I’m not a hiker… I consider myself to be in decent enough shape, but I don’t go hiking on the regular and I am definitely not a fan of cardio. My friend, Ro, and I had an extra day in Berlin and we didn’t really care to do much else there on our last day. During my research, I found this hiking group and we both fell in love. Northern Hikes, which is based in Prague, has a TON of hiking options. They also conveniently offer a hotel pick-up if you’re in Prague. Since we were in Berlin, we thought we’d have a little hiccup. However, they were on it. They told us to take the train to Pirna, where our guide would pick us up. So we got up at about 5am, did not think there’d be much traffic, barely made the 6am train, slept on the train until we made it to Dresden about 2.5 hours later, then made it to Pirna at around 9am, which was our pick up time!

Side note : I love trains… I would take a train everywhere if I could. Unfortunately, I don’t live in Europe or the Northeast, so I’m out of luck there. So when I go to Europe, I try to ride the train at least once. This hiking trip allowed us to ride the train AND add another country to our list, not to mention this train had entire rooms onboard, so it gave me some major Hogwarts Express vibes :)

Northern Hikes offers a variety of different tours. We did the Narnia Labyrinth and Bastei with mulled wine. Different tours are offered at different times of year (this one in particular is offered from November-March and we went at the end of February), and this one was amazing. This ended up being around $180/pp, which I was glad to pay. The $180 includes hotel or train pick-up, a snack pack they give you, transfer to Saxon Switzerland, a guided hike and history tour of Saxon Switzerland with a special access to the Bastei Bridge, transfer to Bohemia, lunch at an authentic Czech restaurant (so good!), guided hike of Bohemia, mulled wine at the end of your tour, and then a transfer back.

The information given says the hike is about 4 miles long, but my apple watch said I had walked around 8 miles that day. I recommend going in the winter since it’s the off season. We saw no one on our entire hike and I know people who have gone during the summer and it is CROWDED.

It was COLD that day and had a chance of snow. I had asked for the Amazon coat for Christmas, and that is by far one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. I wore it the entire trip and was never cold. This was perfect for the hike. I wore the coat, a scarf, a flannel and mittens I bought in Tallinn the day before, leggings, wool socks, and some hiking boots I borrowed from a friend. I brought my backpack, too, which had a giant water bottle, snacks, my portable phone charger, and my medicine pack.

When we arrived at Saxon Switzerland, we parked and Marek, our guide whom we LOVED, immediately set off about the history of the area. Nothing I write will be able to express the beauty of this place, so here are some photos:

Steps from when Bastei Bridge was used as a defensive fortress

After this hike, we drove about 35 minutes to Bohemia. We ate at this tiny Czech restaurant where I ordered the gnocchi with horseradish… it was amazing. I obviously had to carbo load (is that the phrase? I’m clearly an avid hiker) and this did the trick.

Once we finished eating, we set off and immediately had a nearly vertical climb up the side of a sandstone mountain. When we got to the first summit, Marek showed us a scene from The Chronicles of Narnia exactly where we were standing. It’s no Harry Potter, but it was still very cool.

Ro and I at the location where they filmed *The Chronicles of Narnia.*

I enjoyed Bohemia more than Saxon Switzerland. I felt like I was on a planet in Star Wars. The sandstone formations felt like it was another planet Towards the end of this hike, you are on the top of the mountain and you can see for miles… It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life.

Then, we noticed a WALL of snow heading towards us. So we start trotting our way back to the van in this snowstorm. Ro and I had told the whole group how it never snows in Memphis and how we REALLY hoped it would snow. So when it started snowing, everyone cheered for us lol.

If you’ve read my post on how to travel with a disability, you may remember when I mentioned that I had a flare while hiking. This was the hike. I have Interstitial Cystitis, which is basically chronic UTI symptoms. So when I’m flaring, I feel a constant urge to pee, I have crippling kidney and lower back pain, and it is not a fun experience. I had been flaring damn near this entire trip, but I was not going to miss this hike. I had taken a ton of AZO, which was not helping and actually making my kidneys hurt even more, and I was about to pee myself during the hike. Ro was so incredible and held back from the group with me and was my lookout while I peed (bright orange, I may add) in a crevice in this mountain.

After this hike finished, Marek offered everyone mulled wine. I couldn’t have any because of my IC, but everyone was loving it. He also had hot chocolate (which I also can’t have) for those who don’t drink. Then he dropped Ro and I off at the train station in Decin around 4:30pm. We ate at this Mediterranean restaurant right by the train station (don’t recommend) and then got on our train to head back.

This was such a great aspect of the trip and is one of my highlights in Europe. If you’re in Prague or Eastern Germany, I highly recommend this trip (and ask for Marek!!). This was so outside of my comfort zone and I’m so proud that Ro and I did it!

Hiking Saxon Switzerland and Bohemia National Parks

Cruise tips: before and during your trip

What to expect when visiting Auschwitz