Czech Republic Guide
East Bohemia
Náchod
Cowering at the base of its large, lordly seat, built to guard the gateway to Bohemia from Silesia, NÁCHOD is one of the few Czech border towns that has been predominantly Czech for most of its life. Even the Nazis stopped short of annexing it when they marched into the Sudetenland in 1938, since at the time there were only four German-speaking families in the whole town. Nowadays, most people just stop off in order to break the journey and spend their last remaining crowns en route to Poland.
The town is a lot better looking than your average border town: the main square, náměstí T.G. Masaryka, in particular, looks striking. Its two most winsome buildings are the fourteenth-century church of sv Vavřinec (St Lawrence) at the centre, its entrance flanked by two fat square towers sporting comically large wooden onion domes, and the Art Nouveau Hotel U beránka, with sinewy lines and detailed mosaic lettering and interior light fittings. At one corner of the square, the town museum (Tues– Sun 9am– noon & 1–5pm; 30Kč) has a quite good display on local history that includes folk dress and dioramas describing the 1866 Austro-Prussian wars waged in the area.
Peeking out of the foliage, high above the town, and a very stiff climb from the main square, is Náchod's sprawling, unassailable, sgraffitoed zámek (March & Nov Sat & Sun 10am–4pm malý okruh only; April & Oct Sat & Sun 10am–4pm; May– Aug Tues– Sun 9am–5pm; Sept Tues– Sun 9am–4pm). The original Gothic structure survives only in the pretty round tower in the centre; everything else is the result of building projects spanning the Renaissance and Baroque periods. There's a choice of two guided tours: the first-floor Piccolomini tour (1 okruh; 75Kč) includes exhibits accrued over the centuries by descendants of the Italian Ottavio Piccolomini-Pieri, Waldstein's bodyguard, who was given the castle by Ferdinand II after informing the emperor of Waldstein's secret plans (Jičín), while the second-floor tour (2 okruh; 70Kč) focuses on the the castle art collection courtesy of the exiled Duke of Kurland, and takes you round the Russian paintings (see below). The malý okruh (short tour; 15Kč) allows unguided access to the tower, the dungeons and the viewing terrace.
The former riding school, or jízdárna (Tues– Sun 9am– noon & 1–5pm), beyond the bear-inhabited moat by the car park, houses a surprisingly healthy collection of Russian paintings. The highlights include two finely studied female portraits by Ilya Repin, the most famous of the "Wanderers" who broke away from the official Russian academy of art, better known for his epic works filled with fiery bearded figures like the Trial of Christ. The leader of the Wanderers, Ivan Kramskoy, is responsible for the superbly aloof portrait of an aristocratic lady in a carriage, with a St Petersburg palace as a backdrop. Also on display are works by Serov and Makovsky, but best of all by far are the wildly colourful depictions of peasant women by turn-of-the-twentieth-century artist Filip Malyavin, who was a lay brother on Mount Athos in Greece before he took up painting full-time.
U beránka ( 
491 433 118, 
www.hotel-beranek.cz ; Price: 1001-1500Kč) is a comfortable place to spend the night and probably the town's greatest institution: a hotel, café, theatre and restaurant (serving the local Primátor beer as well as traditional Czech food) in one. The nearby U města Prahy ( 491 421 817, web.quick.cz/hotpraha ; Price: 501-1000Kč) is a simple, reasonably priced hotel, also with a restaurant and vinárna. Náchod's pretty riverside campsite (mid-May to mid-Sept) is by the woods 1.5km east of the centre, signposted down Běloveská.