Skip to content
eSOUBYTOVÁNÍCzech Stay Atlas

Region

Šumava

National park · Glacial lakes · Lipno · Cross-country skiing

The country’s largest national park (685 km²): upland plateaus, peat bogs and glacial lakes. Lipno, the largest body of water in Czechia, lies to the south-east.

Šumava National Park (the Bohemian Forest) was established in 1991 and, at 685 km², is the largest in Czechia. It protects upland plateaus, peat bogs, mountain spruce forests and glacial lakes – Černé jezero (18.47 ha) is the largest natural lake in the country.

In the south-east lies Lipno, a reservoir covering 48.7 km². Kvilda (1,065 m) is, by the location of its municipal office, the highest municipality in Czechia. Strict rules on camping, fires and cycling apply in the national park – see the overview in our guide.

Stay DNA: Šumava

An editorial profile of the place, not a measurement. How the scores are made

Nature
10/10
Cycling
8/10
Wellness
5/10
Family
8/10
Food
5/10
Nightlife
3/10
Peace
9/10
Dogs
7/10
Car-free
5/10

Plan the trip

Three helpers, already set for Šumava. All of them are also on the Planner page.

On the map

Map layers
Prague–Vienna Greenways (Czech section) (schematic)Rožmberk Heritage Greenway (schematic)

Select a point on the map or in the list.

    Borders: Natural Earth 1:10m (public domain). Regions and routes are schematic. Sources for each layer: how the atlas is made.

    How to stay here

    We do not list individual hosts yet. Why.

    Guides

    Places nearby

    • Bechyně Spa town in South Bohemia above the Lužnice river.
    • Český Krumlov Historic centre inscribed in 1992. Castle and château above a bend of the Vltava; about 13,000 inhabitants.
    • Holašovice A village of rural Baroque architecture, inscribed in 1998; 16 km west of České Budějovice.
    • Hluboká nad Vltavou Château about 9 km north of České Budějovice, managed by the NPÚ.
    • Český Krumlov Castle and Château The complex above the Vltava in the UNESCO town centre.
    • Orlík Château Château above the Orlík reservoir.
    • Lipno The largest body of water in Czechia: 48.7 km², 42 km long.
    • Orlík Valley reservoir on the Vltava.
    • Černé jezero The largest natural lake in Czechia: 18.47 ha, glacial in origin, 1,008 m above sea level.
    • Plešné jezero Glacial lake in Šumava National Park, 1,090 m above sea level.

    Coming soon

    These guides are not finished yet. We would rather write them properly than publish empty pages.

    • Lipno by bike
    • Kvilda and Horská Kvilda in winter
    • Glacial lakes without the crowds

    How we chose

    • Šumava is a tourist area, not an administrative region, so it has no official border. We draw it as an area around one reference point (Šumava National Park (Wikipedia)).
    • Facts such as areas, dates and rules come from official bodies and Wikipedia. Each one is in the source list below, with the date we last checked it.
    • Stay DNA and the “Know before you go” panel are our editorial estimates, compared with the other places in the atlas. They are not measurements or visitor ratings.
    • We name no individual hosts, and nobody pays to be included.

    The full method is on the About the atlas page

    Sources (5) checked on
    1. Šumava National Park – Wikipedia (in Czech)
    2. Visitor rules – Šumava National Park (in Czech)
    3. Černé jezero – Wikipedia (in Czech)
    4. Lipno reservoir – Wikipedia (in Czech)
    5. Kvilda – Wikipedia (in Czech)

    Where a source is only in Czech, it says so. How we pick sources and fix errors: About the atlas.