Brno's quietest escape is closer than the Moravian Karst

Most first-time visitors to Brno head straight for the Moravian Karst when they want nature. Locals know a shorter alternative that most tourists never find: the ridge running from the pilgrimage village of Vranov u Brna, over the region's highest point at Babí lom, down to the village of Lelekovice, a half-day route that mixes baroque history, a genuinely surprising royal crypt, and one of the best panoramic views around Brno, all without leaving the city's immediate surroundings.

Vranov: a pilgrimage site with princely secrets

Vranov u Brna has been a Marian pilgrimage site since at least the 17th century, when a Franciscan monastery already stood on the spot. In the 1600s, the Pauline order (the "Order of the Minim Friars") built a larger monastery complex here, the Aula Virginis, alongside the baroque parish Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. The church's most unexpected feature lies beneath it: a crypt serving as the family mausoleum of the Princes of Liechtenstein, reportedly the only burial site in Europe belonging to the ruling house of an independent state that sits outside that state's own borders, since the Liechtenstein family held vast estates across Moravia for centuries even as their princely title was tied to the tiny Alpine state that still bears their name today. A Franciscan spiritual centre dedicated to St Francis of Paola operates in the monastery buildings today.

Babí lom: the roof of the Brno countryside

From Vranov, the red-marked trail climbs through forest toward Babí lom, a rocky ridge that tops out at 562 metres above sea level, the highest point in the immediate vicinity of Brno, and a protected nature reserve since 1980 for its roughly 370-million-year-old reddish conglomerate rock formations (the same distinctive stone that gives Brno's own Červený kopec, "Red Hill," its name and colour). A cylindrical lookout tower has stood on the ridge's southern spur since 1961, built by the local Sokol sports association to a design by Brno architect Mojmír Korvas. Reopened after a full renovation in August 2022, the 15-metre tower has two viewing platforms, the higher one at 12 metres, and on a genuinely clear day, the view is said to stretch all the way to the Alps, roughly 200 km away. On an ordinary day, you'll still pick out the Drahanská vrchovina highlands to the east, the Žďárské vrchy to the west, and Brno itself, including Špilberk Castle, to the south.

Down to Lelekovice

The trail's final stretch, along the ridge and then down through mixed forest, ends in the village of Lelekovice, which gives the tower and the whole route its everyday name among Brno hikers. Along the way, families with children can detour onto the short Babí lom nature trail, under two kilometres long, with ten information panels tracing the life of a tree, from seed to timber, dotted with carved wooden animal sculptures.

Practical notes

The rockiest stretch of ridge just below the lookout tower is genuinely steep in places and is not recommended for young children, strollers, or anyone uneasy on uneven terrain, worth knowing before you commit to the full loop rather than one of the gentler approach routes from Lelekovice or the Podlesí–Kuřim side. Public transport can get you to Lelekovice or the nearby České train stop, but stitching together the full Vranov-to-Lelekovice route, including the monastery visit, by bus and on foot easily fills most of a day. A private half-day tour compresses the same experience, monastery, crypt, ridge and lookout tower, into a far more comfortable few hours, with a driver waiting at the far end rather than a train timetable to chase.

Skip the steep uphill navigation and let a local guide handle the route our Vranov – Babí lom – Lelekovice: history, nature, culture & legends tour covers the whole trail with private transport back to your door.