The EURORANDO 2026 festival was completed by a parade of almost three thousand people
The week of hiking, meeting and discovering the Ore Mountains culminated last weekend with a grand cross-border finale. Some 3,000 people took part in the final ceremonial procession between Boží Dar and Oberwiesenthal. After a week of joint journeys, Europe's largest hiking festival thus concluded its first cross-border year. It attracted participants from 18 countries to the Ore Mountains. In addition to the native Germans and Czechs, the largest hikers from Spain and France. 127 guides and volunteers on both sides of the border ensured the smooth running of the event. Participants could listen to the guides' explanations in 5 languages - Czech, German, English, French and Spanish.
But behind the numbers themselves, there was mainly daily movement on the Czech and German sides of the mountains. The original program included 31 guided routes over five days. Despite one route that was closed for a long time, several trips that were not carried out, and Thursday's bad weather, 144 organized hikes were finally carried out, with between 5 and 50 tourists participating. Another ten groups arrived in their own buses, and the organizers provided them with guides and interpreters. There were also six all-day bus trips to galleries, museums, and mining monuments, and two "Extra Adventures" - climbing via ferratas in Erlabrunn and rafting the Ohře between Kynšperk and Sokolov. "I am incredibly proud of my colleagues for how well they prepared the event. I am proud that we can put on a good international event in the Ore Mountains that has a good response. And I am always ready to talk to anyone who wants to discuss what tourism in the Ore Mountains should look like and where it should go. Because I know very well that everything is not in order and that there are problems with the development of tourism. But I also know that tourism cannot be stopped and that the Ore Mountains need it if they are to develop. Of course, a big thank you goes to the Karlovy Vary and Ústí nad Labem regions for their friendliness and support," says Štěpán Javůrek, director of the Ore Mountains Destination Agency.
The symbolic highlight of the whole week was Saturday. A monument to this unique event – the Stone Heart of Europe – was unveiled on the Czech-German border, made of stones imported from the home countries and regions of the participants. Among the guests were three-time Olympic ski jumping champion and honorary citizen of Oberwiesenthal Jens Weissflog and Margareta Pospíchalová Schliková, a descendant of the famous Schlik family associated with the history of Jáchymov and the minting of the Jáchymov tolar. The closing ceremony was also attended by Andrea Pfeffer Ferklová, Deputy Governor of the Karlovy Vary Region. After the heart was unveiled, the participants set off on a joint cross-border procession from Boží Dar to Oberwiesenthal. Around 1,500 people were registered for the procession itself, joined by approximately 800 members of mining associations and bands, and other unregistered visitors. The total participation thus approached three thousand people.
EURORANDO is leaving other visible traces in the Ore Mountains. Two special photo benches were created in Oberwiesenthal and Loučná pod Klínovcem, one with a view of Klínovec, the other of Fichtelberg. A planting event, during which participants could purchase and plant fir seedlings themselves, brought 1,200 new trees to the Ore Mountains.
According to the organizers, however, the greatest result of the festival may not only be what remains in the landscape. A successful sixth year may also mean the continuation of the EURORANDO tradition itself. “This year’s EURORANDO exceeded our expectations and I think we can boldly call it a success. But we are even more happy that the EURORANDO story does not seem to be ending. After the fifth year in Romania, which was hit very hard by the Covid pandemic, it was not clear for a long time whether the tradition would be continued at all. Obtaining a mandate for this year’s cross-border year was therefore extremely important. And the first interested parties to organize EURORANDO 2031 are already appearing. The first to express their interest was the French city of Mandelieu. The next year will be discussed at the annual conference European hiking federation in October,” says Zdeňka Šrédlová, ambassador of the EURORANDO 2026 festival from the Ore Mountains Destination Agency.
In its final evaluation, the European Tourism Federation recalled that during one week in September, the Ore Mountains became a place where people walked together, explored the landscape, made new friends and showed that hiking can connect people across borders. EURORANDO 2026 has ended, but the Stone Heart of Europe remains in the Ore Mountains, as do thousands of shared kilometers and memories of its participants.
