Walking in Vogtland

Near our hotel

Last week we spent a week walking in Vogtland, east of Hof and Bayreuth (Bavaria) and stopped in Bad Elster, (Saxony) one of a number of spa towns in the area.  The area is criss-crossed by well waymarked trails. The town of Bad Elster is good base. There are regular concerts, a magnificent baths and some good cafés. There is a basic public transport system: Buses and a railway line south into the Czech Republic and north to the German mainline railway system. The one snag is that the railway station is 3km out of town. None of the normally well organised Germans seems to have thought of a shuttle bus to link the station and the town, so it was Shanks’ Pony which made for a long day.
We walked between 15 and 20km most days through woods and across open fields with good views of the Vogtland hills. For me the two high spots were:

Františkovy Lázně 

• A good day walking from Cheb to Františkovy Lázně (Franzenbad) passing a volcano investigated by Goethe. The site is marked by a plaque in German. Františkovy Lázně is elegant in a French Empire style and has numerous springs where one can take the waters. They taste healthy, uugh! The Czech - German border is open thanks to the Schengen Agreement.
• The day we walked across the heathlands to Markneukirchen, a centre of quality musical instrument manufacturing, (The cheap stuff is made in Asia.) The museum there has a fantastic display of musical instruments. It also has an excellent value for money café on the main drag where we made up our missing calories after the exertions of the walk. Prices here are less than farther west, but are still higher than in the Czech Republic which are ridiculously cheap: Three of us ate a three course lunch with a genuine Budweiser beer in a very comfortable restaurant near Cheb for €20 total.