The Czech city of Brno has some 400,000 residents (its metropolitan area has around twice that) and it is the capital of the province of Moravia. It is home to the largest exhibition centre in Europe and to the country's Constitutional and Supreme Courts, the Supreme Administrative Court and the office of the national Ombudsman. Brno hosts a number of highly regarded international festivals each year and in total its many higher education faculties have more than 90,000 students. So why is it that so many people have never heard of the Czech Republic's second city? Given that Brno is just a couple of hours by train from Prague, and even less from Vienna and ...  Read the complete review

Brno has been my home for two and a half years now, and the capital of Moravia is so laid back, I've only just got round to writing about it. Chances are, if you are visiting Brno for the first time and coming from Prague, you're going to feel one of two ways - first, you might welcome the break from tourists, the more relaxed atmosphere, and the distinctly Eastern European feel that Prague has had renovated out of it. Or second, you might roll up, wander around for a bit, think, "Is that it?", and then move on. The real charms of the Czech Republic's second city reveal themselves over time. With a population of around 400,000, it often feels ...  Read the complete review

Brno is Czech Republic's 2nd city and the capital of Moravia, whilst Prague might not seem particularly frantic compared to other capital cities, it's a major rat race by Czech standards. Moravians however are notoriously laidback and this aura is noticeable in Brno. Capital cities also tend to attract a certain amount of people with their heads up their bottoms, so the Czechs say if you want to get to know the people, head to Brno or another smaller city. Brno is easily reachable by train or bus from not only other Czech cities but also Vienna, Bratislava and Poland. The historical town centre, is impressive with St. Peter and Paul cathedral dominating the ...  Read the complete review

To give all dooyoo readers a break from my Madeiran reviews I am going back to the trip I took in the Czech Republic in 2006. Please check out my Prague and Moravian Mountain reviews as this review of Brno is part of the same trip. We actually visited Brno by bus rather than taking the car and caught the bus which was on time from Prague's central station. I always think that when visiting a city it is best to use public transport mainly because it is cheap in Central Europe and it saves worrying about parking. On this particular journey we had no set plans, well, we never have any set plans, but we knew we wanted to see Bratislava , Brno and Vienna. When we arrived at ..  Read the complete review

A IS FOR ARCHITECTURE Lots of Brno is composed of some magnificent ancient buildings and sculptures. As with many European cities, the amount of work that must have gone into making it how it is is amazing. B IS FOR BRÜNN This is the German name for the city, and vital if you are travelling from a German speaking city. Although you can get away with saying „Bratislava“ and not „Presburg“, when I asked for a ticket to Brno, I almost ended up with one to Prague thanks to the incompetent staff at Wien Mitte station. Just remember, ask for Brünn and you have a 95% higher chance of ending up in the right place. ...  Read the complete review