Highlights:
- 2 beautiful Europe’s capitals: Prague, Budapest
- 3 places from the UNESCO World Heritage Sites
- Moravia Region with its vineyards, charming architecture, beautiful, small cities, splendid landscapes and wine events
- 4 days of cycling
- Comfortable accommodation and delicious, local food
Introduction:
This trip will help You discover the Czech Republic. This beautiful country in middle Europe is little known in Western Europne. Most visitors stop theirs visit at Prague, what is a big mistake, because interior offers splendid and differential landscapes, great architecture, hundreds of monuments, multitude of small, charming and colourfull cities, reach history and still cultivated strong folk traditions – and that everything on just an area of 79 000 km2!
Our trip concentrates on the region of Southern Moravia – with no doubt one of the most beautiful part of Czech. First of all it is famous for its vineyards. Moravian wines are getting more and more popular among wine lovers in Europe. Cycling through the vineyards and small vine-villages with charming vinecellars guarantes great experience. In the midst if vine hills there are located cgarming villages and small cities. Few of them, like Znojmo, Mikulov or Lednice are real architectural pearl. Lednice is part of the Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape – an area known as „Europe’s Garden”, whith plenty of palaces and great gardens. In turn, Mikulov is beautifully located on karst hills of Palava. Finally, this region is cutted by wild, meandering river Thaya. The Lednice-Valtice Area is registered in the list of monuments protected as World Heritage by UNESCO next to another site – Pálava Landscape Protected Area, registered by UNESCO only a few years prior to the nearby Pálava Biosphere Reserve. Such close proximity of two landscape systems protected by UNESCO is world-unique.
Southern Moravia is attractive from spring till autumn. In the spring gardens are beautified by bloomed bush and trees avenues, and on the fields, there is mosaic of rape and grains. In the summer, when days are longer, there is more time for enjoying this idyllic area. „Europe’s Gardens are colourfull with flowers, vineyards are green and sunflowers reign on the fields. Autumn belongs to wine. It is harvest time, season for local new half-fermented wine called burčák and wine festivals. Obligatory for each wine lover!
Itinerary includes also stay in Praha and Budapest. These places do not need advertising!
Day by day:
D1: Arrival in Prague
Time to explore the city. Accommodation in a hotel in the city centre.
D2: Prague-Transfer Mikulov
Visiting Prague in the morning, afternoon transfer by train to Mikulov in Moravia. Accomodation in comfortable pension for 5 nights in this amazing, beautiful located at the edge of a hilly area town.
D3: Cycling around Palava hills
First day cycling; we take the tour around the Palava Hills. Palava is a Protected Landscape Area and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. These limestone hills begin directly in Mikulov and tower above the region. We can admire few ruins of the castle on the hills. Slopes of Palava are used for vineyards, there are located small, beautifull vine villages. Our cycling trail goes all the time up and down. It leads around Palava, visits most interesting valleys, vineyards and villages with characteristic architecture, like for example Pavlov, which is beautifull located at the largest Moravian lake. Afternoon there is time for enjoying atmosphere and discover restaurants, cafes and wine cellars of Mikulov.
For more ambitious, there is possibility to extend cycling. We can cycle along (or even around) Nove Mlyny Lake and see few more vineyards and vine villages.
D4: Valtice – first day in Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape
This morning we cycle to the east to visit Valtice. Our route is hilly and goes through a couple of interesting vineyards and vine villages. Valtice belongs to the Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape (UNESCO). On D5 we cycle through the northern part of the area. We will be surprised how beauty it is. This cultural-natural complex is known as “Garden of Europe”. We will be enraptured with the multitude of different palaces, sculptors and historic buildings located in these park, among trees, lakes and meanders of the river Thaya. First encountered object from the area will be the collonade called Reistna. It is located on the south horizon of Valtice, just few steps from the Austrian border. It offers great panoramic views. After short cycling around vineyards we reach Valtice. After sightseeing the Liechtenstein Palace we continue our cycling through southern part of the Europe’s Garden, where we can see another sculptors and monuments. We return Mikulov through the vineyards of Hlohovec and along the coast of Lednicke Lakes
D5: Lednice – last day in Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape
Today our aim is discovering northern part the gardens. On our way we can admire another vineyards and meanders of the Thaya River. Around the palace in Lednice there are even more atractions than in the area of Valtice. Just don’t forget to return Mikulov before sunset (but if it happens, there is always a train)
D6: Free day – 3 options to choose!
Free day to manage our time according to our preferences. We can choose among one of following
options:
a) another day of cycling in the land of vineyards in the boundary between Czech Republic and Austria. Highlight of this option is area of Novosedly village. It is known of the beautiful vine cellars and one of the best Moravian wines – Marcinčák
b) time for leisurely sightseeing of Mikulov. To the most important attractions belongs: chateau, Dietriechstein Crypt, mysterious cellars, synagogue, Turold Caves and Holy Hill, from where You can admire splendid views of the region
c) trekking in the Palava Hills
d) Transfer by train to Znojmo, an another architectural pearl and one of the most beautiful city in southern Bohemia. Possible excursion to the castle on the rock in Vranov n. Dyji
D7: Budapest
In the morning continuation transfer by train, we will depart to Budapest. Time to explore hungarian
capital
D8: End of the trip
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