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PSJJJJ
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.
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AJM_13
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!
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gagvirk
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.
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AndreaBelanova
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.
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Sean072
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.
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JillySAustralia
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.
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HipHipHop
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.
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80StuartC
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.
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153danac
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.
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Shubham_Jain_6971
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
