Five World Heritage Sites, some of the best castles, scenery and wine in the Czech Republic – these are some of the best day trips from Brno if you’re staying in the Moravian capital.
Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic (now also known as Czechia), is a fantastic city to visit. It’s in a beautiful part of South Moravia, close to the best wine region in the country. It’s close to several World Heritage Sites, including stunning palaces, gardens, landscapes and historic towns.
It’s also within reach of Olomouc and Bratislava, two of the less-explored cities of Central Europe, much like Brno itself, Here is the lowdown on the best 12 trips from Brno, including information on opening times, when to visit, and how to get there and around, I hope it proves helpful to you.
Best Day Trips From Brno
Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape
Lednice-Valtice is one of the best off the beaten path World Heritage Sites in Europe. The area – to the east of Mikulov, and just north of the Austrian border – is the former estate of the Princes of Liechtenstein, which was confiscated in 1945 by the Czechoslovak state.
The estate centres around two very different castles, with a series of monuments and buildings spread across the countryside in between. Lednice Castle is the more recent of the two, built in the 19th century and sumptuously decorated inside. From outside, it’s reminiscent of one of the medieval colleges at Oxford or Cambridge.
Valtice Castle is four miles (7 km) southwest of Lednice, and closer to the Austrian border. It’s an earlier Baroque chateau, no less ornate, and there’s also a fine church on the main square a two-minute walk away.
Various monuments can be found between the two castles, including a minaret, a fake romantic ruined castle, a triumphal arch and a hilltop Neoclassical colonnade commanding a view over three countries.
Cycling is a good way to get around the sites, with bike hire available in both Valtice and Lednice.
In one of the less-known diplomatic disputes in Europe, Liechtenstein remains very unhappy about this, and the spat between the two countries has never quite stopped simmering.
Getting there: It’s an hour’s drive to either Lednice or Valtice from Brno. Alternatively, you’ll need to go via Břeclav if travelling by public transport. Take the train to Břeclav from Brno hlavní nádraži (Brno main station – Brno hl n on timetables). From there you can catch the connecting train to Valtice mesto, or bus 571 from the bus station next door to the railway station. Or you can catch the 570 to Lednice (this service continues to Mikulov).
The 555 bus also runs between Lednice and Valtice every two hours.
Mikulov
Mikulov is one of the best border towns in Europe to visit, its mirage-like castle floating above the border plains where the Czech Republic and Austria meet. If approaching from Vienna, it’s one mightily impressive introduction to the Czech lands. If approaching from Brno, it’s just as compelling a sight, somewhere you just can’t miss.
This beautiful wine-growing town is built on a hill, with its impressive zamek (Castle) at its summit. It’s more of a palace-residence than a fortress, and there’s a smaller defensive castle, Kozi hradek (Goat Castle) just north of the town.
The historic centre has some beautiful Renaissance buildings, including a lovely sgraffito house on the corner of the Náměstí, the main square. There’s also what appears to be a fine Baroque church just off the square – this is a monumental tomb of members of the Dietrichstein family who ruled the town and surrounding area from the 17th century.
Mikulov also has a rich Jewish heritage, with a splendid synagogue and small Jewish Museum on the edge of town, close to the well-preserved Jewish cemetery.
The best way to enjoy Mikulov is to take things slowly and enjoy a drink or two at some of the wine bars around the town. There are also some great cafes including Caffe Dolce Vita on the main square. You could also hire a bike in Mikulov to cycle to some of the vineyards around the town.
Getting there: It’s less than an hour’s drive from Brno to Mikulov. Alternatively, you can get there by train, changing at Břeclav. The final destination of the second train is Znojmo. The whole journey should take around 1 hour 30 minutes.
Moravian Fields And Countryside
South Moravia has one of the most beautiful landscapes in Europe that you’ve never heard of. There’s a clue in one of its nicknames – Moravian Tuscany.
The area east of Slavkov u Brna is prime agriculture territory, with a mixture of vineyards and food crops grown, and some fields left for pasture. Like Tuscany there are plenty of rolling hills, with narrow tree-lined roads running through the landscape. And there are occasional landmarks like the old windmill near the village of Kunkovice. Put all the elements together and the photographers among you could have – sorry – a field day.
Another beautiful area worth exploring is the countryside around Kyjov. The only way to see this area is to drive, and any time between spring and autumn is ideal.
Getting there: This is the one day trip from Brno for which you’d need to hire a car.
Slavkov u Brna – Battle of Austerlitz Site
The Battle of Austerlitz, as Slavkov u Brna was then known, was one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s greatest military victories. The Battle took place on December 2nd 1805 with French Imperial forces fighting a predominantly Russian force, augmented by Austrian Imperial troops. Austerlitz was also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors.
The battlefield is located to the west of Slavkov u Brna, reaching almost as far as Brno Tuřany Airport, on the city’s outskirts. The truce after the Battle was signed at the opulent Baroque chateau in Slavkov u Brna, and part of the building is devoted to a museum documenting and explaining this enormous battle.
There are numerous memorials across the battlefield, and the most renowned of these is the Cairn of Peace (Mohyla Miru) just to the south of the village of Prace. It’s the work of Josef Fanta, an architect and artist best known for his works in Art Nouveau Prague, including the historic vestibule of Prague main train station.
Getting there: It’s between 25 and 40 minutes from Brno to Slavkov u Brna by train. The chateau is on the edge of the town centre. If you want to explore the battlefield in detail, you’ll need a car or bike.
Punkva Caves & The Moravian Karst
The Moravian Karst (Moravsky Kras) is an area of hills and limestone gorges 20 miles (30 km) north of Brno, around the town of Blansko.
The region is rich in caves, with much of the network still to be explored. The best-known of these is the spectacular Punkva Cave (Punkevní jeskyně) system just outside Blansko.
Open year-round (daily in summer, on weekends over winter), the tour of the caves takes an hour. You begin with a downhill guided walk into the Macocha Abyss, almost 140 metres below the surface. You then embark on a 30-minute boat ride along the Punkva river.
Cave lovers might want to make a full day of it and visit the nearby, more extensive Sloup-Šošůvka cave system near the village of Sloup.
Getting there: Regular trains make the journey from Brno hl n to Blansko. Bus 226 leaves for Punkva Caves from the bus station outside. Alight at the Slalni Mlyn stop. Bus 233 runs from Blansko to the village of Sloup, 300 metres from the Caves.
Olomouc
The north Moravian city of Olomouc – once the region’s capital – is one of the most underrated cities in Europe. It has architectural beauty comparable to that of Prague and Český Krumlov, but nowhere near the crowds that have spoiled both in recent years.
The best place to start in Olomouc is around the two main squares – Horní náměstí (Upper) and Dolní náměstí (Lower). Horní náměstí is dominated by the 600-year-old CIty Hall (Radnice), whose tower you can climb. The City Hall has a most intriguing 20th-century addition – an Astronomical Clock in the Socialist Realist style, decorated with model workers of various professions. It chimes once a day, at noon, when a parade of workers passes through the windows on the clock face.
Just around the corner from the Clock, you’ll find Olomouc’s remarkable World Heritage Site, the Holy Trinity Column. The Baroque masterpiece was built in the 18th century, partly in thanksgiving for deliverance from an outbreak of the plague, and also a proud profession of the city’s Catholic faith. It’s the largest of its kind, with a tiny chapel at its base, adorned with many statues by Ondrej Zahner. There are also several beautiful churches in Olomouc, including St Wenceslas Cathedral and St Michael’s Church.
As Prague has become so overtouristed in the last decade or so, several people have asked me whether there is anywhere with similar architecture that’s also beautiful, but far less crowded. I’d have to say that Olomouc is probably the best bet, and hopefully its distance of a few hours from the other honeypots of Europe means that more discover it, but that it never becomes deluged with visitors like the Czech capital.
Getting there: Regular trains run between Brno hl n and Olomouc hl n. Direct trains (normally one an hour) take 1 hour 35 minutes.
Telč
Telč is one of the most beautiful small towns in Europe. This exquisite country town in the gentle countryside of Moravia had a wealthy patron and builder in Zacharias of Hradec, who established it to watch over his lands in the region.
It comes as a great surprise to find such extraordinary architecture in such a small, sleepy backwater. The town square is astonishing, a large triangular space lined with beautiful Renaissance and Baroque period houses, many of which are of similar height. The result is one of the most beautiful town squares in Europe.
There are also some fascinating tunnels under the town square, one of the most prestigious castles in the Czech Republic, two fine churches (both with towers you can climb) and a wonderful walk around the fishponds just down the hill from the main square.
It’s not somewhere you’d spend long, but you’ll be very glad that you made the effort.
Getting there: Driving gives you the most flexibility – it takes around an hour and a half to travel the 95 km (58 miles) there. One Flixbus travels from Brno to Telč daily, and this gives you almost five hours in Telč – enough for many people – before you catch the return bus to Brno. The train takes three hours each way, as you have to travel all the way north to Havlickuv Brod – a waste of time.
Třebíč
Třebíč (pronounced ‘Tr-zheb-eech’) is one of the less-known Czech World Heritage Sites, a quiet country town in southern Moravia. There are two elements to the Třebíč World Heritage Site. St Procopius Basilica is one of the outstanding Romanesque churches in the Czech Republic, and the Jewish Quarter is the best-preserved in Europe.
It doesn’t take long to see Třebíč, and if you’re driving, and if you start early, you might be able to squeeze in a double-header day trip with Telč.
The Basilica was built between 1240 and 1280, on the cusp of the transition between Romanesque (rounded arches) and Gothic (pointed arches). The church has many elements of both styles, and the east end (chancel) of the church has some of the finest Romanesque architecture in the Czech Republic.
The Jewish Quarter lies down the hill from the Basilica, on the north bank of the Jihlava river. As was the case across much of Europe, Jews were forced to live in separate areas from Christians. Over a hundred buildings have survived the persecutions and depredations of the past century, including the beautiful Zadni Synagogue. The nearby Jewish cemetery is also well worth seeing – it’s very well preserved, with many gravestones centuries old.
Getting there: Trains run every two hours from Brno hlavní nádraži to Třebíč, taking 1 hour 4 minutes.
Kroměříž
Kroměříž (pronounced Krom-yer-zheezh) is one of the most tongue-twisting placenames in the Czech Republic, and home to one of the most beautiful gardens in Europe.
The Baroque gardens and Palace of the Archbishops of Olomouc is around an hour east of Brno, close to the Slovak border. Both the Palace (often called a Castle) and the two Kroměříž gardens are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Archbishop’s Palace is magnificent, particularly the Ballroom inside. But it’s the two Gardens which gained World Heritage status for Kroměříž. The Italian-influenced Baroque Castle Garden is close to its original layout, and together with the Castle is one of the best of its kind in Europe.
However, it’s the Flower Garden – also called the Pleasure Garden – which steals the show. Its layout has hardly changed since its inception 350 years ago, with a 240-metre-long Colonnade, a Baroque rotunda (pictured) and a paradise for parterre lovers. The city centre, particularly its main square and churches of St John the Baptist and St Maurice, also deserve an hour of your time.
Getting there: Hourly trains run from Brno hl n to Kroměříž, with a change of train at Kojetin. The whole journey takes 1 hour 13 minutes.
Veveři Castle
If you’re visiting Brno between April and October – castle season throughout the Czech Republic – and you need another castle fix after seeing Brno’s Špilberk – you don’t have to travel to one of the oldest in the country, Hrad Veveři.
Only 8 miles (13 km) from the centre of Brno, the ‘Squirrel’s Castle’ (that’s its name’s meaning in Czech) is one of the easiest day trips from Brno. It was founded as a hunting lodge in the 11th century, and its eventful history has seen it under the control of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus and the powerful noble Sternberg family.
Winston Churchill was also very fond of the Castle. He visited three times, including as part of his honeymoon with wife Clementine in 1908.
Getting there: There are two ways to get to Veveři Castle. You can either catch bus 303 from Rakovecká to the Castle (the stop name is Hrad Veveři. Or you can alight tram 1 at Přistaviště (which means ‘landing stage’), and walk left along Hrázní for 300 metres until you reach the jetty for boat trips to the Castle.
Brno Zoo
The shortest and quickest of our day trips from Brno is to the city’s Zoo, on top of a steep hill on the outskirts of the city.
My son loves animals so whenever we’re near a Zoo we are sure to visit. It’s only a half-hour tram ride from the centre of Brno to the Zoo tram stop, from where it’s a five-minute walk. Walking the hill for a few hours gives you a great workout. If you have kids liable to get tired, it may be worth your while catching the train up the hill to conserve their energy for later.
As veterans of zoos in Central Europe, we rate it fourth out of the ten we visited. It has around 300 species of animals, and these are mostly divided up by continent or regions from which they originate.
Highlights for us include the African section, with giraffes and zebras, and the Central Asian exhibit which includes the rare Przewalski’s Horse (this has been successfully bred and rewilded at Prague Zoo, our home zoo for several years). We also enjoyed seeing the brown bears from the Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Russia, and the polar bears.
All in all, a very enjoyable day out.
Getting there: Follow tram 1 from the city centre in the direction of Rakovecka to Zoologicka zahrada. From the tram stop, cross the river to your right, and take the first left to the Zoo – about a five-minute walk in all.
Bratislava
Despite its location in the heart of Europe, Bratislava is one of Europe’s least-known capitals. It’s only an hour from Vienna and two hours from Budapest, but is rather overshadowed by both. But it’s definitely worth including in your Central Europe itinerary, and makes for the busiest of our day trips from Brno.
I’ve only ever spent one day in Bratislava, and it’s somewhere I’ve always meant to revisit for a few days. Bratislava Castle is worth the uphill walk for the views over the city, and the Archbishop’s Palace is a worthwhile stop for anyone interested in either Napoleon or the Holy Roman Empire. This is where he co-signed the Peace of Pressburg, bringing the Holy Roman Empire to an end after over a thousand years.
I’ve always been drawn to Bratislava for its varied architecture. On one hand, there is the pretty Blue Church (St Elizabeth’s), the work of the inimitable Hungarian architect Ödön Lechner. For more examples of his work, check out my article on Art Nouveau Budapest.
In contrast, there are two of the quirkiest examples of Communist architecture in Europe. The better-known is the Most SNP, with its flying saucer-like restaurant high above the rest of the bridge and the river Danube. And if you should come across a Brutalist-style inverted pyramid, it’s the Slovak Radio building.
Getting there: Flixbus is the best option for getting from Brno to Bratislava, with several departures each morning from the stop opposite Grandhotel Brno. They take between 1 hour 40 minutes and 2 hours. Direct trains are not as frequent, running only every four hours, with similar journey time.
Where To Stay In Brno
***** – Grandezza Hotel Luxury Palace – 5-star luxury on the most beautiful square in Brno, close to the Cathedral, Old Town Hall Tower and Underground Tunnels
**** – Grandhotel Brno -19th-century grandeur and the most convenient location if you’re planning a few day trips from Brno, across the street from the train and bus stations
**** – Hotel Avion Brno – stunning functionalist design hotel, a National Monument with a Museum free for guests
Best Day Trips From Brno – Final Thoughts
Brno is a great city to visit – in my view one of the best cities in Central Europe to visit. It makes a great base for visiting Moravia, and also a cross-border trip or two to Slovakia or Austria. You can accomplish the vast majority of these by train and / or bus.
If you’re visiting or staying in Brno, check out my series of articles on the city:
If you’re planning on travelling further around the Czech Republic, here are some more great places to visit around the country:
České Budějovice – the underrated capital of South Bohemia
Holašovice – unique ‘folk Baroque’ village, the only intact survivor of its kind, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Karlštejn Castle – the purpose-built home of the Bohemian Crown Jewels
Things To Do In Kutná Hora – the silver mining town with two Cathedrals, once the second largest town in Bohemia
Kutná Hora Bone Church – the bones of 40,000 souls, used to decorate a chapel in an astonishing way
Bohemian Paradise – Český ráj – enchanting landscape of sandstone rock cities and medieval castles
Konopiste Castle – the favoured residence of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Things To Do In Mariánské Lázně – discover one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe