Brno is not only an authentic and welcoming city, but also a UNESCO City of Music, and a renowned centre of gastronomy and functionalist architecture.
The 2024 tourist season started a little earlier than usual, with the biggest event of the year: the full opening of the Žlutý Kopec reservoirs. Work to make them accessible to the public began in 2020, and the entire area of all three reservoirs is now in operation, each with a specific atmosphere and architecture, as well as a public park at the surface.
“This year is marked by the opening of new destinations,” said Jana Janulíková, director of TIC BRNO. “We have the Zlutý Kopec reservoirs, Villa Arnold, and the work on the St. James’s Church. It can be seen that Brno is full of hidden and varied treasures, and has far from exhausted its potential. We like to focus on local topics and, with a feeling for Brno, we draw attention to current and historical contexts that are often not so popular, but which are important in our opinion, and deepen our awareness of the city.” As part of this aim, TIC Brno is continuing the series of AuthenTIC guided tours and the Listen to Brno audio guide for the fourth year.
Brno’s mysterious side will also be captured in the new publication Nemísta (‘non-places’), to be published at the beginning of the summer. It is a guide to lost locations, uncovering layers of the past that have been forgotten. It takes the reader to places that often no longer serve their original purpose, places which are romantic, cherished, or abandoned, or locations where the city meets the wilderness. These include a chapel hidden next to a highway, a World War II military shelter, and the remains of a brickyard overgrown with forest.
Free public transport to Pop Messe and entrance to Riviera
The polar opposite of these “non-places” is the popular visitors’ package of five iconic villas in one weekend, which provides a whole weekend of Brno’s finest modern architecture. TIC Brno has been offering a single ticket to four of these buildings for three years: the villas Jurkovič, Löw-Beer, Stiassni and Tugendhat. This year, the newly opened Villa Arnold was added to the deal. A total of 240 tickets went on sale for 15 dates between April to December.
Another gateway to historic monuments and interesting places is the Brnopas tourist discount card, which offers free or discounted entry to more than 50 sites. The Brnopas+ version also includes a visit to the Žlutý Kopec reservoirs with a 50% discount, or a tour of Villa Tugendhat.
TIC Brno’s cooperation with Brno festivals is also deepening, with the potential to reach a large number of people. A special edition of the Öff Måsse Brnopas card has been created in cooperation with the organisers of the Pop Messe contemporary music festival. The festival card will offer services and sights specially selected for this target group, including free public transport and entrance to the Riviera swimming pool. TIC Brno is preparing a similar collaboration with the Brno Music Marathon festival.
Elsewhere, the popular Festival of the Planets will return to Kraví Hora, and Brno will gain yet another attraction with the completion of the challenging reconstruction of St. James’s Church, whose tower will be open to the public from this autumn.
“The number of visitors to Brno in 2023 climbed almost to the level of 2019,” said Kristýna Černá, the City of Brno’s representative for marketing and tourism. “The influx of domestic tourists even surpassed that level, and the number of guests from abroad has also increased significantly. The promotional activities of the city and TIC Brno, as part of the Brno True Story destination campaign, aimed abroad this year to focus on neighboring countries, including the Polish market, as we have seen an increase in the number of tourists from this country in previous years. Larger numbers of visitors are perceived positively by both hoteliers and gastro-business operators. Together with all the events taking place in Brno this year and the news for 2024, we expect a successful tourist season.”
