almost nowhere else in the country. Modrava, Kvilda and Srni are the usual bases. In winter the high plateau around Kvilda turns into one of the better cross-country ski areas in Central Europe.

What you actually see

• The peat bogs - raised bogs such as Chalupska slat and Jezerni slat, crossed on boardwalks with lookout platforms.
• The glacial lakes - dark cirque lakes under the ridges, reached on forest paths from the road.
• The upper Vltava - the river as a shallow meandering stream in open meadow near Kvilda and Modrava.
• The abandoned meadows - wide clearings with stone foundations and old fruit trees where settlements once stood.

When to go

May to October for walking and cycling, with June the best month for the bogs and meadows. Winter from January to March suits cross-country skiing on groomed plateau tracks. Some zones close seasonally to protect breeding birds, so check the current map. Weekends in July and August fill the car parks at Kvilda and Modrava early.

Honest expectations

Large areas of spruce died back after bark beetle outbreaks and storms, leaving grey standing timber that many visitors find bleak, even though young forest is now coming up through it. Distances are long and public transport is thin outside the summer bus season. The weather is wet and the bogs breed mosquitoes. There are few big set-piece sights.

Nearby

The Boubin primeval forest and the Povydri river trail are inside the park; Cesky Krumlov lies east.