AbstractVegetation succession in aquatic and littoral environments has received much less attention compared to terrestrial habitats. We sampled differently aged successional stages in 63 sandpits across the Czech Republic, Central Europe. They ranged in age since abandonment from 1 to 64 years. The chronosequence approach was adopted. Besides species identity itself, basic life‐history species traits were considered to describe the succession. Based on the location (elevation) of plots, two geographical regions were delimited based on temperature and precipitation. Alongside the vegetation data, several environmental variables were recorded: age, water depth, substratum type (i.e., proportion of sand, clay, gravel and organic material), pH, conductivity, elevation and additional disturbances. Altogether, 249 vascular plant species were determined. Individual successional series in aquatic and littoral habitats differed between the altitudinal regions. As generally expected, water table was one of the main driving factors alongside age and water conductivity. Moreover, the vegetation pattern was significantly affected by substrate composition and pH. The species composition at aquatic sites was most likely mainly driven by the accumulation of organic material. Hydrophytes dominated throughout these sites. In littoral vegetation, several distinct groups of life forms could be distinguished along the successional gradient. The young sites typically included stress‐tolerant therophytes and hemicryptophytes. With age, woody species started to dominate at littoral sites at higher elevations, while perennial graminoids dominated at lowland sites. Spontaneous succession at aquatic and littoral sites leads to valuable semi‐natural stages and is recommended as a passive restoration option in disused sandpits.