Horní Štěpánov: Forests, Protected Areas and Discoveries

Horní Štěpánov features a predominantly forested landscape with protected natural areas, marked trails and cultural traces. The extensive cadastral territory includes special meadows and natural monuments, as well as places for swimming and exploring local history. If you would like to combine nature, activity and culture, you can choose between quiet landscapes, water, trails and historical details, each offering a different focus.

Forest and Protected Nature

The southwestern part of Horní Štěpánov’s extensive cadastral territory is included in the Řehořkovo Kořenecko Nature Park. The Uhliska Nature Reserve is also located in the cadastral territory, near the source area of the Bělá stream. A green-marked hiking trail runs along the western boundary of the nature reserve. For a hike, this section connects the location of the protected area with the source area of the Bělá stream; the green-marked trail runs along its western boundary. The source area and the western edge form two fixed points of orientation within this natural landscape.

A special natural area is the V chaloupkách Nature Monument. It is a spring meadow with a species-rich flowering flora immediately behind the built-up upper edge of Horní Štěpánov. The protected purpose specifically includes the gladiolus. The Pohorská louka Nature Monument is also located near the settlement of Pohora. The municipality therefore offers two different natural destinations side by side: a species-rich spring meadow with a protected plant species and another natural monument near Pohora.

Trails, Water and Local History

The Javoříčko–Jaroměřice–Horní Štěpánov tourist route passes through Horní Štěpánov. Together with the green-marked hiking trail at Uhliska, it offers a concrete choice for different types of route planning: one trail runs along the edge of a nature reserve, while the tourist route passes through Horní Štěpánov and links Javoříčko and Jaroměřice in its name. This makes it possible to consider a nature-oriented trail section and a longer sequence of places as separate focuses.

In the Pohora district, the natural swimming lake or natural bathing facility is used for swimming. The original “umíráček” bell has been preserved in the Church of St. Lawrence. Nature and local culture can thus be seen in two different places: in Pohora through the use of the water and in the church through a preserved detail of local history.

The Chapel of the Holy Trinity in Nové Sady is also one of the churches and chapels of the Horní Štěpánov parish where services are held regularly. The chapel complements the Church of St. Lawrence with another religious site in Nové Sady. At the Na hutích site, the remains of a glassworks were discovered at the end of the 19th century; it presumably stood there in the 16th or 17th century. The dating to the 16th or 17th century remains an assumption, leaving the historical period of the glassworks open.

More Destinations for Your Planning

For further travel planning, you can also visit the following places: Obědkovice, Hrochov, Pavlovice U Kojetína, Klenovice Na Hané, Myslejovice, Dzbel, Suchdol, Biskupice Na Hané.

To the higher-level travel overview: Prostějov District.