Svitavy is conveniently located for transport. The surrounding regional towns of Olomouc, Pardubice, Hradec Králové and Brno are within an hour’s drive, while Svitavy can be reached by train from Prague or Ostrava in about 2 hours.
If you are looking for experiences in Svitavy and its surroundings and you have a smart phone, we recommend you check out GEOFUN, the new generation of geolocation games. With the help of stories in which you will be guided by Oskar Schindler himself, you will get to know Svitavy in a not-so-traditional way!
The town of Svitavy together with Polička and Litomyšl form a triangle of attractive historical towns, which offer a rich tourist and cultural offer. Together with Vysoké Mýto, they form the territory of the tourist area Bohemian-Moravian Borderland
- Litomyšl – a picturesque Renaissance chateau decorated with unique sgraffiti (UNESCO), a chateau theatre with period decorations, a chateau brewery with the birthplace of the composer Bedřich Smetana, museums, galleries, a square with Renaissance, Baroque and Empire houses with arcades
- Polička – medieval walls with 19 bastions from the 14th century, 1220 m long, one of the best preserved in Central Europe, tower of the Church of St. James – birthplace of the composer Bohuslav Martinů, museum, gallery
- Svitavy – Museum with the exhibition of washing machines and the native Oskar Schindler, picturesque square with town houses, town hall and monumental church with a view, complete offer of tourist destinations here
This area can be explored not only by car, but also on bicycles. Here is a wide range of bike tours from Svitavy. More tips for trips in the Bohemian-Moravian border region can be found here.
Tourist destinations in the vicinity of the town (within 20 minutes by car):
- Museum Narrow Gauge Railway which transports visitors on weekends in the summer in historic trains pulled by motorized engines
- Moravská Třebová – Renaissance castle from the early 17th century, museum
- Toulovec Stables – romantic natural sandstone towns, rocks and canyon
- Nové Hrady – rococo castle with a garden and a ruin of the original castle above it
- Svojanov – massive castle ruins from the 13th century and a well-preserved Empire building
Tourist destinations in the more distant surroundings of the town (within 1 hour by car):
- Bouzov – romantic pseudo-Gothic castle popular with filmmakers with many sightseeing routes
- Javoříčko – a cave with large domes and rich stalactite decoration with a length of about 5 kilometres of passages
- Moravian Karst – the famous Macocha Abyss, 138.5 metres deep, a complex of multi-storey caves richly decorated with stalactites with the possibility of boating
- Blanice Knights Cave – artificial cave with statues of 16 Blanik Knights and the commander St. Wenceslas
- Highlands Folk Architecture Museum with a mill, ironworkers’ settlement, forge, craft workshops and timbered houses
- Boskovice – WildWest western town, Jewish town and cemetery, castle ruins with a unique well with a tread mechanism from the 16th century, the only Empire castle in Moravia
- Western town Šiklův mlýn + Pernštejn – a massive Gothic castle from the 13th century with winding corridors and narrow staircases, one of the best preserved in the Czech Republic