*** These Pictures Don’t Do Justice ***

We spent 1 full week in the country of Czech Republic, 3 days in Prague and 4 days in Brno. With our time in Brno, we picked a day of full out exploring the mountains! This part of Europe is full of  large mountains and caves, some of which are available for tours to the public, but the large majority are closed to the public for numerous reasons. So the most popular and coolest to see is the Punkva Cave, the other mysterious War Cave  is the Vypustek Cave.

Our day began early with our guide picking us up at our Hotel, and drove us out of the city of Brno towards the larger mountain. We arrived at the Punkva Caves, which was very busy, and parking was limited. Because we had a guide he took care of everything; national park entry pass, parking pass, passes to get on the trolly, and cave passes. That was a bonus and much relief, as we soon discovered we would not of been able to purchase tickets for this cave as it’s always sold out every day during the summer months. So big Thanks to our guide to get us some tickets!

Macocha Abyss

Not sure what we had really signed up for, we jumped on the trolly to take us up to the cave entrance and then the gondola next. By all means you can enjoy the walk up or down instead of taking the trolly, something we wish we got to do however our guide wasn’t in the best of shape to cover that type of terrain so we took the trolly up. The pathway up was beautiful, with the forest all around and a full canopy above, offering a secluded feeling on the path, with a stream following  next to the path.

Off the trolly and onto the gondola to finish our trek to the top of the mountain. Once we arrived at the top, we soon understood what all the excitement was about. With 2 different view points looking down, we began to understand what we were doing and where we were going. The first view point is the highest, and you can see the bottom of the Macocha Abyss, with a depth of 138.4 meters/454 feet, the second view point located lower down, but offering a better view into the bottom of the Abyss, we soon released there was people down there.

We were super excited now!!!! Trying to take in all in, and just how big this really was and put it into measurement  was just an amazing thing to see and how this was created.

Mirror Lake

Quick Punkva Cave Facts:

• Located in The Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Region
• Air Temperature inside the cave 8-12’C (46-54’F)
• Water Temperature 4-10’C (39-46’F)
• Dry Part of the Tour 810 meters
• Wet Part of the Tour on the boat 440 meters
• 8 different STOPS to see with a guide. Not in english ,but they do have english information to provide.
• A family friendly trip

End Of Boat Ride & Tour

At the entrance to the Punkva Cave we started to put on our extra hoodies we packed along for this day trip, and we were sure glad we did. The temperature inside the cave was freezing, averaging about  8’C/46’F. The caves were formed by 2 large streams Sloup Stream and White Water Stream which carved through limestone creating smaller streams, caves and gorges along the way.

Looking down the Abyss

The 1st Stop is the front dome and first found when exploring the cave system, also contains a very cool 4 meter long stalactite. 2nd Stop: Mirror Lake, really does have a mirror lake. 3rd Stop: Dome Of Destruction: This cave has flooded cover the last century a couple of times, with 3 different marks indicating the year and water level in the cave, 1917, 1938, and 2006. 4th Stop: Back Dome. 5th Stop: The Angel – Leads out to the bottom of the Macocha Abyss. 6th Stop: Upper Landing Stage, and the bottom of the Macocha Abyss, which we were looking down on an hour earlier, amazing to see!

Now we board the electronically driven flat bottom boats and star the Wet Part of the tour. 8th Stop: Masaryk’s Dome, a quick stop on the boats with some more land exploring. Then back onto the boats and back to warmth and daylight.

The tour was well worth our time, and suggest visiting if you get the opportunity! It such a view and experience you won’t ever get to see again. Our boat guide didn’t speak any english, but they did have english guides if you book ahead. They provided us with a info sheet which describe each stop and The Moravian Karst.  From here we jumped back into the car and headed to the War Cave of Vypustek Cave, but first we grab lunch in a small town called Krtiny.

Our guide for the day spoke a large variety of languages, and very well educated. So educated, he insisted of sharing ever detail of every little thing about everything and anything, best of all? The words he used in english, wasn’t necessarily the correct one. So it made for a challenging and fun day to learn from our guide.