Hi - We will be traveling from Vienna to Prague and budgeted one day as a stopover somewhere in late October, Brno seems to be a logical half way point in between Vienna and Prague, but we are willing to go a bit out of the way if there is a better sightseeing options. Would appreciate your thoughts and recommendations on how to spend a short day in Brno or elsewhere. Thank you.
Posted by
Los Angeles
1171 posts
Cesky Krumlov is another popular stopover point between the two cities.
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/czech-republic/cesky-krumlov
Posted by
Citizen of the World
1997 posts
Olomouc, a university town called the “mini-Prague,” has a lot of history with intact medieval walls, astronomical clock on its old square and a lot more. It’s linked with Prague by high-speed trains that get you there in 2 hours.
Posted by
SoCal
1130 posts
I spent an afternoon this week in Český Krumlov. It's an exceptionally scenic place. Highly recommended.
Olomouc may well be a worthwhile visit, but it's certainly not on the way from Vienna to Prague.
Posted by
OP
28 posts
Thank you. We are planning to do a day trip to Cesky Krumlov from Prague.
Posted by
Citizen of the World
1997 posts
Note that Cesky Krumlov is a minimum 2.5–hour trip each way from Prague.
Posted by
San Francisco
14970 posts
If you want to see the historical connection to all 3 of these places, it can be done, and their association to modern European history can be seen.
In 2016 I went to Brno as a day trip from Vienna but that was only a changing point for the train. My goal was Slavkov, better known by its famous history name Austerlitz, the famous battle where the joint armies of the Austrians and the Russians suffered a decisive defeat by Napoleon.
The chateau in Slavkov called by the German name, Schloss Austerlitz, has a pretty comprehensive and balanced account of that battle featured as the Napoleon Exhibition. It's located ca. 30 min walk from the train station in the Zentrum. The Schloss is accessible only by guided tour given in Czech.
Brno itself , assuming you want to stay in the town, was and still is a province capital, that of Moravia, lovely countryside getting out there. I have not visited brno per se, got side tracked to Slavkov both times.
Olomouc has its famous Schloss too, where Lafayette was held prisoner after being captured by the Austrians who totally ignored diplomatic entreaties by the US to secure his release. His release finally came about thanks to Napoleon. I have yet to go Olomouc since that Schloss is what I wan to see.
Ostrava , I assume you mean, that located in Moravia. It was part of the Sudetenland in the inter-war years known as Mährisch Ostrau.