South Moravian Region: 34 places worth a day trip
Pinsko lists 34 places in the South Moravian Region: 22 wine stops, 5 historic sites, 4 beer stops and 3 nature spots.
Highlights include National Wine Centre, Valtice; Lednice Chateau and Černá Hora Brewery.
Beer4
- Černá Hora Brewery
One of the oldest breweries in Moravia, first mentioned in writing in 1298. It sits in a village north of Brno below the local chateau.
- Starobrno Brewery
Brno's historic brewery on the grounds of a former Cistercian convent in Staré Brno. Its gate faces Mendel Square, next to the abbey where Gregor Mendel did his work on heredity.
- Pegas Brewpub
A brewpub in Brno's Jakubská street, one of the first to open after 1989 and still brewing on the premises.
- Lucky Bastard Brewery
A Brno craft brewery in the Slatina district with a wide range of ales and lagers and its own taproom.
Wine22
- National Wine Centre, Valtice
In the cellars of Valtice Chateau, it presents the 100 best wines from each year's national wine competition. Tastings run in timed sessions.
- Mikulov Chateau & Giant Barrel
The Dietrichstein chateau above Mikulov keeps a giant wine barrel from 1643 that holds more than 100,000 litres. The town is the heart of the Mikulov wine subregion.
- Pavlov Wine Village
A wine village under the limestone cliffs of Děvín, with old cellars and views over the Nové Mlýny reservoirs.
- Sonberk Winery
A modern hilltop winery near Popice looking straight at the Pálava hills. Known for Riesling and the Pálava grape from the surrounding slopes.
- Hustopeče Almond Orchard
A wine town famous for its almond orchard with a lookout tower among the trees, blossoming pink in early spring.
- Šobes Vineyard
One of the oldest and most celebrated vineyards in the country, on a sunny spur in a meander of the Dyje inside Podyjí National Park. Reachable only on foot or by bike.
- Louka Monastery Cellars, Znojmo
The former Premonstratensian monastery of Louka in Znojmo has vast wine cellars, now used by the Znovín winery for tours and tastings.
- Plže Wine Cellars, Petrov
A lane of small whitewashed wine cellars with blue painted ornaments, protected as a folk architecture reserve since 1983.
- Vrbice Cellar Lanes
Hundreds of wine cellars climb Stará hora hill above the village, many dug into loess over several levels.
- Kraví hora, Bořetice
A hill of wine cellars and vineyards above Bořetice, crossed by wine trails and known for red wines.
- Velké Bílovice
Often called the largest wine village in the Czech Republic, with hundreds of family wineries and cellar lanes.
- Velké Pavlovice
A town famous for apricot orchards as well as red wines such as Frankovka and Modrý Portugal.
- Dolní Kounice – Rosa coeli
The Gothic ruin of the Rosa coeli convent stands above a small town known for its red wines.
- Templar Cellars, Čejkovice
Cellars begun by the Knights Templar in the 13th century run under the village in a cross-shaped labyrinth, today among the largest cellar complexes in the country.
- Mutěnice Cellar Lanes
Several hundred press houses and cellars stand side by side in the Búdy area outside the village, one of the largest cellar colonies in Moravia.
- Kobylí
A wine village between Velké Pavlovice and Čejkovice, known for red wines and long rows of cellars below the vineyards.
- Němčičky
One of the Modré Hory villages that grow blue grape varieties, with vineyards and a small ski slope – a rarity in wine country.
- Dolní Dunajovice
A wine village north of Mikulov with one of the longest cellar lanes in the area.
- Blue Cellars, Nový Šaldorf
A row of cellars cut into loess near Znojmo, their façades traditionally painted blue.
- Hnanice
A border village of the Znojmo subregion below the Šobes vineyard, with a late-Gothic pilgrimage church.
- Lahofer Winery
A modern winery near Znojmo whose curved roof doubles as an open-air amphitheatre above the vineyard rows.
- Bzenec
A Slovácko wine town known above all for Riesling, with cellars in the chateau grounds.
History5
- Lednice Chateau
The Liechtensteins' Neo-Gothic summer residence at the heart of the Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape (UNESCO), one of the largest designed landscapes in Europe. Its park hides a minaret over 60 m tall.
- Cairn of Peace, Austerlitz
A memorial on Pratzen Heights to the fallen of the 1805 Battle of Austerlitz, the Battle of the Three Emperors.
- Villa Tugendhat
Mies van der Rohe's functionalist masterpiece in Brno, completed in 1930, with an onyx wall and windows that sink into the floor. Book tours well in advance.
- Špilberk Castle
A 13th-century royal castle later turned into a feared Habsburg prison; visitors can walk through the casemates.
- Pernštejn Castle
A Gothic castle on a rock spur that was never conquered and has kept its medieval look.
Nature3
- Macocha Abyss
A 138-metre-deep chasm in the Moravian Karst. Combine it with a boat ride on the underground Punkva river.
- Pálava Hills
Limestone hills rising out of the Moravian plain, a UNESCO biosphere reserve rich in orchids and steppe flora.
- Podyjí National Park – Hardegg View
The Dyje winds through a deep forested canyon along the Austrian border; the viewpoint looks down on Hardegg castle.