The Ore Mountains in a Weekend: Our Itinerary Across Peaks, Mines, and Forgotten Places

A Weekend in the Ore Mountains: Our Itinerary Through Mountains, Mines and Forgotten Places

When you hear the name Ore Mountains, places like Klínovec, Plešivec, Boží Dar or Jáchymov probably come to mind. We expected an interesting mountain region. What we found was a landscape full of deep forests, sweeping views, old mines, abandoned settlements, peat bogs and places where history is still literally beneath your feet.

And above all, there was one thing we really did not expect.

There were almost no people anywhere.

It was an August weekend, yet for most of the time we were almost completely alone. On the roads, at viewpoints, in the forests and even at places where we expected far more visitors.

In some areas, the landscape reminded us of Šumava. Vast forests. Mountain meadows. Small settlements. Long roads winding between the hills.

Just without the crowds of tourists, cyclists and packed car parks.

And that may have been the biggest discovery of the entire weekend.

Three days, several completely different sides of the Ore Mountains

Our plan was slightly unconventional from the very beginning.

We did not want to simply drive from one famous viewpoint to another. We wanted to combine mountains, nature, mining history and places that today feel more like scenery from another world.

In the end, during a single weekend, we managed to visit:

Klínovec hike → Vlčí jámy → Blatenský vrch → Horní Blatná → Rolava → Boží Dar → Boží Dar Peat Bog → an abandoned settlement → Jáchymov → Mine No. 1 → the Red Tower of Death.

And almost every stop showed us a completely different side of the same mountain range.

Friday: Our First Surprise on Klínovec

We arrived in the Ore Mountains on Friday afternoon and immediately set off on foot towards Klínovec.

As the highest mountain in the Ore Mountains, it seemed like the obvious place to begin our trip.

We expected to meet plenty of people on a beautiful summer day.

We didn’t.

For long stretches of the trail, we were practically alone, and this was the first place where we really began to notice just how open and peaceful the landscape feels.

Forests stretched all the way to the horizon, small settlements appeared between them, and from the higher sections of the trail we were rewarded with beautiful views across both the Czech and German sides of the mountains.

It was not the kind of dramatic mountain scenery you get in the Alps.

It was more about the endless sense of space.

And that was exactly what we were starting to love about the Ore Mountains.

Klínovec was a great beginning.

Saturday: From Old Mines to Peat Bogs

The second day began near Horní Blatná.

Our first destination was Vlčí jámy.

At first glance, they may look like a natural rock formation, but in reality they are the result of historic mining activity.

This was the first place where we truly realised that mining history in the Ore Mountains is not hidden away in museums.

It is part of the landscape itself.

Rocks, pits, old mining works and forests slowly reclaiming everything around them.

From Vlčí jámy, we continued across Blatenský vrch and its lookout tower towards Horní Blatná.

And once again, we found ourselves looking out over a landscape that reminded us of Šumava.

Only without the crowds.

Horní Blatná and an Unexpected Surprise

We arrived in Horní Blatná just as the local fire brigade was celebrating its 160th anniversary.

Completely by chance, we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a festive parade.

After spending several hours in almost empty forests, there was suddenly music, firefighters, vehicles and the whole town full of life.

These are exactly the kinds of unplanned moments we love most about travelling.

Quite often, they stay in your memory much longer than the places you had carefully highlighted in your itinerary beforehand.

Rolava: A Completely Different World

From Horní Blatná, we continued towards Rolava.

And within just a few minutes, the atmosphere changed completely.

Deep in the forests of the Ore Mountains stand the massive concrete ruins of a former mining complex.

Nature is slowly closing in from all sides, and the whole place feels almost unreal.

We brought our drone with us, and it was the view from above that really showed us the true scale of the site.

Concrete structures in the middle of green forests.

Empty buildings.

Silence.

And almost nobody around.

Rolava was one of the most powerful places of the entire weekend, and its history definitely deserves more than just a few paragraphs.

That is why we are giving it a separate article in our Forgotten Places section.

From Rolava to Boží Dar

After Rolava, we headed towards Boží Dar.

And within a short time, we moved from industrial ruins into a completely different landscape.

Our destination was the Boží Dar Peat Bog.

After everything we had seen earlier that day, walking along wooden boardwalks through wetlands felt almost like a complete reset.

No concrete.

No mines.

Just mountain nature, open landscapes and peace.

This was probably the place where the Ore Mountains reminded us of Šumava the most.

But the difference in the number of visitors was still striking.

Even here, we had long stretches of the trail almost entirely to ourselves.

We’re Not Done Yet: An Abandoned Settlement near Loučná

After Boží Dar, we had already packed more than enough into one day.

But there was still daylight left.

So we decided to visit one more abandoned settlement near Loučná pod Klínovcem. Looking back, we are glad we did.

The evening light revealed yet another series of beautiful views across forests, meadows and distant villages.

At the same time, we came across another layer of Ore Mountains history.

It was not only mines that disappeared here. Entire settlements vanished as well. Places where houses once stood and families lived are now marked only by stone foundations, old roads and a few traces left behind in the landscape.

After such a packed day, this may have been one of the quietest stops.

And also one of the most memorable.

Sunday: From the Surface Underground

On the final day, we headed to Jáchymov.

After two days of seeing traces of mining all around us on the surface, we finally wanted to descend to the place where much of this region’s history actually happened.

Underground.

We visited Mine No. 1.

Suddenly, we were standing in cold, damp tunnels between rock walls and narrow corridors.

And the history of the Ore Mountains began to feel completely different.

Mine No. 1, together with the Red Tower of Death, deserves a separate practical article of its own, where we will focus on what the visit is like, our experience and what surprised us during the tour.

What Surprised Us Most About the Ore Mountains?

In the end, the biggest surprise was not Rolava.

Nor Klínovec.

Nor the mine.

It was the landscape itself.

We often stopped simply because another view opened up in front of us — forests, hills and small settlements.

And again, the same comparison came to mind.

Šumava.

Not because the two mountain regions are identical, but because the feeling of the landscape was often very similar.

Vast forests. Mountain plateaus. Small villages. Roads winding between hills. Peat bogs.

But during our August weekend, we were alone for probably ninety percent of the time.

Of course, we are not saying that the Ore Mountains are always empty.

A different time of year or the winter season may look completely different.

But this was our experience.

And perhaps that was the greatest luxury of the entire trip.

Having such a beautiful landscape almost entirely to ourselves.

It was intense.

Saturday especially.

But that intensity allowed us to see several completely different sides of the Ore Mountains in a single weekend.

From mountain views and peat bogs to old mines and places deeply marked by history.

Will We Come Back?

Definitely.

One weekend mainly showed us just how much we still do not know.

There are more mining sites left on our map, more abandoned settlements, hiking trails and the German side of the Ore Mountains still waiting to be explored.

And that is probably the best sign that the trip was worth it.

We arrived with a few places saved on our map.

We left feeling as though we had discovered an entire mountain range that we had previously paid far too little attention to.

The Ore Mountains may not be as famous as Šumava or the Krkonoše Mountains.

After this weekend, we honestly do not understand why.

If you are looking for mountains where beautiful nature, powerful history and places that still do not feel like a tourist theme park come together, the Ore Mountains are well worth the journey.