Schönbach – Culture, Nature and Cycling Routes

Schönbach combines historical discoveries with landscapes and cycling routes that clearly differ from one another. In Luby, the options range from late Romanesque architecture and monuments to an approximately 700 m long tree avenue, an educational trail with 17 stations and cycling routes of varying difficulty. This allows you to shape your journey around culture, nature and active exploration.

Culture between Romanesque architecture and craftsmanship

The St Andrew's Church in Luby is a late Romanesque building and one of the oldest ecclesiastical monuments in West Bohemia. Particularly striking is the Romanesque tower: it is the church's only surviving Romanesque architectural element. Also in Luby is the Chapel of Our Lady, which was built in 1716 in the municipal cemetery and extensively reconstructed in 1993. It is listed in the central Czech register of immovable cultural monuments.

The Marian Column and the Statue of the Violin Maker provide further points of interest. The Marian Column is a stone column dating from 1699 with a distinctive double-sided Madonna and Child. The Statue of the Violin Maker was created in 1926 and unveiled in 1927 in honour of local violin makers and instrument manufacturers. Both details give the cultural journey a distinctive local focus.

Landscape and protected trees

Most of Luby lies in the Lubská vrchovina. Its highest elevation reaches 675 m above sea level in the northern border area of the town's territory. In Horní Luby, the approximately 700 m long Zámecká Alley runs along an old path; ash, maple and oak trees grow there. The trees in the avenue were declared memorial trees in 2002. In addition, four closely grouped, heavily branched beech trees on the golf course are protected.

As a destination outside Luby's cadastral area, Vysoký kámen is within easy reach of Luby. The quartzite rock formation offers panoramic views over Czech and German territory. It therefore complements the protected landscape features with a considerably broader vista.

Cycling with different profiles

The Lubsko educational trail starts at náměstí 5. května, comprises 17 stations and can also be cycled. Local Cycle Route 2132 is 5 km long, with detours of up to 11 km, moderately difficult and suitable for touring bikes. It starts at the Luby–Wernitzgrün tourist border crossing. For a more demanding option, the 18 km long, difficult Mountainbike Route 2180 runs from Luby towards Opatov and Libocký Důl. Its starting point is Luby railway station, the terminal station of railway line 146 Cheb–Luby.

Another option for comparison is the 36 km Cheb–Luby section of National Cycle Route 23. It is moderately difficult and suitable for touring bikes. From the Pod Vodárnou junction, mountain bikers and cross-country cyclists can take a forest path to the Vysoký kámen natural monument; the rock is 3.5 km from the junction and offers a view of Luby.

If you would like to expand your research to include further destinations, you can also compare Dreihacken, Kulsam, Groß Sichdichfür, Roßbach, Klinghart, Oed, Miltigau and Untersandau.

For the broader travel overview: Eger District.