Easy walks to the temple of Diana (Rendezvous) in the forests of Valtice: 1 km to 10 km

• The temple of Diana (sometimes known as Rendez-vous) is a famous Classicist monument situated in the forests near Valtice. For some (including the guide’s author) it is the most interesting and dramatic of the 19th century monuments scattered throughout the UNESCO listed Valtice-Lednice Cultural Landscape.
• The temple was constructed between 1810 and 1813 on the orders of prince Jan I of Liechtenstein. It was designed as a hunting ledge but its form, imitating a Roman triumphal arch, may have been influenced by the fact that Jan was a successful general in the Napoleonic wars which were occurring at the time, as well as the fact that the Liechtenstein dynasty claimed to be descendants of a 4th century Roman patrician.
• For a quick walk to the Diana temple, there is a car park and nearby bus stop on the main road between Valtice and Břeclav, which is just 500m from the monument. For a longer varied walk which visits three of the best Liechtenstein monuments in the area, take the bus from Valtice to the Hlohovec, Tři Grácie stop and then take the forest road to first visit the Three Graces monument, a neo-classical covered colonnade, with a well known statue of the Graces in the foreground.
• From the Three Graces, the route traverses the Valtice forest to reach the Temple of Diana and from there the trail heads towards Valtice, through the vineyard area to reach the main road between Valtice and Lednice. Just off this road is the third attraction on the tour, chateau Belvedere. This Empire style hunting chateau was constructed for princes Alois I and Jan I between 1802 and 1806 and was only reopened to the public in June 2021 after an extensive period of refurbishment. The interior decoration deserves a visit and the courtyard café also worth a quick stop. There is a wine tasting salon in one of the chateau rooms, with a selection of Valtice wines available for sampling.
• A bus can be caught back to Valtice from Belvedere, but it is little more than a km back to Vlatice center along the road. The total almost completely flat route is 8.3 km long on wide easy paths and is suitable for strollers. Refreshments are available in the Belvedere chateau.

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 at the Hlohovec, Tři Grácie bus stop follow the cycle route from 1.1 km along the forest road to reach the Three Graces monument
• From there, take the RED trail towards Valtice, reaching the temple of Diana after 3.8 km
• From the temple continue on the RED trail for 2.6 km until just past the Valtice cemetery (map point 5). Here turn right onto a sigde road which reaches the main road in 200m. Here there is the bus stop back to Valtice and the entrance driveway to Belvedere
• The chateau is reached 250 m along the driveway