A trip with children to the Dalimilov lookout tower from the Paprsek cottage

A simple hike to the Dalimil lookout tower in the Jeseníky Mountains

Starting point

Our trip starts from the mountain hut Paprsek. There is a nice children's playground with many attractions and you can have a good meal here with beautiful views directly on Dalimilova lookout tower.

Of course, you can start the hike down at the parking lot in Velké Vrbno and run up the slope to Paprsek or drive from Kunčice (about 20 minutes by car from Kunčice).
 

Description of the hike

From the Paprsek cottage, follow the green hiking trail along the forest path. The path leads almost all the way down a slight hill - the Paprsek hut is on a higher point than Dalimil's lookout tower.

To keep the kids entertained along the way, we build the skeleton of a smaller shelter, which, however, will eventually accommodate all our spunkies. 

After a while we come out of the forest into the open space, where we can see Dalimil's lookout tower in the distance, which is about 15 minutes away at this point. The lookout tower itself looks like a fairy tale, all made of stone and looks like a small castle.

There is a fee to enter the tower (I don't remember how much it was, but it was a higher amount for Czech towers). Inside there is a beautiful spiral staircase. After the views from the top of the tower, where you can admire the whole western part of the Jeseníky Mountains in good weather, we have a drink in the snack bar down by the tower.

We continue towards the village of Velké Vrbno. The road leads from the lookout tower to Vrbno on an asphalt road - so watch out for cars.
 

Difficulty

This is a completely unpretentious hike. From the Paprsek hut it is more or less only downhill along a wide paved forest or dirt road to the Dalimilov lookout tower.

From the lookout tower, then down again to Velký Vrbno on the asphalt road. So the difficulty is really low and the route can be comfortably managed by strollers or small children from 3 years old (tested, they made it without any problems).
 

Water availability

You won't come across any water source on the way. You don't have to take water with you on such a short trip. You can drink both at the Paprsek hut and directly at the lookout tower, where there are refreshments.
 

Sleeping options

Thanks to its short length, there is no need to spend the night on this route. However, if you want to extend or otherwise modify the route, you can stay directly at the Paprsek hut or in Velké Vrbno.
 

Mountain peaks

During the trip itself, we actually descend to the peak of Větrov 918 m above sea level, where Dalimil's lookout tower is located, from which there are beautiful views of the more distant peaks of the western Jeseníky Mountains such as Králický Sněžník 1 423 m above sea level, Šerák 1 351 m above sea level, Keprník 1 423 m above sea level, Smrk 1 127 m above sea level and others.
 

Danger

The whole short trip is perfectly safe. The whole time you walk on a wide forest path or on asphalt. It's good to watch out for cars here.
 

Attractions

Dalimil's lookout tower at the top of Větrov 918 m above sea level is actually a faithful copy of the Kaiser Wilhelm Turm lookout tower that stood between 1899 and 1973 on Králický Sněžník.

The stone lookout tower consists of two towers. Their height is 34 m, with the upper viewing platform at 28 m and the lower one at 17 m. Those who want to reach the top of the viewing platform must climb 170 steps up a spiral staircase.