The Krkonose Chalets

If there is a feature which makes the Krkonose’s history unique, it is the existence of solitary dwellings located high in the mountains – the chalets, established as individual buildings or scattered in groups in meadow enclaves. Originally summer sheds, where the housekeepers from the villages in the valleys used to graze cattle in the summer, they began to turn into all-year settlements of the chalet families in the mid-18^th century. The unceasing demand for land, and in the Krkonose also for grass, led to human dwellings being established at higher altitudes, up to the forest line and then above it. When increasing numbers of tourists began to come to the mountains to see the beautiful Krkonose nature, the chalets first turned into simple pubs and overnight rests where tourists could refresh themselves with the chalet keeper’s food – bread, butter, milk and curd. After that the chalets changed considerably into tourist facilities. At first, glazed verandas were attached to the original buildings, and then new parts with guest rooms and restaurants were added. The original mountain people breed cattle, offer their own milk products, maintain the mountain meadows and care for the landscape like the gardens of their homes, just like their predecessors did. (Text by Miloslav Bartos)

The chalets in the Krkonose ridges experienced heydays as well as declines in the past. Wandering tourists, thankful for home-baked bread, milk and cheese and modest accommodation, disappeared over time. The times are now gone when people treaded the slopes of the highest Czech mountains in any weather, with their passports in their pockets just in case they’d be stopped and checked by the border guards on the Czech-Polish Friendship trail. Times are different now. Places that can’t be reached by car are no longer so attractive. Those who love real tourism, return to the same place every year, admire the Krkonose’s nature, enjoy its beautiful hidden areas, and then take a seat in a chalet (in a hotel today), remember the old architecture with admiration and ask for refreshments, are very few today. But they are still here among us. Sometimes, for instance at fairs, they come to see the stall and ask about accommodation and refreshments high on the ridges. Others remember the old times with nostalgia, and also the chalets which no longer exist.

Feel free to visit some of the Krkonose chalets. Here is a list of the most popular ones:

• Mumlavská bouda
• Vosecká bouda
• Labská bouda
• Martinova bouda
• Petrova bouda
• Erlebachova bouda
• Luční bouda
• Výrovka
• Bouda v Obřím dole
• Hoffmanova bouda