Giant Mountains – east

The Giant Mountains are the ideal place for everyone who enjoys the traditional lifestyle, and natural and honest ambiance of mountain resorts. In summer, when the snow-covered mountain slopes turn into flowing meadows, the mountains become a popular destination for all water sports lovers, who come to the Giant Mountains to enjoy the wild mountain streams. Hiking and cycling enthusiasts may travel through many kilometers of local virgin forests. You can visit the spring of the River Elbe or one of the marvelous Giant Mountains waterfalls. The many other types of available entertainment facilities and activities include indoor and outdoor swimming pools, saunas, massage, tennis, golf, horse riding and wellness lessons.

• Sněžka – the highest mountain in the Czech Republic (1602 meters), the dominant feature of the Eastern Giant Mountains and a popular tourist destination. There is a suspended cableway connecting Pec pod Sněžkou with Rose Mountain and the peak of Sněžka.
• St. Lawrence Chapel on Sněžka – a round, 14-meter-high chapel on the top of Sněžka, consecrated in 1681. Slightly dilapidated when hit by lightning, served as a pub and lodge, re-consecrated in 1854.
• Janské Lázně – a prominent winter sports resort of the Eastern Giant Mountains and a spa town offering many hiking circuits, romantic lookouts, radioactive, geothermal and mineral springs and other attractions.
• Black Mountain – a mountain above Jánské Lázně (1299 meters) with a television broadcast transmitter. The town is connected with the Black Mountain by a funicular. The summit offers a magnificent view of the panorama of the Giant Mountains, including a view of Sněžka. The starting point of shorter and more demanding hikes along the mountain ridges.
• Sledge Route at Black Mountain – this 3.5-kilometer-long sledge track attests to the long tradition of sledging in Jánské Lázně. The first races took place in 1913; the first, 1-kilometer sledge elevator was launched in 1913.
• Pec pod Sněžkou – a popular tourist resort and the main tourist center of the Eastern Giant Mountains; the lower station of the funicular to Sněžka. The resort also includes the neighboring village of Velká Úpa and many smaller settlements high in the mountains.
• Trutnov – a historic town in Podkrkonoší. Krakonoš’s square with Renaissance and Baroque houses with arcades. The castle hosts the Museum of Podkrkonoší, which contains an exhibition devoted to the 1866 battle at Trutnov and the Prussian-Austrian war.
• Fortress Stachelberg u Žacléře – designed as the largest artillery fortress of the Czechoslovak defense system, only one of the twelve structures has been completed. The infantry log cabin Polom includes a display of the underground premises, trenches and basement slabs.
• Aichelburg Forest Castle in Horní Maršov – originally a romantic castle built upon the Dark Mine in memory of count Bertholda of Aichelburg, who died in 1861. The castle started to become run down after the year 1883, when the domain was bought by countess Aloisie Czernin-Morzinová, and in 1945 the castle was all but forgotten. Thanks to the Aichelburg Castle Society established in 1995, the castle was finally restored and in 2000 it was opened to public.
• Dvorský Forest – the highest point on the ridge of Rýchor, protected landscape with the remains of beech primeval woods, with strangely deformed trees and moss-grown branches.
• Relaxpark in Pec pod Sněžkou – the perfect outing for the entire family in a newly-launched open-air entertainment park. Sled tracks, cable center, slides and pulley rides offer whole days of fun in a charming mountain environment.