For me, Kroměříž is the ideal day trip from Slovakia: a chateau, gardens, a park and a lovely square, all packed into a small area. I wouldn’t miss the Flower Garden (Květná zahrada), known as the Czech Versailles. I saw a lot here, ate well and spent very little.
- Flower Garden
- You can climb up onto the 244-metre colonnade with its statues of gods and see the whole garden laid out below
- Chateau tower
- Climb the 206 steps for a view over the whole of Kroměříž; I didn’t go inside the chateau itself
- Chateau Garden
- My favourite part was the mini zoo, where a fallow deer even let me feed it
- Where I ate
- Radniční sklípek restaurant (now closed); I went for a beer at Nová Bohemia
- Watch out for
- The large ice cream at the Ice Cream Shop on Kovářská Street weighed about a kilo, and for the first time in my life I couldn’t finish it
I wrote this article in 2017. Prices, opening hours and transport connections may have changed since then, so check them before you travel.
What is there to see in Kroměříž? I’d been to this town in Moravia before, back when I was studying garden architecture. Now I’ve come back, and I appreciate Kroměříž even more than I did at secondary school and university. I have to say, the older I get, the more I can savour the places I visit. Kroměříž won me over for three reasons: beautiful architecture, excellent food and great prices. I saw a lot, ate a lot and spent very little. Here’s what to see in Kroměříž, so you can make a day trip of it from Slovakia.
Tip from Milan I’d recommend booking your accommodation as early as you can, because rooms in a good location at a fair price go first. Here you’ll find accommodation offers in the area valid today.
Things to do in Kroměříž
The Flower Garden, the Czech Versailles
The Flower Garden is known as the Czech Versailles. I can vouch for that: yes, it really is.
Sadly, I’ve never been to Versailles. The Flower Garden in Kroměříž, on the other hand, I’ve visited twice. It’s a masterpiece of 17th-century European garden art, and there’s nothing else quite like it. When I was studying garden architecture at secondary school and university, I heard a great deal about this garden. It has more than 20,000 annuals and plenty of romantic garden buildings. Who waters all that?
Like any proper Baroque garden, it’s full of fruit trees. So during my visit I stuffed myself with apples, and grapes too. Don’t tell anyone, though: I’m probably not supposed to. The highlight of the whole garden is the 244-metre colonnade, completed in 1671 and lined with statues of ancient gods. You can climb up onto it and see the whole garden laid out below you. There are several dozen gods. Take the same challenge I did and say all their names out loud. Some of them are unpronounceable.
What interested me most in the Flower Garden:
- The Court of Honour
- The garden centre selling cacti
- The maze
- The Lion Fountain
- The colonnade
- The Orange Garden
- The Dutch Garden and the Educational Garden
The Chateau Garden and its mini zoo
Founded in 1509, the Chateau Garden (Podzámecká zahrada) has grown over the centuries from an ordinary vegetable garden into a beautiful park. It covers 64 hectares and has more than 200 species of trees and shrubs. As a garden architect, I could put a Latin name to most of them. There are also several ponds and lakes that more than one visitor could mistake for a football pitch. Why? Take a look at the photo below. Aaand… splash. Both the chateau and the garden are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
My favourite part was the mini zoo with its really sweet animals. I saw all sorts of ducks, birds I’d never seen before in my life and Daniel the fallow deer (in Slovak, a fallow deer is a daniel). Daniel even let me feed him. I think I got more of a kick out of it than the little children taking photos of him.
TIP: I’ve also written about my visit to Vlkolínec, the first UNESCO site that disappointed me.
The Archbishop’s Chateau and its tower
I didn’t go inside, but the Archbishop’s Chateau in Kroměříž is one of the most appealing historic sights in the Czech Republic. It’s a Baroque complex of libraries, a music archive and almost 40 rooms and halls, each with a story to tell. It’s well worth running up the 206 steps of the chateau tower too, for a great view over the whole of Kroměříž. I absolutely loved the angel with outspread wings in the courtyard.
The main square and the centre of Kroměříž
The main square has several restaurants and bars, as well as religious sights and museums. In the background you can see the chateau tower I mentioned, the one with the great view.
Where to eat in Kroměříž
I can’t not mention the perfect beer, the smažák (Czech fried cheese) and the ice cream. In the photo below you can see an ice cream they sold me as a ‘large’. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t finish an ice cream: there was about a kilo of it. What made me laugh, though, was that they also sold a MAXI version. For that one, I’d have had to bring my own wheelbarrow.
Where I ate: Radniční sklípek restaurant (now closed; in March 2026 its operators moved to the Dům kultury cultural centre on Tovačovského Street, where they run the Earnest café and restaurant)
Where I went for a beer: Nová Bohemia restaurant
Where I went for ice cream: the Ice Cream Shop on Kovářská Street
MY VERDICT: Kroměříž is a town for a great day out, if you ask me. I’m genuinely surprised how much there is in such a small area. There’s a chateau, a world-famous garden, a park, a tower with a view and a lovely square. Add a few good restaurants and perfect ice cream. Kroměříž gets a triple yes from me. What to see in Kroměříž? Everything.
You might also like my article The best restaurants, bars and cafés in Brno, as recommended by my readers.
A Slovak travel blogger who has been getting Slovaks out of their office chairs since 2013. Author of the book Influencer and founder of the Bez Mapy blog. "Bez Mapy" is Slovak for "without a map".
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