Activities in Znojmo and surroundings

Hradiště — St. Hippolytus

≈ 2 km — a walk of under half an hour

The best view of Znojmo is not from Znojmo but from the spur opposite. Under two kilometres on foot and the town lies open in front of you — walls, towers and the rock it stands on. Late afternoon is best, when the last light hits the façades.

The Znojmo viewpoints

Kraví hora on foot from the centre — Sealsfield's Stone along trail C1

A handful of rock terraces are scattered above the canyon — Kraví hora just above the town, Sealsfield's Stone further into Podyjí on marked trail C1. The reward is always the same: the river far below, forest on both sides, not a fence in sight. They string together nicely into one afternoon.

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.

Martin Kreil, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Thayatal National Park

≈ 22 km — via Hardegg

The Austrian half of the same canyon, declared a national park in 2000 — together with Podyjí it forms a single protected valley across the border. Trails run along the rim and down to the river, and the valley is one of the few places where the wildcat still lives.

Hardegg

≈ 22 km — ≈ 35 min by car

Austria's smallest town — a few dozen houses beneath a castle set on a rock above a bend of the Thaya, right on the border. From the castle walkways you look into both national parks at once. A footbridge crosses back to the Czech side, so you can arrive on foot and leave by bike.

The castle is usually open roughly from April to November; the town itself and the footbridge are accessible year-round.

Cornštejn ruin

≈ 28 km — ≈ 40 min by car

A sprawling ruin on a rocky ridge a short way from Bítov — walls, gates and towers you are free to wander through. Precisely because nothing has been polished back into shape, Cornštejn feels more convincing than many a restored castle. The view from the highest point is among the best in the Dyje valley.

The ruin is usually open to visitors in the summer season.

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.