Hotel Alpska Vyhlidka

After a meal, it’s easy to see why the restaurant gets busy: the traditional Czech dishes were excellent, prepared well and served quickly, and the staff were cheerful and friendly. The menu is fairly simple, though, and with the terrace closed there isn’t much room inside, so you may have to queue and wait for a table. There aren’t other restaurants close by, and Kvilda is about 7 km away. Alpská vyhlídka looks quite large, mostly because of the hotel facilities. It’s a nice place to stop while exploring Šumava on foot, on cross-country skis or by bike. Bučina is around 1200m above sea level, near the German border and Finsterau, and there’s a small outdoor Iron Curtain exhibit in front of the hotel.

The food was okay, though on the low side of average. After a bike ride or hike, that’s still fine. What isn’t fine is that they don’t take credit cards at a pension. It makes you wonder what the tax situation is, though that seems to have become common in Sumava after COVID. Guests shouldn’t have to play along, especially when there are barely any ATMs in the national park and a meal can cost several hundred.

At 14:18 there was no food available, only drinks, according to the staff telling Czech-speaking people in the queue. Some people complained, but everyone left hungry. In my opinion, that’s completely outrageous.

It’s a lovely place to take a break during a full day of walking in the Sumava mountains, with a great setting and beautifully arranged hotel. But why is Czech staff rudenes such a thing in this region? They still seem to have failed to train the staff to treat customers properly.