Přebuz Heathland is a nature reserve where the scars of old peat mining have healed into a strange and beautiful landscape, now a refuge for rare plants and animals. Set on a high plateau in the widened valley of the Rolava river in the Ore Mountains, it feels like a small slice of wilderness far from the crowds.

The terrain is open and windswept — heather moors, dwarf pine and spruce, waterlogged ditches lined with peat moss. On the untouched peat pillars grows dwarf birch, at its westernmost site in the Czech Republic, alongside sundews, cranberries and arnica flowers. In summer the heathland turns purple with blooming heather; in winter it becomes a stark, silent expanse under snow. Either way, it rewards visitors who enjoy quiet, open landscapes over dramatic peaks.

How to get there

• From Přebuz — about 1.5 km northwest, easy walk, suitable for most hikers

Practical information

• The area is a protected nature reserve — picking plants or disturbing wildlife is prohibited
• Home to protected species such as the alpine newt, viviparous lizard and black grouse
• Best visited in late summer when heather and arnica are in bloom

Peat was cut here by hand well into the mid-20th century, and the old diggings are still visible today, forming a mosaic of habitats that shelter species found almost nowhere else in the region.