Activities in Znojmo and surroundings

Znojmo wines

Vineyards and cellars just outside town

The Znojmo sub-region is white-wine country — Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, Sauvignon — with vineyards beginning almost at the last houses. Cellars sit beneath the town and in the villages around it, many within walking or cycling distance along the wine trail. Ask us at the palace which vintage to go for.

Louka Monastery and Znovín tastings

Znojmo-Louka — on the southern edge of town

A vast Baroque Premonstratensian complex on the southern edge of Znojmo, today the home of the Znovín winery. Guided tastings take place under the vaults of the historic cellars, and in summer the monastery hosts the Znojmo Music Festival. Stone, cool air and wine in a combination that is hard to find elsewhere.

Znojmo Music Festival concerts take place at the monastery in July; tasting dates are listed in Znovín's events calendar.

The Šobes vineyard

≈ 12 km — on foot or by bike only

Šobes sits in a bend of the Dyje in the middle of the national park and counts among the best-sited vineyards in Europe — bare rock, the river on three sides and a south-facing slope above it. You can only reach it on foot or by bike, across a suspension bridge and through the forest. In season a tasting stand waits right among the vines.

The tasting stand at the vineyard usually operates roughly from May to September. The vineyard is reachable on foot or by bike only.

Podyjí National Park

Begins at the edge of Znojmo

The smallest Czech national park begins at the edge of Znojmo and is inseparable from its river — incised meanders, rock walls, steppe and heath all in one place. Four decades as a sealed border zone paradoxically saved its nature. At the end of summer the Havranice heath turns purple and the park looks like somewhere else entirely.

The heather on the Havranice heath usually blooms in August and September — the park's strongest weeks.

Čížov and the Iron Curtain

≈ 18 km — by car, bike or bus

At Čížov an original stretch of barbed-wire barrier and a watchtower have been left standing — a few hundred metres of the Iron Curtain exactly as they were. It is an unassuming place, and all the stronger for it. The national park's visitor centre is right beside it, and the long-distance cycle route along the old frontier passes through.

Jevišovice

≈ 15 km — ≈ 20 min by car

The Old Chateau above the town and just below it the oldest dam in Moravia, completed in 1897 — a masonry wall that looks more like a fortification than a piece of waterworks. A quiet destination for an afternoon when you would rather not go far.

Retz (Austria)

≈ 15 km — ≈ 18 min by train

A wine town just over the border, with a postcard square and a windmill above the vineyards. Beneath the whole town runs the Erlebniskeller — a labyrinth of historic cellars visited with a guide. The train from Znojmo takes under twenty minutes, so you can go just for a glass.

Cycling around Znojmo

The routes run straight through Znojmo

Three major routes pass through Znojmo: EuroVelo 13 along the line of the former Iron Curtain, the Prague–Vienna Greenway and the Znojmo Wine Trail. The terrain rolls, the rewards come often — a cellar, a viewpoint, a border crossing where nobody has stood for decades. Bikes can go on the train to Austria too.

On the water: the Dyje and the town beach

Zámecká Dyje on foot from the centre — the run below the dam ≈ 20 km

Below the Vranov dam the Dyje can be run by raft or canoe; in Znojmo you can hire a rowing boat or paddleboard on the Zámecká Dyje, and there is a town beach at Louka. The canyon stretch inside the national park is closed to boats — nature takes precedence there, and rightly so.