Velký Borek: Vineyards, Nature and Cycling Route

Velký Borek combines a historic wine-growing culture with protected wetlands and a signposted route for cyclists and hikers. If you would like to combine nature observation, a cultural discovery and an active day trip during your stay, the village offers several clearly distinct themes for this purpose.

Wine-growing history in Turbovice

One particular cultural landmark is the Turbovice vineyard settlement. It includes a two-storey Baroque building dating from 1726–1727. The settlement also includes two-storey cellars carved into the rock, with a 48-metre-deep well. The settlement therefore brings together a Baroque building, rock-cut cellars and a deep well as distinct examples of historic wine-growing.

The Turbovice vineyard settlement is part of the municipality of Velký Borek. Together with the Trautmanka and Šternberka vineyards, it is among the southernmost vineyards historically associated with the Mělnicko region. This gives you direct access to a landscape where wine-growing history and regional place names are closely connected.

Cycling and hiking on Route 8278

The 11.5-kilometre cycling and hiking route 8278 begins at a chapel in Velký Borek and ends in Nebužely. It can be used by both cyclists and hikers. The two locations and the precisely stated route length make it easier for you to choose a suitable activity, without assessing the route in terms of a particular difficulty level or walking time.

Velký Borek is also home to the restored and well-maintained niche chapel of Saint Wenceslas, called Výklenková kaplička sv. Václava in Czech. It is located outside marked hiking trails. This detail is important for your planning: the chapel is part of the local cultural landscape, but it should not be considered a destination on a marked hiking trail.

Protected nature in the cadastral territory

The Polabská černava protected area encompasses the cadastral territory of Velký Borek. It protects wetland and meadow communities, including calcareous fens and ash-alder floodplain stands. Polabská černava is also home to rare and endangered plants as well as the narrow-mouthed whorl snail (Vertigo angustior).

The Dolní Pšovka protected area also encompasses the cadastral territory of Velký Borek. There, small watercourses, bodies of water and the associated wetlands are protected, along with particularly protected plant and animal species. The protected habitat types include 3140 – Hard oligo-mesotrophic waters with benthic vegetation of Chara spp., 6430 – Hydrophilous tall herb fringe communities of plains and of the montane to alpine levels, and 91E0 – Alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior of the temperate and boreal Europe.

The two protected areas focus on different features. Polabská černava represents calcareous fens, ash-alder floodplain stands and meadow communities; Dolní Pšovka complements this landscape with small watercourses, bodies of water and the associated wetlands. The protected range therefore extends from wet meadows and fens to floodplain forests and open water areas.

More destinations in this overview

For further orientation, you can also find Kralupy Nad Vltavou, Želízy, Veltrusy, Kojetice, Újezdec, Melnik, Liběchov and Ovčáry U Dřís here.

To the higher-level travel overview: Okres Mělník.