The Lednice-Valtice cultural landscape is a large, man-made landscape designed by the Liechtenstein family according to the principles of the English landscape architecture. To call it just a park would be an understatement. The main sites are the two castles in Lednice and Valtice, about 10 km apart, but the core zone also includes about 15 small buildings: small castles, temple, colonnades, a minaret, etc. Some of them are open to the public.

We arrived at Lednice on a Monday morning, thus the question if we should take a guided tour to the castle didn't arise (like almost everywhere in Europe guided tours are not available on Mondays). Furthermore, it was a sunny, warm day, so we decided to rent bikes (in Lednice) and to explore the landscape. We cycled the whole day through forests and around ponds and we visited almost all of the small buildings in the area, only Pohanska and Lany were too far away. We have enjoyed our bike tour very much. The routes between the buildings are partially bumpy dirt roads, thus the best is to rent a mountain bike. The terrain is flat almost everywhere, only the route to the Colonnades south-west of Valtice goes uphill through the vineyards. But the effort is worthwhile, it is one of the most beautiful buildings of the WHS. We also liked the Minaret, the Three Graces and the Apollo Temple. Most of the buildings are in good condition, it seems that there have been some restorations since 2006, the review by David Berlanda. At least the Temple of Diana (photo) appears to have been recently renovated, and also the Temple of Apollo. But the New Court is still in very bad condition.

The castles of Lednice and Valtice are very different. Lednice is built in neo-Gothic style, it has recently been renovated. With the bright yellow colour and the extensive decorations it looks like a fairy-tale castle. Valtice Palace is built in Baroque style and is also home of the Czech National Wine Institute. I truly can support the recommendation of Ian Cade to sample the local wine, it's worthwhile.

We had accommodation at the Garni Hotel Plavební, located next to the Lednice park, the back door of the hotel area leads directly in the park. A walk through the park in the morning mist was a perfect end of our visit. All in all, I did not expect too much from Lednice-Valtice, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.