Individual arrival in the Silesian capital of Wroclaw and accommodation in a centrally located hotel.It is possible to book your first as well as final night in Krakow particularly if you are going to be participating in one of our other cycle tours as well. The price will be not change and the details regarding the outward and return journeys can be discussed individually.

We travel by bus through lower Silesia (about 3 hours) until the Czech border to the ski village of Zieleniec with views of the table mountains typical for this region. Zieleniec at 860 m was, as it happens, once Prussia’s highest village. After visiting the extended raised bog situated on the watershed dividing the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, we cycle downhill towards Duszniki, one of the oldest and most famous of the Sudeten spa resorts. Then we cycle along the Bystrzyca, a mountain stream, through quiet alleys to reach the picturesque spa resort of Polanica Zdroj. Finally we cycle downhill to the valley of the Nysa Klodzka River to reach our hotel in Klodzko.

Klodzko is a cultural centre of the region and is also known for its attractive location, the many monuments and places of interest. These include above all a fortress from the 18th century and a Gothic bridge known as the younger sister of the Charles bridge of Prague. We then cycle past dreamy villages and go downhill along the deep valley of Nysa Klodzka towards Bardo, a popular place of pilgrimage with one of Silesia’s most important Mother Mary Sanctuaries. We ride down winding cycle paths through narrow alleys with fruit trees until we come to the impressive castle of Kamieniec Zabkowicki, an eccentric idea of the renowned architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Finally we follow the Nysa Klodzka to get to the historical city of Paczkow. We visit the old town of Paczkow, with almost completely preserved city walls from the 14th century earning it the sobriquet, the “Polish Carcassonne” referring to the famous fortified historical French city. We then leave the Polish part of Silesia and cross the Polish-Czech border and check into our rooms in Javornik.

In the morning we visit the Jansky Vrch castle in Javornik. This castle dates from the 13th century and was modified into a palace during the Baroque period. It established itself as a centre for Silesian music during this time. Following the visit we cycle along the border through the villages of Bohemia. At Vidnava we cross over the border again and check into our hotel, in Glucholazy at the centre of a landscaped park. The market square with its renaissance and Baroque houses is very attractive and has a Linden tree planted in 1648 in remembrance of the end of the Thirty Years’ War.

Stone crosses and shrines on the roadside are a common occurrence on this leg. These marked the pilgrim routes in earlier days and are still often seen in the Sudeten region. We will be travelling over smalls roads via Prudnik to the Czech village of Osoblaha. German author Otfried Preussler named his main figure, Robber Hotzenplotz, in a children’s book after the German version of this village’s name. We will visit a well kept Jewish cemetery there. For the next part of the journey we will be taking the narrow-gauge railway that is still a common sight in these parts and will finally continue on further along the River Opava valley heading back to our hotel in Krnov. This beautiful old town has many Jugendstil buildings that were recently renovated.

From Krnov we first ride southwards towards a hill with a pilgrimage church and a neo-Gothic look-out tower and then downwards through the Moravian region back into the Opava valley. The highlight of this leg will be the visit to the city of Opava, the historical capital of Czech Silesia. We stay in a hotel located directly in the heart of the old town.

We then bid the Sudeten region adieu and cycle northwards to Kraware Palace built in the 17th century, which was for a long time the seat of the aristocratic von Eichendorff family. We then get off beyond the border at Krzanowice, where it is time for the return journey towards Wroclaw (or Krakow as the case may be).

Individual departure or extension.