A visit to the Holedná game reserve and viewing tower, overlooking Brno: 8 km (extendable)
- The Czechs have a long history of building viewing towers on top of their hills. The first great wave of building began at the end of the 19th century as part of the national revival tourist boom and the desire to showcase the Bohemian and Moravian natural landscape for hikers in hills. Most of the country´s hill tops are forested and so building a tower was the only way to offer tourists a view!
- Today, the tower-building and refurbishment program continues apace. The website www.rozhlednovymrajem.cz currently lists 693 towers (as of August 2026). A competition for the best new or refurbished lookout tower has even been running since 2014. The winner of the competition in 2020 was the stylish 34m steel tower built in the Holedná game reserve over looking Brno. It is a good target for an easy walk in this attractive forested reserve, which is easily accessed from Brno.
- The reserve breeds mouflon and fallow deer and the herd can often be seen from one of several hiking trails that cross the park. There is also a small enclosure for wild pigs at the southwestern edge of the reserve. Walks of various lengths can be created, with the easiest access point from the Brno public transport system being the Svratecká tram stop.
- The circular route shown in the map below is around 8 km on easy paths, with 140m of height to ascend and descend. If desired, the route can extended to around 11 km by circling around the edge of the reserve – the longer tour allows a visit to the wild pig enclosure. There are various refreshment options near the Svratecká tram stop, but nothing in the reserve itself.
Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’ to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.
Directions
- Starting from the Svratecká tram stop, join the GREEN trail which leads directly to the viewing tower after 1.1 km
- From the tower, continue on the GREEN trail for a further 2.3 km to reach the U Jezírka junction and there join the YELLOW trail heading towards Vrbovec
- Continue on the YELLOW trail for 2.7 km until reaching the Bystrc – Letná junction. There turn right onto the GREEN trail, crossing the Svratka river using the footbridge
- After crossing the river, turn right onto the cycle path which leads back to the Svratecká tram stop after 1.5 km
