Prague to Dresden by bike – In Seven Days

 

The aim of this article is to provide information and encouragement for anyone with minimal biking experience to enable them to take on this ride.

 

My partner and I are weekend riders who rarely do more than 30km in a day, and rarely two days is a row. But we were attracted to the idea of the Dresden ride that travelled along the river with very little time on roads. Tour groups advertise a seven day tour, but with time in Prague and in Dresden, these tours do the actual riding in four days. That's 40 to 50 km a day. Too much for us. And we didn't need someone else to book our accommodation for us. We decided on a seven day riding itinerary.

 

In the spring we tackled the bike path to Melnik as a starter. The hill leading to Libcice, which is the highest of the trip, was too much for us, reducing us to walking a lot of the way. So the next weekend we explored the other side of the river and found a very rough dirt trail that was sometimes half a metre from the river and sometimes the same distance from the rail line. There were also stairs to be negotiated.

 

As a result of these excursions we decided to take the train out of the city to Kralupy nad Vltavou and ride from there. With no desire to strain ourselves, and to give us plenty of time to look around and explore, we made up the following itinerary. Distances are very approximate.

Day 1: Train to Kralupy, ride to Melnik (29 km)

Day 2: Melnik to Roudnice nad Labem (27 km)

Day 3: Roudnice n. L. to Litomerice (19 km)

Day 4: Litomerice to Usti nad Labem (27 km)

Day 5: Usti n. Labem to Decin (23 km)

Day 6: Decin to Bad Schandau (24 km)

Day 7: Bad Schandau to Dresden (40 km)

 

We booked accommodation at each town ahead of time, and also booked our train journey home following the advice given by Rosie A.

https://www.praguego.com/honest-tips/the-big-one-prague-to-dresden-by-bike/#comments

This turned out to be good advice as the first train I tried to book had no bike places left. We chose an earlier train. The tickets were 718czk per person (including a reserved seat) and 260 czk per bike. I went to Holesovice Nadrazi to the Ceske Drahy office (the nearest one to home) to buy the tickets as it was not possible to get tickets for the bikes online.

 

Day 1: We set off on a Friday in late August 2019. Being Friday we would avoid some weekend traffic on the path. It also meant that school was back from summer holidays before we were finished.

 

We took the train from Masarykova Nadrazi travelling with loaded panniers for the first time. We left at 10am to avoid peak hour traffic on the way to the station and had no problems at all with buying tickets for the train to Kralupy. Once there, we found the bike path easily, having been to Kralupy before and set off in beautiful autumn sunshine. 

 

The ride to Melnik was a pleasure, with a stop at the Veltrusy zamek

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 At one point, to cross the river, it was necessary to make a  choice of ferry or bridge with steps. This was well signposted,

 

 and we took the ferry which cost 25czk per person and bike.

 

 

 There was a bell button on a stand to signal the ferry man if he was not about.

 

Later note: We rode this stretch again in 2022, and the ferry had been replaced by a modern bridge.

 

Once across the river we stopped for lunch in the town where the ferry landed, at a place on the left of the road heading out of the town.

 

Good and cheap, bike racks in the courtyard. Then a pleasant but hot ride (30 degrees) to Melnik where we managed to make it up the hill to the town without getting off our bikes.  Stayed at Pension U Benisku where we were able to bring our bikes in off the street. It was fortunate that we had a mobile phone on us, as the building was locked up and the the landlord was up the street. Very pleasant with a decent breakfast. In the afternoon, we took a tour of the tunnels under Melnik.

 

Day 2: The ride to Roudnice nad Labem was hot again, but no problem. There appeared to be a detour which took us through a fairly rough track along the side of the Racice regatta lake.

 

 

Arrived in Roudnice and found our accommodation easily as it was quite close to the path. We arrived early but were able to check in and leave our bikes in the racks inside the hotel.

 

 

Hotel Koruna was a bare bones place, unimpressive breakfast, kind of communist feel to it.

The regulations included a 1000czk fine for washing your clothes in the shower. We wandered around the town, had a few pleasant drinks at the Giraffe bar, ate in the town square and went to bed. Unfortunately the night we arrived, there was some sort of street party below our window which went till 5am. 

 

Day 3: By now we were pretty sure that we could make the distances we set ourselves without any problem. The path to Litomerice gave two options – through Terezin, or, slightly shorter, around the river. We wanted to visit Terezin but did not feel comfortable leaving our bikes and panniers unattended, so took the other route. We had a long ride through open fields, one or two kilometers on the main road, and a similar amount on a substandard track with a good path for the last few kilometers. We found our accommodation, U Svate Ludmily, a pleasant self-contained unit with kitchen facilities and a washing machine, where we were able to check in early. The apartment was new, having only been open for seven months. We then got the bus to Terezin which took ten minutes. While we were at Terezin, the hot weather broke, and there was a heavy downpour. Very glad to have been off the bikes by then. Caught the bus back to town, then had dinner in the town square and looked for a place to have breakfast as the accomodation did not provide it. The breakfast choices in the town centre were very limited.

 

Day 4: By the time we set off, the weather had settled down and we have smooth riding, apart from a few gravelly patches. As we approached Usti nad Labem, the 14^th century castle on the hill was very impressive.

 

Not much was impressive after that. A very industrial landscape. Overcast day didn't help the impression.  Approaching the town we were surprised to find a sign that said that the bike path went under the railway line via half a dozen steps, then over the loch via more steps. The alternative was to take the busy road.

 

 

 

Wasn't quite as daunting as it first seemed as the steps had a ramp so you could push the bike as you went up the stairs. After this the bike path was merely a designated lane on a busy highway which took us to our accommodation. Which was actually a reasonable distance from the town centre. We checked in and then took the bus into town. There was a festival happening in the square relating to 'back to school' with young dancing troupes putting on a show. We had so much time to kill after the short ride, that we went to the movies. We had a good dinner at Pivovar Na Richte and home on the bus. Although Olsinky was sandwiched between the highway and the train line, we got a good nights sleep as it all went quiet from about 10pm till 6am. Breakfast was snacks we bought the night before. We had a kettle in the room, so were able to make tea with teabags we had bought.

 

Day 5: Weather was back to sunny, and almost as soon as we set off, the bike path on the highway diverted to a well maintained path along the river. Sunny but chilly for a while as the hills on the other side of the river kept the morning sun from us. But after a while we were riding in sunshine again. Spotted about ten WWII bunkers dotted along the river. I’ve since learned that they were built by the Czechs as protection against the Germans.

 

 

One major hill that took us by surprise. Rapid change down caused my chain to jump off the cogs. Made it to Decin trouble free but found that the Wellness Spa at Zlata Lipa where we had booked in was a bit of a challenge. One point five km off the path, no problem, but 150 metres up?! Recuperated in the beer garden while we waited to be allowed to check in at 2pm. After enjoying the facilities we got the bus back down to town, had a tasty Indian meal in the town square, then bus back again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 6: This is where we came undone. After a very easy and enjoyable ride to Germany, (missed the border and had to go back for photos) we decided to return briefly to the Czech Rep. by taking the ferry to Hrensko.

 

 

Knowing it was not a good idea when we had our longest ride the next day, we nevertheless took the walk up to Pravcicka Brana. Left the bikes at the start of the walking trail as there were a lot of other bikes there, all with their panniers attached. Probably a bit of a risk. Took the best part of an hour to walk to the top. About 300 metre climb.

The walk down was almost as testing. Returned on the ferry, made it to Bad Schandou and collapsed in our room. Which was not in Bad Schandau as advertised, but Krippen. A short ferry ride across the river and up a bit to the city. Pleasant dinner there, went up the observation tower (with a lift), then a half hour wait for the ferry back to our room.

 

 

Day 7: We were pretty much broken by the previous day's walk. Made it to Pirna for lunch. A pleasant ride but some challenging hills (maybe not if we were in better form). Along the way we bumped into someone from our suburb in Prague who was leading a biking tour for a group of Finns. Small world. After that, the last 22 km were a bit of a struggle as we faced a head wind the whole way. On the outskirts of Dresden, Mapy.cz showed a saving of 7km by leaving the river and heading through town. We decided to do this. We rode through suburbs for a while, then along a busy highway till we reached a large park. After we rode through the park, we were at our accommodation, City Herberge, just on the outskirts of old town. I'm sure the ride around the river would have been nicer, and it would have brought us into the city much closer to our stay. Herberge is a major hostel with hotel rooms. We took a room with its own bathroom and enjoyed our stay there a lot. Very clean, great location. The breakfast there was a steal at 7 euros each. Looking around the city, it was a very cheap meal,and very good. Hot bread rolls baked on the premises.

 

We spent a couple of days in Dresden, then, after taking seven days to get there, took two and a half hours to return to Prague by train.

 

The verdict. A fantastic experience. Recommended to anyone who can ride 20km a day on flat ground. The distances are short enough that it never becomes a problem. They also meant that we were usually at our destination by midday, with plenty of time to explore or to rest. I'm 71, my partner is younger,  and if it hadn't been for tiring ourselves out on the Hrensko climb we would never have been bothered by any of it. It has certainly given us a taste for more.