moravian karst (moravsky kras)

So the whole Karst is listed as one attraction? There are several hundred of caves (small, big), mountains, streams, tourist trails and everything else. And all this about 20 minutes of train ride from Brno.

An easy enough daytrip from Brno, but you need to plan it in advance. The connections are infrequent, the Punkva caves often need reservations in advance (and these really are the best ones to go to), and you need more time there than you think. We walked all afternoon and only ended up having time to do the Punkva caves. They charge a 'photo charge' for taking photos inside the caves, but I wouldn't worry about it. I did, but no one else seemed to. Yet everyone was taking photos. You are given an English pamphlet explaining all the stops along the way of the guided tour. Read this in advance and commit it to memory. Our tour guide spoke only Czech, and as I tried to read the pamphlet in the dim light of the caves, I felt rushed and like I was missing things. Be careful to not hang back of the crowd. The guides do not wait - and once they have moved on with their flashlight, it is pitch black down there! Watch your footing, wear decent shoes, and if you are tall, try to sit on the inside seats of the underground boat, or risk being beheaded!We walked up to the top of Machocha gorge, for great views and a great place to stop and eat our packed lunch. There was a cable car option, but a chickened out. We ended up taking a wrong turn on the way down and getting very lost. Try to bring a good map / GPS with you. Don't rely on finding signage ... or other people.Definitely a great way to spend a day, though!

We loved the tour of the punkva caves. Coming out into the macocha abyss opening was a stunning experience that I won't forget in a hurry. Also do go for the Katerina cave where they have a wonderful acoustic display and also put u in pitch darkness for a minute to show u how dark the depths of the cases can be. I actually enjoyed the Katerina cave experience more. Amazing dense forest on all sides and food trails for hiking as well. On the middle of nature and very green and soothing.

Once in Brno or Moravia area, you should not miss Moravian Karst. It has beautiful nature, but most of all there are five higlhy interesting caves (Kateřinská, Sloupsko-Šošůvská, Výpustek, Balcarka, Punkevní - where you can travel on boats on Punkva river). Also the Machocha abbys is definitely worth seeing. Take at least one week for it and do not forget about reservations. Many old water mills to visit too.

The caves around Blansko, Czech Republic are popular places for locals and visitors from surrounding countries. The problem with the Punkva Caves is that to get a ticket, you must arrive by 10am to get a ticket for the tour. I went about 11:15 when I first arrived and they were sold out for the day. Nobody mentioned if I could make a reservation for the next day, just told me to show up by 9am the next day.There was a cave near the Skalni Mlyn ticket office, the Katarina Cave, which I could just walk up to and get a ticket to tour.In the area, there are a handful of caves available to tour. My frustration is that to get to most of those caves, I either had to walk, at least 9 km each way, or have a car. It seems that though this is a popular tourist area, they don't have buses set up to take people without cars to the other caves. It may have been a language barrier when I was asking information at the information center, but I felt the representatives there were not very helpful or knowledgeable about how to get around the area of the Moravian Caves. The area is beautiful, though, with many trails to walk, some were easy, paved paths and some were steep and more difficult. The cable car to get to the top of the Macocha Abyss is fast and easy to use. Tours of the cave seem to be mainly in Czech, but I was given pamphlets in English to describe the different stops in the caves. I found them to be useful. Also, one of the guides, towards the end of the tour found out I spoke English and said she would have given me more information all along if she had known I spoke English.Overall, though, this was a wonderful place to visit. It just needs a bit more organization for tourists who don't have their own car to enjoy more fully what the area has to offer.

Just amazing is the only way to describe this incredible area. We stayed in Brno and drove to the caves (only about a 30 minute drive). Unfortunately the Punkva cave tour was booked out for the day - I would recommend you pre-book this one but we were able to do a tour of one of the lesser know caves which was absolutely spectacular. Tour guides only speak Czech so you miss the finer points but there is so much to see, most of which is self-evident.Be sure to dress warmly as it is very cold in the caves. We were unprepared but the ticket office kindly lent us warm jackets.After touring the cave we drove to the main carpark and then went for a 20km walk through the forest - also spectacular.If you are travelling between Krakow and Czesky Krumolov this is a must do.

The Moravian caves are definitely worth the visit when you are in the area. It took me awhile to research and figure out what to do to visit this attraction, so I've summarized it here for your convenience:1. Make a reservation by sending an e-mail with your date and preferred range of time to: info@caves.cz It takes them a day or two to reply with confirmation. I suggest getting there early (8:30am) to get parking and also beat the crowd. We left at around noon and the parking lot was packed.2. On the day of your visit, make your way to Skalni Mlyn hotel or stay at that hotel the night prior if you wish. The ticket office is right next to the hotel. You simply go into the ticketing office and let them know the time of your reservation and then pay for the tickets. You will be given an English pamphlet explaining the various stops during the cave tour. The tour guide only speaks Czech.** Please note that the walk to the entrance of the Punkha Caves is about 20 minutes from the ticketing office. You have the option of riding a small train to the caves entrance but that will cost you 60 CZK per person and you can pay the train's conductor when boarding the train.3. Once you are at the entrance, just wait for the tour guide to enter the caves. Unless you understand Czech, I suggest going in last since that will allow you to stay at each tour stop longer and take pictures without the crowd. Since you will be reading the pamphlet on your own, it makes no difference for you to follow the tour guide closely.4. Once the walking tour is done, you will board a boat that will take you out of the caves. The boat will make one stop before the exit for you to explore another tour stop. You will reboard the same boat and will be taken to the exit. ** Note: All the bathrooms there charge 5 CZK so bring some change.These caves are well worth the visit and can be done in about 3 hours. Do plan to spend more time here if you visit other caves. We only did the Punkha Caves and felt that was enough for us before we headed to Vienna from here. Hope this helps your planning.

I have visited the Burren and the Ailwee Caves here in Ireland but in comparison this place just blows it away. These caves have incredible natural features that are given some natural light to show off their beauty and the tour takes you around to see various different formations before leading to the Macocha Abyss which is pretty remarkable when you see it. The final part of the tour is taken by boat through the caves which was a pretty eerie experience but also good to watch your head as the boat tends to come pretty close to the sides on occasion! The only thing that is disappointing for me is that the tours are only done in Czech. Understandably the area is as well known to tourists but the only thing offered to those speaking foreign languages is a sheet that gives the information about the different stops on the tour so you can sort of follow along. Hopefully as more tourists come their way they will improve this but still well worth a visit.We booked this tour well in advance of our arrival in Blansko and it is important to do so as the places on these tours are limited and both the day we went and the couple of days prior to our arrival had been booked out. We booked through the hostel we stayed in in Brno but there may be a more direct route to doing so than this.

You can take small train to the entrance of the caves and then take a tour through cave system. Guides are knowledgeable but give tour only in Czech,you can buy foreign guide books before you go. Only few caves are open to public for safety but scenes of ancient caves with spectacular stalactites and stalagmites is something you never forget. The boat ride is great for families with kids,our guide was a jolly one so bonus there. The Macocha Abyss has a gruesome tale of a woman who tried to kill her husbands child and was thrown to the Abyss by villagers as a punishment therefore Macocha (Stepmother) Abyss.You can also take a short funicular ride to the top of Macocha Abyss where you find a restaurant and few shops with souvenirs and refreshment. It's always busy during summer weekends.Great day trip for a family.

must visit ... its chilling inside the caves... boat tour inside punkva caves was just thriliing...as u r part of some discovery channel expeditionThough the tour guide only speaks in Czech language... u will not have time to listen to guide, than just staring at the amazing stalactites and stalagmites inside the cavetake a good low light cam inside the caves..its a little dark inside

Pleasant day trip with interesting caves. Guided tour not in English but stil interesting to see. Had some goo stalectites and stalegmites, boat tour and cable car.

The Karst region is riddled with dramatic limestone caverns, but we chose to go the the Punkva Caves (Punkevni jeskyne) as the longest excursion, including an underground boat ride.We booked online (info@caves.cz) the day before - even though not a busy time of year we were glad of this as it gets busy being so popular - had an immediate and helpful confirmation in flawless English, and were able to add another person at the last minute. All the information is available via www.caves.cz Public transport is very cheap but you are tied to infrequent buses between Blansko rail station and Skalni Mlyn - a little tourist spot at the beginning of the forest paths with information centre, small hotel, restaurant and cafés etc, where you pick up or buy entry tickets. You can walk along lane through the forest or take a little eco-train for the short distance to caves entrance - sensible shoes really necessary as there are lots of steps of course, and although really well maintained it's bound to be damp underfoot sometimes. And like all caves they're cool inside. Groups go through at a reasonable pace, plenty of time to take pictures and admire the extraordinary limestone formations which are well-lit. After the experience of coming out into the light at the foot of the Macocha Abyss you carry on further in and transfer to boats which take you through more amazing caves... The transfer to boats and the steps, general climbs and so on mean this is not a complete doddle, so for anyone of limited mobility I would advise you consult with the info people beforehand. After coming out if you walk a few metres further up the lane you can take a cable car to the top of the Abyss, with views, walks, and a restaurant/cafe. You can hike through the abyss but we walked back down to Skalni Mlyn via road and a forest path through Karst formations and some decent bird-watching - we could also have taken the cable car and the shorter trail back. With the longer walk We had time to do all this and have lunch on the restaurant terrace - which however is a bit too near the frequent coaches dropping tours off - before catching the local bus to the train back to Brno. If it seems a bit too busy or touristy at Skalni Mlyn for you I would recommend you get a taxi to Blansko - the information centre people will call for you if need be - and either spend time there or get on a train. However you travel this is a memorable and exciting experience, and the caves are extraordinary natural wonders - highly recommended.

I have visited many of the worlds wonders, and personally i would include these caves with the wonders of the southern Bolivian desert-scape and the ruins of Machipichu. Absolutely fantastic, and worth coming to the Czech Republic to experience these caves.Come down the Macocha Abyss on the cable car (8 euro) and get a ticket (4 euro) to the Punkevni cave at the bottom, where a boat ride through the caves is included in the tour. To take photos you should pay another euro.Then you can take a little train ride (or walk) the 2 kilometers to the Katarinska cave.Bring some warm clothes as it gets really cold in there.

Nice tour trails and you must visit Macocha and Punkva caves here. Just go to Blansko town and start.

I whish i knew Czech to understand the guide but...i guess if you've heard the story once, the same applies to every stalagmite and stalactite. The best part of the tour was the boat ride in the underground canal and the bottom view of the Mococha Abyss.