The best hiking routes in Pardubice Region

Pardubice Region offers a transition from gentle, wooded hills to rugged border mountains. If you prefer walking through deep beech forests, sandstone gorges, and past old iron-mining remnants, head to the southwest. Here, CHKO Železné hory provides a network of shaded clay and stone paths, while the adjacent CHKO Žďárské vrchy features granite rock formations rising out of spruce forests, where the underfoot is often a mix of damp peat and pine needles. These areas lack high alpine peaks, offering instead a quiet, undulating landscape of ponds and small pastures.

For a more demanding climb, the northern border areas present a different character. The steep slopes of CHKO Orlické hory feature ridge trails on packed dirt and gravel, where the vegetation changes to wind-swept mountain meadows and stunted spruce. Further east, the Śnieżnicki Park Krajobrazowy offers rocky paths along the Polish border, where the terrain becomes steeper and more exposed, with granite boulders underfoot.

In October, the beech canopy in CHKO Železné hory turns a deep copper, making it a distinct time to observe the geological layers in the ravines. The well-known summit trails in Śnieżnicki Park Krajobrazowy tend to attract more foot traffic, whereas the forest tracks of CHKO Žďárské vrchy remain much quieter.