Jeseníky: Praděd, Dlouhé stráně and mountain spas
Praděd, the Dlouhé stráně pumped-storage plant and spa town Karlova Studánka: four days in the Jeseníky mountains, where the air stays cool in August. You circle the main sights on roads around the massif, so the vehicle never has to climb to the ridge — you walk up, take a shuttle bus or book a guided tour. Between the mountain days there is room for the oldest working handmade paper mill in Central Europe, the peat bog at Rejvíz and the Renaissance chateau in Velké Losiny.
The motorway run via Olomouc and Šumperk into the foothills of the Jeseníky takes up most of the morning, so you reach Velké Losiny in time for lunch. The afternoon belongs to the handmade paper mill, which has been making paper since the end of the 16th century and has been a national cultural monument since 2001; the tour leads through the paper museum and part of the working workshops, and in high season it starts every half hour. If you still have the energy, add the Renaissance chateau with its exhibition on the witch trials, or the thermal pools in the village itself.
You cannot drive up to the upper reservoir of Dlouhé stráně — the way up is either the organised guided tour that sets off from Kouty nad Desnou, or your own legs or bike, which is how around a hundred thousand people a year get there. The tour is the only way to see the underground machine hall; its longer version takes about three hours, includes the reservoir at 1,350 metres above sea level and sells out in season, so book your places well in advance. In the afternoon you cross the Červenohorské sedlo pass to Karlova Studánka; the spa grounds are closed to traffic, so you leave the vehicle in a paid car park on the edge of the village and walk in to the wooden colonnades and eight mineral springs.
The road from Hvězda up to Ovčárna is closed to traffic, so the vehicle stays down at the barrier and a shuttle minibus — or your own legs — takes you up. From Ovčárna the last stretch of asphalt climbs to the summit; on Praděd stands a television tower with a public viewing gallery, and in clear weather you can see Lysá hora, Radhošť and even Sněžka from it. The weather turns quickly up here and an extra layer is welcome even in August. You spend the early evening driving over to the northern side of the mountains, towards Jeseník.
In the morning you head for Rejvíz, the highest-lying village in Czech Silesia, where an educational trail runs along a wooden boardwalk to the Velké mechové jezírko lake in the middle of the peat bog of a national nature reserve. The route is easy and even small children will manage it; only the Velké jezírko is open to the public, the rest of the reserve stays off the trail. Back at the vehicle you set off home to Prague via Šumperk and Olomouc — leave around midday and you will be home in the evening.
Up to 3.5 t (which covers most motorhomes): the route from Prague runs on toll motorways, so you need a Czech electronic motorway vignette. Since January 2026 the annual one costs CZK 2,570, the monthly CZK 480, the ten-day CZK 300 and the one-day CZK 230; you buy it online at edalnice.gov.cz. Over 3.5 t: the vignette does not apply, the vehicle falls under the electronic toll system and must carry a registered on-board unit, with the rate calculated from the distance driven and the emission class. The Jeseníky have no toll mountain road, but two items the whole trip stands on will add to your budget: parking at the barrier at Hvězda below Ovčárna (in the order of a hundred crowns a day; the limited car park up at Ovčárna itself is several times more expensive) plus the shuttle minibus fare per person, and the admission for the Dlouhé stráně guided tour.
Karavan Kemp Zlosin, Velké Losiny (Žárovská 730) — 26 pitches in the grounds of the brewery, 10 A hook-ups, water at the pitch, showers with hot water · Autokemping Dolina, Ludvíkov near Vrbno pod Pradědem — 40 electric hook-ups for caravans and motorhomes, sanitary facilities with token-operated showers, open roughly from the beginning of May to the beginning of October · bezKemp u Ještěrky, Jeseník-Dětřichov (Rejvízská) — a plot on the edge of Jeseník towards Rejvíz for motorhomes, caravans and tents, lit at night; electricity and drinking water only by arrangement with the owner, and the only facility on site so far is a portable toilet · Kemp Zlaté Hory, Dolní Údolí — a small campsite by the forest and a stream with electric hook-ups for caravans, sanitary facilities, a laundry and a kitchenette
Staying overnight outside campsites is a problem in the Jeseníky Protected Landscape Area — the car parks at Hvězda, at Ovčárna and at the start of the educational trail at Rejvíz are not meant for sleeping, and in a national nature reserve you may only stay in official facilities. There are few year-round campsites in these mountains, so at the edges of the season given above, in early May and in October, check the opening dates by phone in advance. With a longer vehicle, also count on the roads over the Červenohorské sedlo pass and over Videlský kříž being narrow and full of hairpins: they are passable, but they will hold you up more than the sat-nav expects.
The best-equipped place on the route is Karavan Kemp Zlosin in Velké Losiny — drinking water right at the pitch and large disposal points for grey water and for the contents of a chemical toilet. The second service point is Autokemping Dolina in Ludvíkov, which has drinking water around the grounds and a chemical toilet disposal point. At bezKemp u Ještěrky near Jeseník, water and electricity are only available by arrangement with the owner and there is no disposal point at all, so do not count on emptying your tanks there. Do not look for a service point in Karlova Studánka itself or up at Ovčárna — top up down in the valley.
Adria Twin
On this route you are constantly parking where space is tight — at the trailhead car parks below the ridge, on the edge of the spa village, at the departure point of the guided tour in Kouty nad Desnou — and between the sights you drive narrow hairpins over the Červenohorské sedlo pass. The compact Twin conversion fits into these places without any reversing, and it still has its own heating and a water supply for mountain nights, when the temperature drops even in summer.
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