Olomuoc or Brno

They are both very attractive, but they have different atmospheres. Brno is large city, which will be pretty evident even as you walk around the lovely historic core. Olomouc is a much smaller town. It was quiet during my summer visit because the university students were home on break, which magnified the difference with Brno. Even during university terms I think it will still feel like a town--at least while you're in the historic area.

Neither was particularly touristy during my visit (August 2018), though you could tell that tourists would be more obvious in Olomouc.

I have been to Prague but not to Pilsen, so I don't know which of the two options would fit best into your itinerary. I'm sure you'd enjoy either one.

Thanks for your reply. I will do some further research on which of the two would probably interest me more. I am planning to travel on from whichever city I choose to Pilsen and looking at the train routes I still have to transit through Prague.
Both look like they are worthwhile stopovers.

I visited Olomouc a few years ago - spent two nights there on the way from Krakow to Prague. It was a bit of a let down: pretty dead at the center of town (September). I visited largely based on watching one of the Rick Steves shows highlighting it as an untouristy alternative to Prague. Definitely not touristy - but also not very exciting of a town! True, one of the big main squares was under renovation (2012), but the other one was open, and there was almost no one out and about at night - what a contrast to busy, touristy Prague! I found restaurants open but you had to walk up to them to see if the lights on meant they were really open. It's usually disappointing to find towns that don't have much local life.

I didn't choose two nights because I thought I needed that much time; I arrived early evening the first day and left early the third day. But even a whole day was more time than I needed there. I probably should have ditched Olomouc after half a day and visited Brno instead (which I did not see).

Rick Steves likes Olomouc more. It made it into his book Prague & the Czech Republic and Brno did not. Brno is the second largest city in the C.R., almost four times as many inhabitants as Olomouc. Olomouc is more historical, almost like little Prague. If you like cities which are little bit more busy, go to Brno. Being bigger there is also more happening there. It has its pretty neighborhoods and also not so pretty. If you like smaller towns (Olomouc has about one hundred thousand inhabitants) and historical, go to Olomouc. IMHO Pilsen (in Czech Plzen) cannot compete with Brno or Olomouc. But there is the largest and most famous brewery there brewing the best beer (IMHO) Pilsner Urquell. You can take a tour. You can also visit General Patton Memorial there. Pilsen unlike the most of Czechoslovakia was liberated from Nazis by US Army.

Brno. More going on there.

Hi,

From the viewpoint of history, both Brno and Olomouc are well worth the time for a visit. I've only been to Brno but mainly as a transfer point to Slavkov (Austerlitz). In the Zentrum of Slavkov walking from the train station is Schloss Austerlitz, where a good through Napoleon exhibit can be seen. Both Olomouc and Brno were part of the events leading up to the battle of Austerlitz.

If you have time for only one town, then I recommend Brno, which was also a province capital. Stay the night in Pilsen, see the "American Memorial" near the Zentrum, dedicated to Patton's troops on liberating the city in May of 1945. I saw that Memorial in 2001...certainly moving when you reflect on 1945.

Olomouc was the capital of Moravia until 1641. 1641 until 1948 Brno was the capital. Then communists abandoned the traditional division between Moravia and Bohemia and administratively divided Czechoslovakia into regions and regions into counties. This division did not follow the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia. After that there were two more changes. Nevertheless people are still talking about Brno as the capital of Moravia.

Thanks, everyone for your thoughts. I have decided to visit both . Will stay in Brno but probably
do Olomuoc as a day trip out of Prague. Looking forward to seeing them.

First I thought that Olomuoc was just a typo. Now when I noticed that you spelled it this way every time, it does not look like a typo any more. Correct spelling is Olomouc.
To save money and time I would recommend to go to Brno and then instead of going back to Prague and the again for a day trip to Olomouc, go from Brno to Olomouc, then from Olomouc to Prague. Brno Olomouc is a much shorter distance than Prague Brno or Prague Olomouc. You can store your luggage at the station.

You can check youtube for Brno here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvpLBlfjR1A
for Olomouc here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SCcNNcN5lk
and there is more on youtube about these two towns. Unfortunately these websites don't work. I checked it several times and they seem correct. If you still want to see it, google Brno on youtube and then Olomouc on youtube or vice versa.

Hello from Wisconsin,
I was in both cites for a few days each this September.

Brno is a college town. Seems they have about 430,000 city population and 80,000 are students. This gives the city a youthful burst. Much of the old town has been spruced up. While this is the 'old' capital of Moravia it lacks in Moravian food, specifically bramborak (potato pancakes with garlic and marjoram) and topinky (heavy rye toast with cloves of garlic to rub into the toast).

The 'old old' capital of Moravia is Olomouc which is a smaller city. It is more real than Brno in that it has not all been gussied up. There is an excellent Baroque bazilika out in the country side reachable by a bus from the train station. Two excellent restaurants, one block apart, are Podkova (nice inventive CZ food) and Golias (has both bramborak and topinky) located between the cathedral and the old town square.

You won't be disappointed in either city.

As for trains in Czechia, go to CD.CZ it is the national website for their trains. Prices can't be beat.

Rats. I missed the bramborak and topinky!

Sorry about the misspelling of Olomouc. I better learn to say the name correctly before I embarrass myself again. Is Ollo mouch an approximation of how the city's name is pronounced? And Brno, do you pronounce it as Brer No.

The mention of some Czech dishes worth trying is great. I know a little about Polish and Hungarian food but virtually nothing about
the food of the Czech Republic.

Pronounciation of the word Olomouc: Olo - like in the word solo (of course without that "s" at the beginning), mouc - this ou is pronounced very similar like in English word coach (of course without "c" at the beginning and "ch" at the end). "C" at the end of word Olomouc is pronounced tz. So, something like Olomoutz with the accent on the first "O".
Brno has only one vowel when you write it and also when you pronounce it. R is stronger than in English, more like in Spanish or Russian - Brrno. To emphasize it I added one more "r", perhaps I could have added even two more rrr. O in the end is pronounced similarly like in English word potato. Accent on two first letters - Br.

I've seen Olomouc rendered phonetically as Olomoats; perhaps that will be easier for an American and close enough?

Yes, acraven, that's much simpler than my explanation.