Why not spend a pleasant weekend in Karlový Vary with your dog? Many hotels are happy to accommodate our four-legged friends for a fee and there is an abundance of great walking trails in the vicinity where your dog can tire himself thoroughly before calmly parading through this beautiful town, by your side.
One such hike that you and your dog will most certainly enjoy, is The Haunted Hike: a 6Km walk through the forest which takes you to several viewpoints overlooking Karlový Vary and round a trail full of ghosts, ”stežka plná strašidel”.
Distance: 6 Km Difficulty: easy Time: 1h20
Tip: Many hotels accept dogs though you may find the fee for accompanying pets, rather expensive. Hotel marttel has the advantage of free parking and is located right next to the forest for morning walks etc.. They charge 250Kč per night for a dog. Access to the town is easy, albeit steep.
Trail description: From the entrance to the forest, use the map provided to join up with the yellow trail, otherwise known as Turgeněvová trail. Climb to the viewpoint Camera Obscura then continue to the second viewpoint, 3 crosses (pictured above) then branch off the yellow trail, following the map, to Otto the 1st viewpoint. From these viewpoints, you can see the rooftops of Karlový Vary and the Diana lookout tower on the hillside opposite.
After point 6 on the map you will join stezka plná strašidel and encounter many goblins, mischevious elves, witches and even ghostly gelatinous bacteria. Such bacteria ghosts lurk in the forest alongside your path and like other nasty bacteria, they cause illness. According to the notice board, if you are fortunate enough to encounter only young ones, your illness will be mild and curable however be forewarned; the best doctors can do nothing to save you should you be misfortunate enough to meet the century old grandfather!
After yet another year of dodging Coronavirus, I was not thrilled at the idea of being infected by magic jelly bacteria but I decided to risk it, photographing my dogs with at least half a dozen of these colourful ghosts 😀
You may even encounter a fierce ghost dog, Psovyl Psdvitý (pictured below).
According to the accompanying information board, this dog “looks like you have pulled him out of the trash.” 😂 He has a foul smell, one ear raised and the other down, crooked teeth, oozing saliva, a scrawny coat and what is more, he barks until your ears hurt! The text claims that “he is so ugly, he’s cute” but that you should certainly not be fooled as he will rip the seat of your trousers and bite your hand! 🤷♀️
Well, we did not meet him either! In fact, luck was truly on our side this New Year’s Day: we had a peaceful and uneventful short hike all the way to Goethova vyhlidka, Goethe lookout tower and back.
© All images and text above subject to copyright. Reproduction only with permission of dogwalksprague.blog
Don’t miss our new book ”Dog Walks Prague – Connections, now available from Amazon.de
For your convenience, here is our online circuit 👉
And here is the map and elevation, provided by mapy.cz
Dog Walks Prague 