Through the Otava Valley

The town of Písek is inseparably linked with the Otava River. You can walk along its banks in both directions. Upstream, on the left bank of the river you will find the town's lido. The town baths were built in 1935 in the suburb of St. Wenceslas, on a particularly sunny spot above one of the Písek weirs. Their pre-war atmosphere has been preserved to this day. Lido is open in the summer season and you can swim directly in the river, in the children's pool or in the paddling pool.

There are also sports grounds and a hotel with refreshment facilities nearby, and one of Písek's traditional pubs, U Smetáka, is opposite the lido. You can get here from the left bank of the river via the modern pedestrian bridge of Dagmar Šimková, designed by architect Josef Pleskot. From here you can walk against the current along a path suitable for cyclists. Here you will also find the educational and sports trail "On the Forest Path Along the Otava River".

Downstream, you can reach another popular destination – the "U Sulana" outing tavern, or continue along the Sedláček path to the gas bridge over the river, but you can also take various paths to the confluence of the Otava and Vltava rivers at Zvíkov Castle.

The Otava cycling path is one of the most important long-distance cycle routes. The 132-kilometre route, subtitled "Hike through the Karel Klostermann Region", begins in the Šumava mountains in Modrava, passes through the former Prachin district, including the town of Písek, and ends in the village of Varvažov.