It has not even been a year since Resort Český les opened, and at the start of winter the main building of the already well-established Aparthotel Železná was joined by a new sister concept: Boutique Apartments Železná, housed in a former First Republic school. With just eight rooms, this design newcomer offers an authentic atmosphere and an unusual degree of privacy within sight of the deep forests of the Chodsko borderlands.
Boutique Apartments Železná consists of just eight generously proportioned rooms with a rustic-elegant interior inspired by the muted earthy tones of the surrounding countryside. Behind the architectural design of this newcomer in the Czech-German borderlands stands, as with Aparthotel Železná, Barbora Mluvková's Konceptual studio, which this time also worked elements of the Chodsko landscape and motifs from Jirásek's poems into the hotel design, and the individual apartments are named after them – V mechu (In the Moss), V kapradí (In the Ferns), Na křídlech (On the Wings), U potoka (By the Brook), Na stromě (In the Tree), Na jezeře (On the Lake), Na vrcholcích (On the Peaks) and V oblacích (In the Clouds). The last of these suites occupies the entire attic of the former First Republic village school and offers, among other things, a free-standing bathtub beneath the exposed original beams.
Gifts of the forest
The culinary heart for guests of Boutique Apartments Železná is the relaxed Hvozd restaurant, led by head chef Martin Šiling, whom foodies may know from the top Prague fine dining address V Zátiší. Martin's carefully considered menu draws on local tradition and on the gifts of the Chod forests, the Železný pond and the produce of nearby farmers. The current winter menu stars dry-aged saddle of venison from the local game park with mushroom coulis and mushroom demi-glace, or roasted sturgeon fillet with a cauliflower and raisin salad and onion espuma. The airy interior of this Český les restaurant, with wildlife motifs crafted by local artisans, flows seamlessly onto a terrace overlooking endless meadows, where in season guests enjoy specialities from the OFYR grill. Hvozd's culinary portfolio is rounded off by the Kotelna bar, devoted to whisky and champagne. Alongside the complete maison de Venoge range there is a selection of Czech and French wines and craft ciders from the nearby Kolowrat orchards. The resort also pours its own Nikl wheat beer from the Plzeň microbrewery Proud. Created exclusively for the hotel, the special is named after the mythical good spirit of Český les, the protector of glassmakers and woodsmen. In the resort's main building, just a few steps from the newly opened Boutique Apartments Železná, the modern conference facilities and the wellness zone with sauna, steam room, infrared sauna and massage therapies are equally worth your attention.
A land of stories
Around Resort Český les there are hundreds of kilometres of cycle trails, countless cross-country skiing and hiking routes, and half an hour's drive from the hotel the townscape of Domažlice. The owners of the resort also plan to use the meditative calm of the surrounding forests as a setting for yoga weekends. Threaded with centuries-old pilgrimage paths and ancient trade routes, the region has an extraordinarily rich history full of stories of glassmakers, border defenders and vanished villages – the largest of them is Pleš, where 800 people still lived at the start of the 20th century. From Resort Český les you can reach it in about an hour on a pleasant walk along a forest trail.
Investors with a vision
Behind the Resort Český les project stands the family investment group FKCG, a. s., whose portfolio also includes the Wine & Bike apartments in Znojmo and the Plzeň branch of the Ibis hotel chain. FKCG, a. s. is owned by Ondřej and Jindřich Karhan, who bought the buildings that became Resort Český les only in 2020. Nearby they have already established the exceptionally well-tended Srdíčko game park for red deer, fallow deer and mouflon, covering 164 hectares and home to the Železný pond and mighty five-hundred-year-old oaks. The park is a mere four-minute walk from the resort, so it adjoins it directly and invites guests to spend an afternoon there. The investors are building on Resort Český les with an endowment fund supporting the region, its culture and its people as well.