Olomouc lies astride the Morava River at the centre of Moravia, the eastern of the Czech Republic’s two historic lands. Founded over 1000 years ago at an important ford across the river, Olomouc still lies on major transport routes and makes an excellent first stop in the country if you are arriving from the east through Slovakia or Poland or south via Vienna.

From Prague, trains make the journey in as little as 2hrs 15mins. These are the high-speed Pendolino trains however and are more expensive than the ordinary fast trains that make few extra stops and take an extra half hour to reach Olomouc. Seats on the Pendolino are 634Kč but on ordinary EC, IC, Ex and R fast trains they are just 324Kč. If you are travelling with one or more companion, you are entitled to the group discount, which means you will pay 252Kč each. There are 33 trains every day, and the services are all direct - no need to change.

Buses from Prague travel all the way down to Brno and all the way back up again, adding 50km to the trip and taking an hour longer than the slowest train. The prices vary from 230-250Kč, so you’ll have to be the judge of whether the saving (compared to the train) is worth the extra time.

From Poland, there’s one direct train from Warsaw each morning, taking around 6 hours to cover the 524Km. From Krakow the early morning train (7-ish) is also the best, taking 4 hours to cover the 250Km. Later trains are considerably slower and involve at least one change.

From Slovakia, the Prague trains all run through Olomouc, so from Košice (429Km), Poprad (328Km) or Žilina (207Km) it’s fast, direct and scenic. From Bratislava, it’s necessary to change at the border station Břeclav, but the 204km journey whizzes by in 2hrs 20mins, including the change.

From Vienna and Budapest, you’ll also need to change trains at Břeclav. The 204km from Vienna takes 2hrs30 to 3 hours, and the 419km trip from Budapest takes 5 hours

From Český Krumlov and Telč, best is to travel by bus, changing at Brno. Buses to Olomouc usually leave from stand 11 or 12 in Brno, but check carefully because Student Agency buses leave from a busstop opposite the Hotel Grand, 300m along the street from the front of the train station. Walking from Brno main bus station to the train station or hotel grand takes about 15 minutes. Telč is 180km from Olomouc and the trip takes a little over 3hrs. Český Krumlov is 7hrs from Olomouc if you decide to do the whole trip in one hit without stopping in Telč.

From Kutná Hora, it’s best to travel ten minutes by train to Kolín and join one of the Prague to Olomouc express trains there.

Within Olomouc trams run to the centre every five minutes or so from 5am to 11.30pm. 10Kč tickets are good for single trips and the most convenient stops to get out at are either Koruna or Náměstí Hrdinů. If you’d prefer to take a taxi, the free-call numbers are 800113030 and 800223030. The ride to the centre from the stations should be less than 150Kč.

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