Rešov Falls (or Rešovske Vodopady) is a beauty spot in a picturesque little valley in the foothills of the Morava valley in Czechia – well worth a day hike, and accessible to most.
It’s possible to start the walk from two nearby spots – the village of Rešov itself via Rýmařov, or on the other side of the valley on the Dlouhá Loučka to Tvrdkov road (although this road is a bit of a nightmare). Both spots are high above the waterfalls themselves so will involve an uphill slog at the end of the walk.
We started from Rešov village, parking in a small free car-park on the right just before entering Rešov village. 50 metres along the road into the village, a track leads off to the right opposite a pension and down the hill into a small valley. This descends steeply through the woods between chatas and alongside a small stream to reach the main waterfall stream at Fialův mlýn (Purple Mill). At this point, head right and upstream through the woods on a wide track.
Continuing up-valley through the woods, we get our first glimpse ahead of the falls. The path branches – the wider right track is a boring bypass to the falls – head left as it winds down to the river. The lowermost fall is the tallest, with a large pool at the bottom (great for a dip on a hot summer’s day. A steep wooden staircase clings to the rock on its true left bank – keep an eye on younger kids or cocky adults.
At the top, more boardwalk leads you up the stream to a further staircase wedged between a couple of rocks. At this point you cross the stream, and on the far side a further long steep staircase leads you up the gorge side. On a popular summer weekend this section can be quite busy.
A more gentle section of the river follows, between steep-sided valley walls peppered with scrambling and bouldering opportunities. A huge fallen tree leaning over the river makes for a great test of balance.
At this point you’ve reached the top of the waterfalls part of the walk. A bridge leads you back to the true left side and the path heads up deeper into the forest in the head of the valley. You have various options to get back to your car here. Head to the very top of the valley and rejoin the Rešov road for a long roadwalk back. Or do what we did – a track heading right from the main valley track further up winds (unsignpostedly) through woods and meadows, past beehives and along farm tracks, to pop out directly at the tiny carpark we started in. This option was only possible with our access to the excellent (and free!) Czech outdoor mapping provided by the Mapy app – the route wasn’t obvious and needed us to regularly check our bearing. Hope you enjoyed the outing, slightly more rugged terrain than anywhere else around these parts!
