The Czech Moravian Karst is one of the most important karst areas in Central Europe. This natural wonder includes 1,100 caves and gorges. However, of all of them, only 4 caves are open to visitors. A marginal group among tourists enjoys rafting on the underground river in the Punkevní cave and the viewpoint over the Macocha abyss. Beautiful, fairy-tale views attract tourists from all over the world.
Location
The Moravian Karst is a karst area in the Czech Republic, in the South Moravian Region north of Brno. In an area of 94 km², a protected landscape area was created in 1956.
How to get there ?
The most exposed parts of the PLA, the valleys called Pustý žleb and Suchý žleb, are closed to car traffic. Instead, there is eco-friendly public transport – road rail and cable car. The section from Rock Mill to Punkevní jeskyně is connected by an ecological road railway. From the Punkva Caves train station, the cable car takes you to the Macocha Abyss plateau. The funicular and cable car run in connection with the entrances to the Punkva Caves. Entrance tickets to the caves and the ecological transport fee can be purchased at the Information Center in Rock Mill. Another way to get there is by bus from Blansko-train station to Rock Mill (Skalní mlýn).
Punkevni Caves (Punkevní jeskyně)
Punkewni caves are located in the Pusta valley, 1 km from the information center Rock Mill . Visitors walk through huge rooms and corridors with stalactite decoration to the bottom of the world-famous macocha Abyss. The depth of the abyss is 138.7 m, but what is most fascinating is its length and width – 174 x 76 m. The next part of the tour is a motorboat ride on the underground Punkwa River. During the ride, you will visit the Masaryk Room, which is one of the most beautiful cave rooms in the Moravian Karst.
Sloupsko-Szoszów Caves (Sloupsko-Szoszówské jeskyně)
A large complex of underground domes, corridors and chasms created in two floors. . Eliška’s Cave with its rich stalactite decoration has also an excellent acoustics and that is why it is sometimes used for chamber music concerts. During reconstruction in 1997, the Stupňovitá chasm was spanned with a bridge and a new nontraditional view revealed to the visitors. Nagel chasm, 80 metres in depth, is the greatest underground abyss of this type in the Czech Republic.
From the two platform-bridges the visitors can look down to the bottom. Since 1997, a part of the sight-seeing tour is also world-famous archaelogical locality – Kůlna Cave – where a part Neanderthal man’s skull, about 120 000 years old, was found. Šošůvka’s area, discovered at the beginning of 20th century is characterized by fragile and colour stalactite and stalagmite decoration.
Catherine’s Caves (Kateřinská jeskyně)
Catherine’s Caves is located in the heart of the Moravian Karst, a short distance from the Rock Mill and the Punkvy Caves. The tour lasts about half an hour; the path will lead you to two huge chambers and adjacent corridors. The most beautiful parts of the Catherine’s Cave include the colorfully illuminated čarodějnice formations and the Bamboo Forest – a group of extremely thin, several-meter-high stick stalagmites. Concerts are regularly organized in the Main Chamber, which measures 95 m in length and 44 m in width, thanks to its wonderful acoustics.
Balcarka Cave (jeskyně Balcarka)
Balcarka Cave is a picturesque cave in the northern part of the Moravian Karst (Balcarova skála-Vintoky nature reserve). Its underground has been known since time immemorial, but it was only thoroughly explored and described at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The entrance to the underground leads through an artificially created corridor. Next, the sightseeing route leads through several impressive chambers where you can admire the extremely colorful dripstones in the form of numerous stalactites and stalagmites. The largest of the rooms was named after the French marshal Ferdinand Foch and has crystal stalactites and majestic curtains hanging from its ceiling. The total length of the cave corridors is 1,150 meters, of which a nearly 600-meter route is available to tourists.
