An educational trail, a red-marked hiking route and a cycling tour from 2024 offer practical starting points for planning a trip to Semice. There are also the habitats of the Polabské hůry, the history of the Church of St Mary Magdalene and the folklore of the Šáteček ensemble. During your stay, you can focus on nature, outdoor activities or culture, depending on your interests.
Nature and habitats
The Polabské hůry protected area preserves semi-natural dry grasslands, shrub formations on calcareous ground and extensively mown meadows. Its protected habitats extend from the lowlands to the foothills. At the summit of Semická hůra, thermophilous fringe species grow alongside small stands of black pine. The area also preserves well-maintained examples of the white slopes of the Elbe Lowlands. In an agricultural landscape, these slopes provide refuges for many endangered plant and animal species.
Thermophilous means adapted to warm conditions; fringe species occur at transitions between habitats. Dry grasslands, calcareous ground, shrubs and extensively mown meadows also represent different aspects of the protected area. Anyone interested in nature conservation can thus explore various habitat types and their importance for endangered species.
Educational trail, hiking route and cycling tour
One of the excursion tips in Semice is the “Krajinou Rudolfa II.” educational trail. A red-marked hiking route runs through Semice and continues to Hradišťko and Nymburk. The “Na kole mezi Prahou a Kolínem” cycling tour, dating from 2024, is different: it leads to Semice and there points towards Hradišťko, Sadská and Kersko. Hradišťko appears in both sets of directions; Nymburk is named on the hiking route, while Sadská and Kersko are named on the cycling tour. This lets you distinguish the options by mode of travel and the destinations listed for each.
Church history and architecture
The history of the Church of St Mary Magdalene can be traced through two dates. In 1641, during the Thirty Years’ War, Swedish troops destroyed and burned the church. In 1731, a Baroque building with a mansard tower was built on the site of an earlier church. The dates mark different stages: the first refers to the wartime destruction, and the second to the later construction on the former church site. The church thus combines a specific architectural point of reference with a dated local history.
Folklore with Šáteček
The Šáteček children’s folklore ensemble was founded in 1985 at the primary school in Semice and is dedicated to the folklore of the middle Elbe region. It consists of two dance groups and a music group, which perform together in Czechia and abroad. Its structure brings dance and music together in one ensemble; its focus on folklore gives their performances a shared regional theme. This cultural offering adds another dimension to the area’s architectural history: here, the focus is on dance, music and regional folklore rather than architecture.
Discover more destinations: Kouty, Činěves, Chroustov, Zbožíčko, Velenice, Písty, Budiměřice, Dvory.
Back to the main travel overview: Okres Nymburk.
