Stechovice Czechia
Czech Rep
61
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
CroisiEurope (61 Cruises)
MS Elbe Princesse
61 Cruises
Frequently Asked Questions
In the Vltava valley upstream from Prague, after passing through the highest lock in the country. River vessels linking the capital to the central Bohemian landscape make a countryside stop here, well away from urban crowds.
It raises the boat about twenty metres, the highest lift of its kind in Czechia. The gates stand as tall as an apartment block, the water climbs, and it all happens in near silence broken only by lapping. Many passengers head to the open deck for the moment.
An easy walk along the banks leads towards the dam and gives fine views over the reservoir and the hills. Marked trails then climb into the forests above the valley. In summer, the coves of the reservoir draw swimmers and canoeists.
No, and that is worth stating plainly. This call suits simple pleasures, the kind enjoyed without a programme or an admission ticket: the river, the forests, an inn terrace. Czechia here is told through neither castles nor Gothic spires.
Because the settlement, first recorded in 1209, long lived from gold panning: the sands of the Vltava once carried flecks of gold. That era left traces in the surrounding hills and in local memory, kept alive with quiet pride.
Hand-thrown craft pottery, the town's speciality. You will find it in the workshops and on the stalls at seasonal markets. Štěchovice, granted town status in 1932, cultivates this gentler reputation rather than its gold-rush past.
Local trout, served on inn terraces with a glass of light beer. It is weekend cooking, the kind Praguers have come here for over generations, canoe on the car roof or hiking pack on the shoulder.
The Czech koruna. Inns and pottery workshops generally take cards, but carry cash: in a town this size not every trader is equipped, especially at the markets.
Summer for swimming and canoeing in the reservoir coves, autumn for the forests, the realm of mushroom pickers. Excursion boats from Rašín quay in Prague run south in the warm months, calling at Davle, Štěchovice and the approaches to the Slapy reservoir.
One of the country's most persistent mysteries. At the end of the Second World War, crates of German archives were buried in the nearby hills; some, dug up in 1946, fuelled wild rumours of a hidden treasure. Amateur searchers still probe the forests, with no confirmed success.
