Podyji National Park

The Dyje cuts a deep meandering canyon for about forty kilometres between Vranov and Znojmo, with rock slopes, oak and hornbeam forest, dry grassland on the sunny shoulders and heathland above, and it survived intact for an unusual reason: from 1948 the river was the frontier with Austria and the whole valley sat inside the closed border zone, so there was no building, no forestry road network and no visitors for forty years. It became a national park in 1991, the smallest in the country at about sixty square kilometres, and its Austrian counterpart Thayatal was declared in 2000 so the canyon is protected on both sides. The species list is long for the size - it holds a large share of the Czech flora - and there are vineyards on the terraces near Znojmo, the Sobes vineyard among them, worked since the Middle Ages. Trails run along the rims and down to the water.

What you actually see

• A forty-kilometre canyon - the Dyje meandering deep between rock slopes.
• Forty years of closure - the border zone that kept it from being developed.
• Dry grassland and heath - on the warm shoulders above the forest.
• Sobes vineyard - terraces above the river worked since the Middle Ages.

When to go

April to October. Two days.

Honest expectations

Access to the river is limited - most trails run the rims, and descending is only possible at certain points. Ticks are bad. Parts of the park are closed reserve. Summer is hot and dry.

Nearby

Znojmo is at the eastern end; Vranov chateau is at the western.