Svoboda Nad Upou

Svoboda nad Úpou combines an unusual industrial history with a varied Via Piette, autumn festivals, winter sports and nature-oriented excursion destinations. This makes the town a suitable starting point for different travel interests: you can follow historical traces, explore a longer hiking route or plan experiences for different age groups.

History between railways and paper mills

The Trutnov–Svoboda nad Úpou regional railway line ends at the Svoboda nad Úpou station. Thanks to the railway line that was built, tourism here began to develop as early as the beginning of the 20th century. The history of the paper mills goes back even further: in the second half of the 19th century, they produced and exported Central Europe's first cigarette paper. This combination of transport history and local production gives the town a distinctive cultural profile.

Via Piette: hiking, landscape and technology

Via Piette is a 9-kilometre educational trail with a walking time of approximately three hours and 291 metres of elevation gain. As a walking route in the surroundings of Svoboda nad Úpou, it connects cultural monuments, technical sights and a section of natural landscape along the Černohorský potok stream. The route is suitable for hiking and, in dry weather, also for mountain biking. Those who want to hike the entire route can already factor the approximate walking time and the 291 metres of elevation gain into their day's planning.

Via Piette includes the Sklenářovické údolí natural monument. The area consists of meadows and wetlands and preserves an especially well-conserved mosaic of vegetation with protected plant and animal species. As a result, the route leads not only to cultural-historical and technical topics but also into a landscape of particular natural value. The meadows and wetlands form a landscape focus, while the cultural monuments and technical sights offer other perspectives on the same route.

Festivals and winter sports

The Rudolfovy slavnosti are held regularly in Svoboda nad Úpou in autumn. They include demonstrations of gold mining and gold panning, making historical working methods tangible at this festival.

For winter sports enthusiasts, Svoboda nad Úpou is one of five interconnected areas of SkiResort ČERNÁ HORA – PEC. With a ski pass, the resort offers more than 50 kilometres of ski slopes. Alongside the summer Via Piette, this provides a clearly defined winter sports option. The transition between Via Piette and the winter sports offerings of the connected area highlights different travel seasons and interests within the same town.

Farmapark Muchomůrka for a different day trip

At Farmapark Muchomůrka, visitors can observe, feed and pet free-roaming animals up close. There are also nature-oriented play features, a castle made of straw bales, swings, Indian tennis, croquet and a fire pit for baking bread on sticks or barbecuing. The farm park complements hiking, cultural and winter sports experiences with an outing involving animals, games and shared time outdoors.

Other places in the selection include Černý Důl, Prostřední Lánov, Debrne, Temny Dul, Čermná v Krkonoších, Suchovrsice, Jivka and Markousovice.

To the higher-level travel overview: Okres Trutnov.