A 4 km walk around the Mikulčice Slavic archaeological site
- Next to the river Morava, a short distance from the town of Hodinín in southeast Moravia, lies the famous Slavic fortified settlement of Mikulčice. This scenic 10ha site was once a low lying island surrounded by branches of the river and was a seat of power for the Great Moravian Empire in the 9th and 10th centuries. Archaeologists have uncovered a remarkable ten separate early Christian churches, the foundations of which are visible throughout the site.
- Mikulčice has been included in the tentative list for recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is worth spending some time walking around the interesting site, visiting the museum and taking a short stroll along the nearby Morava river, which separates Moravia from Slovakia.
- A full circular tour around the site, including a short walk along the Morava takes around 4 km and is completely flat. Some sections through the forest are on narrow paths so might be a struggle with a stroller, but otherwise this is a very easy walk. There is usually a refreshment kiosk open in the car park. Sadly, there does not appear to be any public transport options directly to the site, which is actually 4 km from the village of Mikulčice (the nearest bus stop).
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
- From the car park, walk through the main section of the settlement and acropolis area and then take the footpath along the rampart wall in an anticlockwise direction
- There is a (signposted) footpath that runs past the site church IX to reach the river Morava
- On reaching the river, turn right walk along the the cycle path for 300m to reach the modern footbridge (which crosses the Morava to the Slovak side)
- Continue on the cycle route on the Moravian side for a further 200m and then take the path to the right
- After 500m reach the trail junction of Stinná alej. Here take the GREEN hiking trail which leads back to the archaeological site after 800m
