Resort Český les has not even been open a year, and at the start of winter the main building of the well-established Aparthotel Železná gained a sister concept: Boutique Apartments Železná, housed in a former First Republic school. With just eight rooms, this design newcomer offers an authentic atmosphere and a rare degree of privacy within sight of the deep forests of the Chodsko borderland.
Boutique Apartments Železná consists of just eight generously proportioned rooms with a rustic yet elegant interior inspired by the muted, earthy tones of the surrounding countryside. As with Aparthotel Železná, the architecture of this new addition in the Czech-German borderland is the work of Barbora Mluvková's Konceptual studio, which this time also wove elements of the Chodsko landscape and motifs from Jirásek's poems into the design; those poems also give the individual apartments their names – V mechu, V kapradí, Na křídlech, U potoka, Na stromě, Na jezeře, Na vrcholcích and V oblacích. The last of these suites takes up the entire attic of the former First Republic village school and features, among other things, a free-standing bathtub beneath the exposed original beams.
Gifts of the forest
Guests of Boutique Apartments Železná dine at the relaxed Hvozd restaurant, led by head chef Martin Šiling, whom foodies may know from the acclaimed Prague fine dining restaurant V Zátiší. Martin's carefully considered menu draws on local tradition and on the gifts of the Chodsko forests, the Železný pond and the produce of nearby farmers. The current winter menu stars dishes such as cured saddle of venison from the local game park with button mushroom coulis and mushroom demi-glace, or roast fillet of sturgeon with cauliflower salad with raisins and onion espuma. The airy interior of the Český les restaurant, with wildlife motifs crafted by local artisans, flows seamlessly onto a terrace looking out over endless meadows, where in season guests enjoy specialities from the OFYR grill. The culinary portfolio of Hvozd is rounded off by the Kotelna bar, focused on 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, this 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 treatments are also well worth attention.
A land of stories
The area around Resort Český les offers 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 pilgrim paths and ancient trade routes, the region has an exceptionally 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 beginning of the 20th century. From Resort Český les you can reach it on a pleasant forest walk in about an hour.
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 from which Resort Český les was created only in 2020. Nearby they have already established the exceptionally well kept 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 only a four-minute walk from the resort, so it adjoins it directly and invites guests to spend an afternoon there. The investors have also linked Resort Český les to an endowment fund supporting the region, its culture and its people.