Czech Rep - Moto GP Trip

A group of us are planning a trip in August to Czech Rep for the Moto GP.

I'd appreciate any advice on routes, places to stay, things to see etc .

Currently planning on leaving on Saturday 15th August am, & arrive in Brno Monday sometime. We will have a couple of days sightseeing/rideouts.
Watch the racing Sat/Sun arrive back in UK on Monday 23 August

Thanks for your help in advance.

Audrey

The main GP day is Sunday in Brno and tickets can be bought by foreigners on the internet. I've been before a few times and have always had a friend locally buy them.

Getting back to UK on Monday is a thrash as it's the best part of 800 miles if you take the most quickest and most motorwayed route through East Germany

The circuit is just off the motorway to the west of the city and is built in some quite deep woods. What sort of accommodation are yo ulooking at and how close to the ttrack/city do you want to be?

I can recommend several places to stay and these will need booking in advance as they book out very easily. There are campsites dotted all around the track and these are former Sokol association (sort of athletics/fitness clubs) places usually. Never been into wooden huts myself.

I can get some addresses and numbers for you. I used to teach locally and have many contacts in Brno and am going to a local bike rally over Spring Bank Holiday.

If you like reasonable B&B I can recommend Na Ruzku

in Ricany. A long walk to the track but better to ride the 3 or 4 miles! Good clean accommodation - http://www.almara.cz/naruzku/. I have stayed here myself and it very good and quite cheap by UK standards....

Or Hotel Admiral

(http://www.hotela.cz/ricany/index_de.htm)
also in Ricany email is info@hotela.cz they are slow but do answer in English eventually although the website is in Czech or German. Not actually stayed at this one but have heard some good things about it.

A third I can recommend although it's a little less glitzy is Pod Horkou in a village called Chudcice about 8 miles from the motorway and GP circuit..., this is where the Czech Suzuki Owners Club have been having hteir annual rally since at least 1990 (first one I went to!) and I guess before. Small place so it depends on your group, and about 300kc a night per person.... 43kc or so to the £1!

Brno itself has lots of things to have alook at in a days sightseeing, have a look at the web for english webpages or try the Lonely Planet book on the Czech Republic.

As for getitng there. I usually slog over on the motorway either taking the northern route from Koln on the A4 across to Chemnitz, then down to Prague or the more southern route via A3 and A6 from Koln to Nurnberg, then a secion of B14 to Waidhaus and then m-way to Prague and Brno.

A far longer route via Austria is possible if you really like motorways!

Czech Trip

Hi Paul

Thanks for your information - that's great
We are hoping to be able to do the trip in 2 days there and thrash it as you say back...
Route at the moment we are looking at is via Frankfurt and Nurnberg with an overnight stop there on the way down.

As for accommodation - we are planning to camp down there - have located a campsite near to the circuit via the internet. So hope that will be OK.

AS for places to visit whilst there - have you any suggestions.

Thanks...for you help

Places I would always take visitors to:

1) Brno city centre - Old Town Hall to see the "Dragon" (actually a river crocodile!) and up the tower to see over the rooftops, a gruesome visit to the Ossuary under the capucin monastery near to the station and handy for Cerna Hora (black mountain) bar selling beer from this brewery. Perhaps a dalliance into the Cathedral? Loads of museums and one I've yet to go to is Villa Tugendhat which is a modern functionalist house in Cerna Pole part of the city.

2) Moravian Karst. North-east of the city going out to Blansko are the caves of Punkevni and Katerinska. Well worth the trip up and into at least one of the caves. I prefer Punkevni as you get to walk a bit and then get a boat ride in the underground river and was about a quid to get in.

3) Slavkov - Austerlitz to us and the french. South-East of the city out past the airport. Peace monument dating from 1912 and built in memory of the soldiers killed in the battle of the three emporers. There's a decent chateau in the town where Napoleon stayed plus there's a relief table sited where Nappy stood to command the battle.

4) Moravsky Krumlov - small town south-west of the city where there is the Mucha Gallery in the chateau. Mucha is a famous artist that you may have seen on pre-war biscuit tins! But was very famous in Europe for more than that. Nice ride out for half a day and if you travel using local roads from near the circuit. Go via Rosice towards Ivancice and then look for signs to the Eifel Bridge, may be called Ivancice Viadukt. Bridge built by M. Eifel of Paris Tower fame before he chanced his arm with that!



Phew.... if you stil have time, Pernstejn Castle up to the NW of the city is quite good.

Map. I prefer to use a Geocenter Czech Republic map, but there is a new Michelin out but it is quite small as it has all of Slovakia as well. Geocentre also do a map of the just the east side of the CR but I've not seen it here yet. May have to order it.