Why come here
Architecture in the wood, with views
Three slender empty cubes among the boulders and a cantilevered footbridge above the quarry face – unusual architecture right in the wood, a short way from the car park.
Lookouts • Horní Bečva • the Beskydy Protected Landscape Area
The lookouts above the quarry
A lookout circuit in an abandoned quarry. The stone for it came from the quarry itself.
A quarry that became a lookout
Above the upper end of the Horní Bečva dam rises the yellow face of an abandoned sandstone quarry.
Since 2021 three lookout paths have led to the top of it – one of them passing a steel footbridge cantilevered right over the edge of the quarry. On the summit stand three roofed cubes.
When to come
All year, in good weather
The circuit is freely accessible all year. Small children manage it; it goes naturally with a visit to the dam, which is only a few hundred metres away.
What not to miss
The footbridge cantilevered over the quarry face
The floor of the footbridge is made of open grating: you can see down through it and it gives gently as you walk. This is also the best place to look at the quarry face itself, which the trees are slowly taking back.
The story of the quarry and the lookouts above it
Stone from the quarry once went off to building sites. Today it makes the paths people walk up here on.
The former quarry
A yellow face above the valley
The hill above the left bank of the Rožnovská Bečva has its southern flank cut away: it is the face of a former sandstone quarry, clearly visible from the side road off the road to Bumbálka. It is barely 150 metres from the upper end of the dam.
The architects' report describes the face as an exposed example of typical Ciężkowice sandstone. Quarrying ended here long ago, and nature has been taking the quarry back ever since: birches, pines and shrubs take hold on the ledges and in the cracks. Bare rock is becoming an overgrown slope – this is succession, and it shows on the face more with every year.
To let that growing-over be watched close up, the architects added a viewing footbridge to the face. Succession is left alone elsewhere on the hill too – including on the roofs of the three viewing cubes.
2018–2021
Open up the summit, spoil nothing
Horní Bečva wanted to open the upper parts of the hill to walkers. The design was drawn up by henkai architekti together with the studio ZAHRADA-PARK-KRAJINA; building took place in 2021.
Three circular lookout paths were created, linking the main viewpoints with the car park below the quarry. The steeper one climbs just behind the top of the quarry, the gentler leads through newly planted woodland of mixed local species. That planting has a longer aim: in time it is to become an arboretum showing the plants of the surrounding countryside.
In the saddle below the rocky summit the path passes a picnic terrace bounded by low dry-stone walls. The inspiration was the overgrown ruins of stone foundations scattered around the Beskids after the farming of earlier generations. People sit on the walls and look out across the dam into the valley.
The main building material for the paths and the retaining walls, stone and crushed stone, was taken straight from the quarry. The furniture is of oak, and the edge of the quarry is secured by driven oak posts with ropes.
The footbridge
A step beyond the edge
The steeper route runs just behind the top of the quarry. Halfway along the upper quarry edge, where the face is stable, a metal viewing footbridge is cantilevered out. It is a resting point on a steep climb and at the same time the only place from which the quarry face can be seen close up and head on.
The footbridge has a floor of open grating: you can see down through it and the structure gives gently as you walk. That is deliberate, and it sharpens the sense of the view. The load-bearing structure of the buildings is hot-dip galvanised steel finished in black, and the floors and ceilings are wooden, made of thick boards.
- lookout paths
- 3
- cubes on the summit
- 3
- footbridge above the face
- 1
The summit
Three open cubes
The summit is the point of the walk. Three roofed cube structures with seating rise here from the ground among the boulders. The slender architecture marks out an empty space and invites you to stop and rest in the middle of the wood.
The main lookout stands right on the summit and looks out across the quarry face into a landscape of meadows and slopes. The other two cubes are meant as places to sit and look into the wood – spruce on one side, pine on the other. The seats are oak cubes.
A detail you will not spot from below: the flat roofs of the cubes are treated as roof gardens, planted by free, gradual succession. Roughly whatever the wind and the birds bring grows on them. In that way they take up the succession going on below on the quarry face.
Visit
Plan your trip
The circuit is freely accessible all year and free of charge. You are moving above a live rock face – keep to the paths and behind the fence.
Where exactly it is
Above the dam, 150 m from its upper end
The quarry lies by road I/35 to Bumbálka, in the part of Horní Bečva called U Vaníčků. There are two car parks on the levelled floor of the quarry, and the paths climb from there to the summit of the hill above the left bank of the Rožnovská Bečva.
Open in maps
Beskids passport
Are you here in person?
This page has already been added to your Beskids passport as a digital visit. To collect a badge for visiting in person, use the button below while you are there.
Your browser asks for your location once when you click. Verification happens offline on your device and your location is not sent anywhere.
Map of the area
A walk on the spot
The lookouts and the dam belong together, only a few hundred metres apart. They combine best into one short walk: park at the car park by the quarry face, climb the circuit past the footbridge to the three cubes, and drop down to the upper end of the reservoir. From there you can carry on along the shore to the crest of the dam.
- 1
The car park below the quarrystart
Start at either of the two free car parks on the levelled floor of the quarry. Three paths lead up from here – the gentler through young woodland, the steeper along the top of the quarry.
The footbridge and three cubesyou are here
On the steeper path along the edge there is a stop halfway in the form of the footbridge above the face, and at the top the main lookout and two cubes to sit in. You can come back down by a different path.
- ↓
Where next: the Horní Bečva dam150 m from the quarry
At the upper end of the reservoir there is a jetty, a beach and a children's playground. The shore path runs all the way to the crest of the dam.
What to know before you go
How demanding it is
A short circuit, roughly a kilometre long – one route gentler, the other steeper along the top of the quarry. Small children manage it; with time spent sitting in the lookouts it takes about an hour.
Pushchairs
The made-up stony track takes a pushchair a long way, but not as far as the lookouts – the last stretch is woodland, with roots and uneven ground. A baby carrier is ideal.
Safety
The quarry face is unstable in places and a fence of oak posts and ropes separates it from the paths. Do not climb over it, and keep children with you.
Parking
The car park right below the quarry is free. There are information panels about the local nature by the lookouts.
Nearest facilities
Refreshments and toilets are down by the dam, a few hundred metres away.
How to get here
The quarry lies right on the main route from Rožnov pod Radhoštěm to Bumbálka and Slovakia – by car or by bus you get within a few dozen metres of where the paths start.
By car
on the I/35, car park on the quarry floor
From Rožnov pod Radhoštěm towards Bumbálka
Road I/35 (E442) takes you through Horní Bečva; beyond the dam turn off onto the side road to the quarry. There are two free car parks on its floor – one for cars, one for coaches.
By bus
a stop by the reservoir
The Horní Bečva, přehrada stop
Get off at the Horní Bečva, přehrada stop; from there it is a few minutes' walk along the reservoir to the quarry. Check both your arrival and your return service in IDOS.
On foot
150 m from the dam
From the dam along the shore
The finest approach is along the crest of the Horní Bečva dam and the shore to the upper end of the reservoir. The quarry is 150 m from there and the paths start right by the car park.
Na závěr
Doplňující info a test znalostí
Rychlá rekapitulace
When were the lookouts built?
The design was drawn up by henkai architekti together with the studio ZAHRADA-PARK-KRAJINA for the municipality of Horní Bečva; building took place in 2021.
Is there an entrance fee?
No, the circuit is free and freely accessible all year.
Can I get there with a pushchair?
Along the made-up track yes, but the last woodland stretch to the lookouts has roots and uneven ground – a pushchair will not get through there. A baby carrier is ideal.
Can it be combined with a visit to the dam?
Yes, the Horní Bečva dam is only about 150 metres from the lookouts – the two go together as one short walk.
Závěrečný kvíz
Otázka 1 z 3
Where does the stone in the paths and retaining walls come from?
Rysík→There is a quiz a little further up. Shall we try it?
A few quizzes and I get glasses, and I will feel properly educated.
Your rank: Homebody. You do not have a single stamp yet. Visit any place and become a Pilgrim.
You can experience the Beskids and Moravian Wallachia with Rysík and without him. Rysík would love to be there for it. Whether you take him along and take on the challenges with him is up to you.
Save The lookouts above the quarry to your favourite places
You can find your favourite places in your account. On the Walking routes page you can use them to filter routes.
Something not right here?
Suggest a more accurate wording.