The Čerchov Forests are the largest protected area in the Bohemian Forest (Český les) region - 327 hectares of ancient beech and mixed forest spreading across the slopes of Čerchov, Malý Čerchov and Sedlová jedlina. This is what the forest looked like before anyone tidied it up.

Because the reserve sat within the former border zone, closed off to the public for decades, its nature has survived remarkably untouched. Acidic beech woods dominate the gentler slopes, while rocky, stony terrain gives way to wild scree forests scattered with boulders and fallen trunks. In autumn the woods glow gold and copper; in winter a hush settles over everything, broken now and then by a lynx's tracks in the snow. The summit of Čerchov itself, deforested and heavily altered in the 19th century, lies outside the reserve boundary.

How to get there

• Čerchov summit serves as the natural starting point for exploring the surrounding reserve slopes - trails wind through beech forest, moderate difficulty
• Approach also possible from Malý Čerchov and Sedlová jedlina

Practical information

• The area was long inaccessible as part of the border zone, which helped preserve its near-original character
• Home to a notable population of the Eurasian lynx, a species once hunted to extinction in Bohemia

The fact that lynx have re-established themselves here, in a country where they were once completely wiped out, makes the Čerchov Forests one of the few places where you might genuinely sense this elusive predator's presence.