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Brno, Czech Republic

Greetings,

My husband and I will be in the Czech Republic in the middle of next month and would like to make a stop in Brno, as the pictures I've found online look fantastic.

We're torn about whether to stay there one night or two. To those who have been there, how long did you stay, and do you feel you spent enough time to adequately get a taste of the town (I know, that is very subjective...)? We'd like to check out the castle and maybe poke our heads into the few cathedrals/churches that I've seen on the Brno tourist website, but we can also entertain ourselves for hours by window shopping and sussing out different neighborhoods, stopping for a coffee or beer at intervals along the way.

Thanks for any opinions you might have about Brno and how long you'd recommend staying. And any other tidbits of info would be appreciated (restaurants, hotels, watering holes, etc.).

Thank you!

Posted by
811 posts

Wow, Ilja, thank you so very much for the detailed response! It's especially fantastic, too, as I've read many of your past posts (especially while researching this trip) and believe I read where you are from the Czech Republic. So I thank you very much for taking the time to give your expert opinion!

Looks like we will stay 2 nights, more if we can squeeze the time in. Thank you!

Posted by
4637 posts

Well, Brno is not a tourist city and didn't even make it into Rick Steves Prague & the Czech Republic. You won't meet Ricknicks there. But it is a charming city. You already set your eye on castle Spilberk. Then I recommend St.Peter's Cathedral. Walk Masaryk Street to namesti Svobody (Square of Liberty) and then Ceska Street. All shops and restaurants. Stop at visitor center at Old City Hall to get some ideas and climb the tower for views. If you want more shopping go to Vankovka. It's a shopping mall made from the old factory. Close to Main railroad station. You can see Villa Tugendhat if they didn't start restoration already. They should know at visitor center. V.T. is on UNESCO list. Also famous Brno Fairgrounds are worth to see. At Mendel Square there is a museum of Johann Gregor Mendel, founder of genetics. Also if you are into history, city bus 48 goes to Austerlitz battlefield museum. There is Cairn of Peace next to it. Not too far from Brno (cca 30 km) there is the deepest abyss in the Czech rep. called Macocha (stepmother) and Punkva caves with an underground river and lakes. Brno is known for its wine bars with good selection of south moravian wines (regions south and east of Brno). I would mention Moravska Chalupa (Moravian Cottage). It's somewhat upscale, selection of wines is excellent. You will be surprised by quality of moravian wine utterly unknown here in US. Especially white wines. Just to mention few: Rynsky ryzlink, Zeleny veltlin, Tramin, Rulandske bile. Almost every evening there is a dulcimer folk music playing. How many nights to stay? You can see right now that two won't be enough. But one cannot see everything. So as long as you like it.