Olomouc Region

Spring and autumn are mild, and the best seasons for castle visits and lower-elevation hiking without summer crowds. Summers are warm — midsummer afternoons can push into the high 20s Celsius, especially on the Haná lowlands — with afternoon thunderstorms common in July and August. Winters are cold, and the Jeseníky highlands get reliable snow for skiing and snowshoeing from December into March.

Plan around Hefaiston, an international blacksmithing festival held every August at Helfštýn Castle, if you want to catch the region's biggest gathering.

Bouzov Castle is the region's most photographed castle: a neo-Gothic fantasy rebuilt around 1900, now used as a backdrop for films and fairy-tale tours.

Šternberk Castle sits on a rock spur above its namesake town, with Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque wings added over eight centuries of continuous use.

Helfštýn Castle is one of the largest castle ruins in the country. Its stone walls host Hefaiston, one of Europe's biggest gatherings of working blacksmiths, every August.

At Velké Losiny Chateau, guided tours cover a 17th-century witch-hunt as well as period interiors, and the estate's old hand-paper mill nearby still makes paper using centuries-old methods.

Praděd marks the highest point in Moravia, with a lookout tower and a network of ridge trails across the Jeseníky mountains.

Priessnitz Spa Resort, in the spa town of Jeseník, is where Vincenz Priessnitz pioneered modern water-cure therapy in the 1820s; the surrounding spa park and colonnades are open to walk through even without a treatment booked.

Hranice Abyss, near Hranice, is a vast flooded sinkhole studied by cave divers, with a marked path leading to a viewing platform above it.

Zbrašovské Aragonite Caves, nearby, stay warm year-round from mineral springs and gases rising from deep underground — an unusual combination for caves this far from any currently active volcano.

• Blacksmithing at Helfštýn: Every August, Helfštýn Castle hosts Hefaiston, one of Europe's largest gatherings of working blacksmiths, with live forging demonstrations inside the castle walls.
• Taking the cure in Jeseník: Follow the Kneipp barefoot paths and drink from the mineral springs at Priessnitz Spa Resort, a tradition that has continued here since the 1820s.
• Winter in the Jeseníky: Snowshoe or cross-country ski the ridge trails around Praděd when snow settles in from December through March.

Olomoucký kraj borders several worthwhile destinations, easily reached in a day from Olomouc or Přerov.

• Kroměříž (≈45–60 min by car or train): This UNESCO World Heritage town has the Archbishop's Palace and its elaborate Flower Garden.
• Ostrava (≈1 hour by train): Czechia's former industrial capital has turned its old ironworks at Lower Vítkovice into museums and concert venues — a striking contrast to the region's castles and spa towns.
• Zlín (≈1.5–2 hours by car or train): Known for functionalist architecture from the Baťa shoe-company era, including a public lookout deck at the top of the Baťa Skyscraper.

For the region's historic centerpiece, head to Olomouc, a former Moravian capital with a UNESCO-listed Baroque column and a compact old town — worth two or three nights on its own.

In the north, the spa town of Jeseník is the gateway to the Jeseníky mountains, with hiking trails starting right from the town.

Hranice, in the east, sits above the Hranice Abyss and the Zbrašov caves, where the region's karst landscape meets the Moravian Gate.

West of Olomouc, Prostějov is the main town of the flat Haná farming plain and a convenient base for visiting Bouzov and the region's western castles.

• By air: The region has no major airport of its own. Most travelers fly into Prague (PRG) and continue by train, about 2.5 hours to Olomouc, or fly into Vienna (VIE) and allow around 3 hours by train or bus, usually with a change. Leoš Janáček Airport (OSR) in Ostrava is closer to the region's eastern edge, but flight options are sparse and seasonal — most travelers still find Prague or Vienna more reliable.
• By train: Olomouc Train Station is the region's main rail hub, with direct trains to Prague (about 2.5 hours), Brno (about 1.5 hours), and Ostrava (about 1 hour). Regional trains connect Šumperk, Jeseník, Přerov, and Prostějov from there.
• By bus: Long-distance coaches link the region's towns to Prague, Brno, and Ostrava, and are often cheaper — though slower — than the train.

• Public transit: Regional buses and trains link the main towns, but service to castles, caves, and mountain trailheads is often sparse, especially on weekends — check timetables before planning a car-free day out. Buy tickets from the driver or at station kiosks, or plan a route with the IDSOK regional transport site.
• Taxi / ride-hailing: Bolt operates in Olomouc and a few larger towns, but coverage thins out in smaller towns and the mountains.
• On foot / cycling: Marked cycling routes follow the Bečva and Morava river valleys and are mostly flat; the Jeseníky highlands are hillier and better suited to hiking than cycling.

• Is a car worth it?: Yes. Most of the region's castles, caves, and mountain trailheads sit well outside town centers with limited public transport, so a car is the practical way to see more than one or two sights per day.
• Parking: Small regional towns like Šternberk, Hranice, and Jeseník have free or low-cost parking near their centers; castle sites usually have their own visitor car park.
• Winter driving: Mountain roads in the Jeseníky can have snow and ice from November to March; check conditions before driving up toward Praděd or the higher mountain passes.

This region is the birthplace of Olomoucké tvarůžky, a pungent ripened cheese still produced under a protected recipe in the small town of Loštice.

Beyond the cheese, expect hearty Haná-region cooking: dumplings, roast pork, and river fish from the Bečva and Morava valleys. In the spa town of Jeseník, look for kyselka, naturally carbonated mineral water served straight from the spring instead of bottled.

The castles that dot Olomoucký kraj were built from the 13th century onward to guard trade routes across the Haná plain and into the mountains. Šternberk Castle and Helfštýn Castle both started as medieval strongholds before later owners added Renaissance and Baroque wings; Helfštýn Castle was damaged during the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century and partly dismantled in the centuries that followed.

Bouzov Castle, by contrast, looks medieval but is largely a product of the 1890s and early 1900s, when the Teutonic Order, its owners at the time, rebuilt it as a romantic showpiece rather than a defensive structure.

In the north, the town of Jeseník and its surrounding hills were part of the German-speaking Sudetenland until 1945, when most of the population was expelled after the Second World War. A century earlier, Priessnitz Spa Resort had already put the area on the map: Vincenz Priessnitz, a local farmer with no medical training, developed cold-water treatments there in the 1820s that drew patients from across Europe and helped found the modern spa movement.

Quick practical facts for the Czech Republic at a glance: