South Moravia
South Moravia is a region of the Czech Republic.
Cities
- 1 Brno. Largest city in Moravia, Moto GP Grand Prix every year takes place here; the Cerna Pole district is home to Mies van der Rohe's Tugendhat Villa, a key work of modernist architecture.
- 2 Blansko.
- 3 Kroměříž. Has a nice palace and gardens.
- 4 Luhačovice. Moravian spa
- 5 Novosedly na Moravě. Village in the Moravian wine region, you can go on a great horseback trip through the vineyards.
- 6 Rakvice.
- 7 Znojmo.
- 8 Zlín. City in South Moravia, famous Bata shoe company started and developed here before the WWII; interesting functionalistic architecture.
- 9 Mikulov. A town with a wonderful old castle and Monastery.
Other destinations
- 10 Podyjí. A national park with near-natural forests along the deep Dyje (Thaya) River valley.
- 11 Moravian Karst (Moravský kras). Large region with natural caves.
- 12 Pálava. Limestone Pálava Hills are characterized by well preserved steppe ecosystems. There are some remarkable archaelogical sites, such as Dolní Věstonice where the Venus of Dolní Věstonice was found.
- 13 Lednice-Valtice. One of the largest artificial landscapes in Europe dotted with Palaces and Follies.
- 14 Mutěnice Wine Region. Some of the best vineyards in the Czech Republic and well off the well beaten tourist path.
Understand
Brno aside, Southern Moravia is most famous for its wine. Except for the Czechs though, this fact is not very well known, so not many tourists make the trip to the region. The area from Kyjov to Hodonín is particularly wealthy in both vineyards, private cellars and mannor houses. For a weekend adventure, the Mutěnice Wine Region is particularly enjoyable. The rural area outside of Brno though has particularly high unemployment and also has done little to attract foreign tourists so contact with the English and German speaking world is a lot more rare than in Prague. Expect to use your phrase book and knowledge of Czech a lot more than you may be used to. Also expect a lot of friendly hospitality.
Talk
In contrast to Prague or Brno not many people here speak English. Like most Czechs though, they do like to study and most people will be willing to make a strong effort to communicate in the English that they do know.
Get in
Wine Region
- By car
- You can drive on the motorway from Brno to Bratislava and about 15km before the border exit towards Hodonín.
- Bus
- The best way to get to the wine region is to take a bus to Hodonín from the Brno bus station. The cost is under 50 kč, the buses run almost hourly and the trip takes under an hour. You can either get off in Hodonín and catch any number of local buses from there, or get off in Mutěnice about 5 km outside of Hodonín which will put your right in the middle of the wine region. The bus does not take the motorway, but instead travels the old back road. Feel free to hop off in any of the villages that suite your fancy.
Get around
The local bus system in Southern Moravia is quite extensive. Learning to read the bus tables is a bit confusing at first so be sure and ask for assistance, but once you've mastered the bus system you can get from village to village very easily.
See
- The traditional wine cellers in the wine region
- Many old castles (Czech, Zámek)
- Lednicko-Valtický areál, an area with many interesting and different monuments all around cities Valtice and Lednice (mostly). Sometimes it could be an adventure to find all monuments, because many of them are hidden in the forest. You can see an Arabian minaret as well as an antic temple or colonade, a castle and even arch of triumph. Some of these monuments are placed on one place, but others are located just kilometers far away, so it's better travel by car or on the bike. It's totally worth seeing!
Do
- Ratíškovice draisines/handcars - pedal a three-km track on a draisine and visit a small rail museum "in a wagon". Ratíškovice ([1]), web in Czech, summer 10am - 4pm every day, rental 100 CZK/hour.
Eat
South Moravia is famous for pickled gherkins, made around Znojmo. Various dishes from pork and cabbage are eaten in the region, as well as pies with plum jam and sweet cottage cheese. The favorite drinks are wine and apricot brandy. See an article about South Moravia specials