4 days in Brno – Czech Republic

Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic and a true hidden gem of Europe. With only a fraction of the visitors Prague gets Brno isn’t overrun, yet still offers many things to see and experience to visitors. From unique-in-Europe Museums to a vast and well preserved underground here is what to do, what to see and where to eat for 4 days in Brno.

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Overview of 4 days in Brno

• Where to stay in Brno
• What to do for 4 days in Brno
• Free things to do in Brno
• What and where to eat in Brno
• Map for 4 days in Brno

Where to stay in Brno

You can stay inside the inner city – Brno old town, or in the surrounding districts. Always consider the way from your stay to places you want to visit or eat at while booking, especially when you’re only staying a short time.

For your own apartment close to the inner city go with Kalina Apartments*. They have a modern design and are very colourful but not maximalist.

To get a great view over the city (from the upper floors) and breakfast every morning, while still being close to the city centre go with the Hotel Continental*.

Near the congress centre, a rich breakfast and free parking included, go with the OREA Congress Hotel Brno*. It’s built in a modern industrial style, with a lot of wood accents.

What to do for 4 days in Brno

Technical Museum

The technical museum in Brno has several permanent exhibitions covering different topics, such as: Brno city in the 19th century, the metal industry, cars and motorbikes through the decades, racing car development, photography, clockwork machines, etc.

As a very interactive museum there are several exhibits you can touch or otherwise interact with, for example in the car and motorbike exhibitions. There is also a big interactive room where physical concepts and technical developments are explained within games, a great space to explore for children and people still young at heart.

My favourite exhibition was on the clockwork machines. A super friendly staff member even turned on several of the exhibition pieces! There was an “automatic piano”, several instruments and even a miniature build of the astronomical clock in Prague.

It’s closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Mendel Museum of Masaryk University

Everyone has heard of Gregor Mendel, the “father of genetics”, in school. He lived and worked in a monastery Brno for a time. Today a museum is dedicated to his life, his work and his scientific discoveries on the grounds of the Abbey of St. Thomas. Several original instruments have survived the decades, as well as the handwritten manuscript of Versuche über Pflantzenhybriden (Experiments on Plant Hybridization), which was the culmination of his work on genealogical inheritance.

The museum has an interactive exhibition on DNA and the laws of genealogical inheritance and even lets visitors discover how the laboratory Mendel worked in might have looked back in the day.

The museum is located on Mendel Square, named after the same man. It’s closed on Monday.

Museum of Romani Culture

The museum of Romani culture in Brno is unique museum in all of Europe. The permanent exhibition documents the emergence of Romani and Sinti as an ethnic group, their possible origins and travel routes and their culture. One part of the musuem focuses on the discrimination they faced in many countries as well as the etymology of the different names (and slurs) that emerged globally. Another part focuses on the sub-groups and differences between them, yet another on Romani influence on historical and modern media.

It’s closed on Monday and Saturday.

Capuchin Crypt

Inside the crypt under the Capuchin Monastery in Brno, which has been opened to the public, many Capuchin monks found their final resting place. Due to a poverty vow, which included coffins being seen as a luxury, and a very specific combination of geological composition of the underground and a system of airflow that kept the rooms dry the bodies turned into natural mummies. It is an eerie place to visit and visitors are asked not to take pictures in respect of the dead. I’ll let you decide for yourself what that means for the many people who posted pictures in their google reviews of this place.

Brno underground

From 1874 onwards three water tanks were built under Žlutý Kopec, to provide Brno with water. These underground cathedrals aren’t used anymore for the water supply and are open for visitors.

Bunker 10-Z is one of two former nuclear shelters in Brno which can be visited today. Inside the bunker you can visit some of the original rooms, try on clothes from back then to take pictures and explore the maze of tunnels by yourself.

Underneath the vegetable market in Brno (and most of the inner city, actually) many cellars and passageways create a veritable labyrinth. Today this labyrinth has been secured and made acessible to the public. It contains food and beer/wine cellars, alchemist laboratories and even prisoner cells.

Read more here: Brno Underground – Experience & Expectations

Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul

Brno has many churches, of which I visited exactly one. The Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul (also called Petrov, like the hill it’s built on) was built in the Gothic style, with a Baroque interior in the 14th century, with it’s two signature towers being additions from the early 20th century.

A funny story from the churches history: “The bells of the cathedral ring at 11 am, instead of at noon. A long time ago the Swedish army laid siege to Brno. Their general claimed he would end the siege if his army failed to conquer the city before the bells started to ring at noon. For this reason the bells were rung one hour earlier and the city remained free.”

The tower is open every day, but during the winter and the summer seasons at different times. For a small entrance fee (under 2,50€) you can climb the tower of the cathedral, walk through the framework of the roof and take a look at some of the churches treasures.

You might also know this cathedral from the Czech Republic’s 10-crown coin. If you ever had a closer look at the back of it.

Free things to do in Brno

Visit the park around Špilberk Castle. This 17 hectar covers the hill around Špilberk castle. If you choose to walk from one sightseeing location to another you will inevitably walk through this park. From the top of the hill you have a nice view over the city. Many benches are dotted around the park, inviting you to take a break.

The castle Špilberk itself was also added to the Czech National Cultural Heritage list and houses the Brno City Museum.

See the astronomical clock of Brno – it’s very different from the one in Prague. You might even walk past it if you don’t know what to look for (despite it being 6 meters tall), since it doesn’t look like anything you might imagine a clock even remotely looking like. Moreover, it’s incredibly hard to actually tell the time using it. So much so that there is a manual next to it (which doesn’t really help either). However it is a favourite spot among kids at around 11am, when it releases a single glass marble.

Visit Brno Market. Yes, the one above the labyrinth. It is (allegedly) the oldest continuously operating market with vegetables and plants in Central Europe – the first mentions of it are older than the city itself. Many of the cities oldest buildings surround it, one of it being the Reduta Theatre – the oldest theatre building in Central Europe, originally opened in 1608.

See the 8m tall Equestrian Statue of Jobst of Moravia in front of the Church of St. Thomas. There are only two types of horse statues: Incredibly beautiful ones and some that are. This one is the latter.

What and where to eat for 4 days in Brno

The most beer per person in Europe is consumed in the Czech Republic. If you don’t like drinking beer, you might still want to consider dark beer marinaded pork ribs. You can find these at Lokál U Caipla. For 325 CZK ~ 13€ you get 500g of pork ribs roasted in their dark beer, served with sauce, mustard and bread.

Another meat heavy dish I urge you to try while in Czechia is pork knuckle. At Pivnice U Čápa they serve 1kg of pork knuckle on the bone, with crispy sourdough bread, pickles (cucumber, carrot, onion, chili), mustard, coleslaw and remoulade.

For breakfast I recommend Café Placzek where you can get, among more international choices, the traditional Bohemian Palačinky. Palačinky are a crepe like meal, which are filled with jam, rolled up and served with whipped cream. At the cafe they flipped the script a bit and serve them filled with vanilla cream and topped with mango sauce.

If you are in the mood for something sweet, Kafec Café has a great selection of waffles and hot drinks. I had the plum one, which was not my favourite, my friend hat an “apple pie style” one, which was delicious.

I had the best coffee in Brno at a KOFI KOFI coffee bike. I had several of them, one on the Moravské nám. corner of Moravian square park, one at Šilingrovo náměstí and one near the main bus stop. Good Latte Macchiatos across the board.

As a well connected big city Brno also has great food choices for international cuisine. One of them is MANYA Sushi & Sake Izakaya which serves Japanese dishes. I can recommend their duck hoisin gyoza and the Karaage don (crispy chicken on rice, spicy mayo, pickled radishes, cucumbers, togarashi) all served on beautiful traditional Japanese pottery.

For the road you can also get delicious bubble tea at Geicha Brno.

In the mood for more of the Czech Republic?

Map of 4 days in Brno

How to read the map: green are things to see, blue are places to visit and orange are where to eat and drink.

You can save the map on your device here.