Znojmo

About Znojmo

Znojmo sits on a dramatic basalt cliff above the Dyje river in South Moravia, 15 kilometres from the Austrian border and just 70 km south of Brno. The old town centre — a tight grid of Gothic and Baroque streets topped by a 13th-century royal castle — is compact enough to explore on foot in a morning, which is exactly why staying overnight is the right move: once the day-trippers from Brno and Vienna have left, the wine bars on náměstí Svobody fill up with locals and the city reveals a quieter, more genuine character.

The surrounding landscape is all vineyards. Znojmo is the westernmost sub-region of the Moravian wine country, and the designation is serious: dozens of family wineries open their cellars, many cut directly into the cliff beneath the old town, for tastings. The annual Znojmo Historical Festival in September — the largest medieval fair in the Czech Republic, drawing 30,000 visitors — gives the castle courtyard, the underground catacombs and the Romanesque rotunda a theatrical backdrop that is difficult to match anywhere in the country.

Accommodation in Znojmo (ubytování Znojmo) ranges from small family pensions in the historic centre to mid-range hotels with castle views and spa facilities. Prices are meaningfully lower than Prague or Brno for comparable quality, and the proximity to Podyjí National Park — the only national park in Moravia, a canyon landscape of beech forests and river meanders — makes Znojmo a natural base for hiking and cycling trips on both sides of the Czech-Austrian border.