Telč: an idyllic day trip from Prague or Brno

Telč, Czech Republic

A two hour drive from both Prague and Brno, Telč makes for an excellent day trip away from the city. 

Parking on the bridge that leads into the centre is free and without time limit, and provides lovely views of the river and townscape. Walking to the main square takes less than five minutes from here. 

The cheerful buildings on the square make for pleasant strolling or sitting with a beverage. It's fun to point out architectural differences and find your favourite building. Mine was the peach coloured gem in the middle of the picture above, while Yannick and Fabienne preferred the black and white detailed facade on the left. It could be argued that this is one of the prettiest squares in the country.

On market days the square comes alive with stalls selling doodads, soaps and food. A public toilet is available just off the square, and was free when we visited, though may not be on non-market days.

The Telč plague column is one of the most fancy I've seen, with a plethora of details and shiny saint halos. There was a plague column in nearly every town in the Czech Republic, and at first we didn't know why. Perhaps it was a way to honour the victims of the plague, or a measure of desperate mayors to ward off the plague from their town. 

It turns out that plague columns were often erected in thanks to God at the conclusion of a plague. 

A lovely green park resides down the street past the church, and we wished we had eaten our picnic lunch here rather than at a roadside rest stop with a pond full of eels for company. If you wish to see the town from above, you can pay a small fee to climb the church tower, but we figured it wouldn't add much to our impressions. 

Already quiet during the day, if you stay in Telč until twilight the few tourists all disappear and you can have a peaceful evening away from hustle and bustle.