Pančavský vodopád, Waterfall in Bedřichov, Czech Republic.

Pančavský vodopád is the highest waterfall in the Czech Republic, dropping 148 m from 1298 m to 1150 m on the eastern slope of Labský důl. Its granite steps form four main tiers of 36, 39, 23 and 20 m, and the Pančava stream splits into several arms at high water.

In 1859 Josef Schier, owner of the nearby Labská bouda, built a small reservoir with a sluice above the waterfall's upper edge. Once enough paying tourists had gathered, the sluice was raised and the flow briefly swelled. Refreshment huts and an upper viewing terrace stood above and below the fall until the 1930s.

The name Pančavský vodopád comes from the Pančava stream, itself derived from the German pantschen, standard German planschen, meaning to splash or spatter. The waterfall is also known in German as Pantschefall, a name recorded alongside the Czech one.

The waterfall lies in the first zone of KRNAP, so access is restricted. A nearby viewpoint shows only the topmost part of the fall, and Ambrožova vyhlídka offers a very limited view. The whole waterfall can be seen from the blue trail through Labský důl.

The old floodgate system was designed to release extra water precisely when paying guests arrived at the site. This approach reveals how tourism shaped how natural places were managed in mountain regions.