Practical advice for the Moravian Karst visitors

The Moravian Karst belongs to the most important karst areas in the central Europe. It consists of strongly karsted devon limestones.

Superficial and underground karst phenomenons can be found in this area of 100 square kilometres. There are more than 1000 known caves. Four of them are opened to public. To preserve this unique phenomena, the Moravian Karst was proclaimed a protected area in 1965.

The Moravian Karst is the most important tourist locality of our region. Thousands of tourist are visiting this area every year. They are fascinated by a magnificent nature of the Moravian Karst, they are admiring a dizzying depth of the Macocha Abyss and they are looking forward to visiting the caves. Unfortunately, some of them are leaving dissapointed, unknowing local conditions, e.g. they have missed their bus, they have not withdrawn their tickets to the Punkva Caves in time or it has been sold out for several days ahead.
On this page, we would like to give you several practical advice how to spend your vacation in the Moravian Karst the most pleasant way.

Access to the Moravian Karst and transport

The Moravian Karst area is literally interwoven by web of tourist routes. Green tourist route that begins near the bus station in Blansko will guide you to the Skalní mlýn ("heart" of the Karst with the information centre and parking lot). Yellow tourist route from Sloup and the Sloup-Šošůvka Caves will guide you here too. Upper Bridge of the Macocha Abyss is another important point of the Moravian Karst, where above mentioned yellow route from Sloup meets red route leading from Rudice.

Considering the immense attendance of the Karst, automobile traffic was limited and compensated for the ecological transport. Pustý žleb (Desert Gully - connecting line between the Punkva Caves and village of Sloup) is complety closed for the cars as well as the part of the Suchý žleb (Dry Gully - from the Katherine's Cave to the turning leading to the Upper Bridge of the Macocha Abyss). You must leave your car on the parking lot near the Hotel Skalní mlýn.

You will be taken from Skalní mlýn to the Punkva Caves by a road train, from the Punkva Caves to the Upper Bridge by a cableway. Road train and cableway are running in the connection with the entries to the caves (road train every 20 minutes, cableway continuously). Buy the tickets at the information centre Skalní mlýn. We recommend you to buy the COMBI ticket - price advantaged two-way ticket for the road train and cableway.

You can reach Skalní mlýn by bus too. There is regular bus line running from Blansko.

Ticket bookings

All ticket bookings for the caves are provided by Central Information Service Skalní mlýn - tel. +420 516 415 379 or +420 516 410 024, fax: +420 516 415 379, email: uismk@cavemk.cz. Group of 15 and more people needs written reservation.

It is indispensably necessary to book your tickets to the Punkva caves at least one week in advance during the summer tourist season!!! The capacity of the cave is limited by the number of people that boat can seat.

You must withdraw your bookings at least 40 minutes in advance, otherwise your booking expire. Those who haven't booked the tickets in advance can make use of this fact. Every day, especially early in the morning, all the tickets that haven't been withdrawn, are available. This situation can happen in the course of the day too, so you can ask for the tickets at the information centre from time to time.

Tickets for the Balcarka Cave, Katherine's Cave and the Sloup-Šošůvka Caves are usually available, you don´t need any bookings for these caves.
Each cave offers its own guide and it is possible to arrange the interpretation in different languages.

Practical advice for visiting the caves

a) Katherine's Cave, the Punkva Caves and Macocha Abyss
Starting point is Skalní mlýn. You can buy tickets for each cave here and also the tickets for the ecological transport. Katherine's Cave is 5 minutes' walk from here - it is known especially for its stalactite formation "The Witch" and the legend of Katherine and her lost sheep. This cave is very popular among the children, tour lasts 30 minutes.

Go back to Skalní mlýn, take the road train that will guide you to the Punkva Caves. The tour is divided into two parts - the foot walk and the boat ride and lasts 60 minutes. Important warning - children under age of 3 are not admitted to the cave. Not far away from the caves, there is a lower station of the cableway that is running to the Upper Bridge of the Macocha Abyss. You can take the same way (or tourist route) back to Skalní mlýn.

b) Balcarka Cave and the Sloup-Šošůvka Caves
Reach the village of Ostrov u Macochy through the village of VilÖŠmovice - Balcarka Cave is located outside the village. It is known especially for its rich and colourful stalactite decorations and you don't need reservation of the tickets for this cave. Move off to Sloup - Village of the Year 2000. The Sloup-Šošůvka Caves underwent reconstruction recently. Kůlna Cave - famous archaeological site is also part of the cave. You can experience two routes - short and long. Short route lasts 60 minutes, we recommend the long route for the competent ones, it lasts 100 minutes and you walk 1670 metres.

Good advice in conclusion: don't forget to dress yourself warmly, as the permanent cave temprerature is about 7-8 degrees celsius!!!

WARNING: Since 2003 all the caves are closed on Mondays!

Information

Central Information Service Skalní mlýn and bookings
tel. +420 516 413 575, fax: +420 516 415 379

There is more information on the official website of the Moravian Karst http://www.cavemk.cz.