Valašsko — Rožnov, Pustevny and Radhošť
Valašsko (Wallachia) works from one base: the open-air museum in Rožnov, the ridge walk from Pustevny to Radhošť and the valleys above Velké Karlovice. You park the motorhome down in the valley and then simply move between villages that lie close to one another — the ridges themselves you reach on foot or by cable car. The programme works out at four days including the drive out and back, and it holds up with children too: the timber cottages of the open-air museum and the Radegast statue up on the ridge will win them over more reliably than any castle.
The drive from Prague takes up the morning, so you reach Rožnov pod Radhoštěm just in time for lunch. The afternoon belongs to the Wooden Town — the most visited part of the Wallachian Open-Air Museum, which you have right in the centre of town: timber cottages, a wooden church and the Wallachian cemetery. Plan the other two sections, the Wallachian Village and the Mill Valley, for June to September, when their season is longer; if you want to see them properly, drop Vsetín on the last day and give the museum the whole of the second day.
There are two ways up. Either you drive from the turn-off at Zavadilka in Prostřední Bečva along the mountain road all the way to Pustevny, where you end up in a paid car park (reckon on roughly two hundred crowns a day), or with a longer vehicle you stay down in Trojanovice and ride up on the cable car from Ráztoka — just check in advance that it is not closed for servicing, which tends to happen in spring and autumn. At the top stand Jurkovič's buildings Libušín and Maměnka; Libušín only reopened in 2020 after the fire of 2014. From there you carry on along the ridge to the Radegast statue and further to the Chapel of St Cyril and Methodius on the summit of Radhošť — it is a half-day walk there and back, and you cannot get up there by car.
Velké Karlovice is not one village green but a chain of hillside settlements strung out along the valleys, so you drive through slowly and with stops. The village has the wooden Church of Our Lady of the Snows from 1754 and the Karlovice reeve's house, a national cultural monument; the Karlovice Museum fits comfortably into the day as well. On the way back towards the Bečva it is worth turning off to the Soláň ridge, from which you can see down into the valleys on both sides.
On the last morning make one more run out to Vsetín — it sits off the direct line home, but the detour is a short one. The chateau from the beginning of the 17th century was renovated in 2014 and 2015 and houses the Museum of the Valašsko Region, with exhibitions on the Wallachian colonisation, the uprisings and on bentwood furniture; all around it is a park where you can have a quiet bite to eat. In the afternoon you head back via Valašské Meziříčí to the motorway and home.
Vehicles up to 3.5 t, which covers the vast majority of motorhomes sold here, only need the Czech electronic motorway vignette. A ten-day one comes to roughly three hundred crowns, a monthly one about five hundred and an annual one two and a half thousand; you buy it at edalnice.gov.cz, at post offices and at petrol stations, and it is valid on motorways only. Vehicles over 3.5 t do not buy a vignette — they pay the MYTO CZ distance-based toll through an on-board unit, charged per kilometre driven according to emission class and number of axles, and collected not only on motorways but also on selected first-class roads. The last stretch to Rožnov already runs on first-class roads, so with a heavier vehicle go through the current list of tolled sections. No mountain road here has a toll of its own; the only charges are the car park at Pustevny and the ticket for the cable car from Ráztoka (see day two).
Camping Rožnov, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm (Radhošťská 940) — open all year and for caravans and motorhomes as well, the open-air museum is within walking distance · Kemp pod Pustevnami, Prostřední Bečva — takes tents, caravans and motorhomes, sits below the road up to Pustevny · Autokemp Frenštát p. R., Frenštát pod Radhoštěm (Dolní 1807) — grass pitches with water and electricity hook-ups, open all year, outside the main season by reservation · Kemp Machůzky, Velké Karlovice (the hamlet of Machůzky) — has places for caravans, but confirm the capacity by phone in advance
The whole route lies within the Beskydy Protected Landscape Area, so put aside any idea of spending the night outside campsites and designated places — the network of campsites is dense and a reservation in high season is the more sensible option anyway, rather than hunting for a spot after dark. During the day you can leave the vehicle without any trouble in the car parks by the open-air museum in Rožnov and by the lower cable car station in Trojanovice; the mountain car parks up on the ridges, however, are not meant for overnight stays. The motorhome parking area by the Radhošťský pond in Trojanovice, which you will come across locally, was out of operation for renovation while this trip was being put together — check it before you set off.
Drinking water and emptying the tanks are most reliably sorted out at Camping Rožnov in Radhošťská street — it sits right in Rožnov, so you can combine the service stop with the first day's programme at the open-air museum. The second service point is Autokemp Frenštát p. R. at the confluence of the Lubina and the Lomná, where you draw water right at the pitch; the opening arrangements of both sites are in the list above. In both cases confirm the chemical toilet disposal point at reception, it is not something to take for granted.
Adria Compact
At under six metres long, the Compact takes the climb from Zavadilka up to Pustevny as well as the tight bends of the Karlovice valleys, where a longer vehicle is genuinely hard work. At the same time it has a fixed bed and a full bathroom, which after a whole day on the ridge to Radhošť you will appreciate more than the extra metres.
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