The Vltava River Trail Never Sleeps
Visitors to Hluboká enjoy the Advent atmosphere with unusual events
The town of Hluboká nad Vltavou has prepared a popular Advent program again this year Angel Hluboká 2025. You can choose from musical Saturday performances or, as part of a spiritual programme, go to the Church of St. John of Nepomuk in Hluboká to hear beautiful Christmas music performed by local choirs and leading musical ensembles. On Monday December 22, 2025 will tune you in to Christmas time in the church in Hluboká from 7:00 p.m. Czech Christmas Mass by Jakub Jan Ryba. Featured Perchta Choir from Český Krumlov together with Musica da Camera Orchestra.
The festive Advent mood touches not only the centre but also the surrounding area. Romantic visitors or families with children should definitely not miss the the Christmas-lit Hluboká Zoo, which glows until 4 January 2026.
Ve Wednesday 24 Dec. 2025, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., the traditional Christmas Eve at the zoo. Guided feeding of otters, bears, ponies and other animals is a very popular entertainment for children. It’s become a tradition that visitors bring food for the animals. Christmas goodies, nuts, fruits, vegetables and pulses are the favourites of our charges. Even on this day, however, there is a ban on feeding animals in the Hluboká Zoo.
Another invitation is for those who like festive castle tours. The gates of Hluboká Castle are open in the run-up to Christmas until until 21 December and during the tour you can enter the nine rooms of the private suites of the last four generations of the owners of the Hluboká estate – Schwarzenbergs.
Floating café and New Year’s Eve swimming in České Budějovice
České Budějovice is the city of Advent, Přemysl Otakar II Square is full of people this season, admiring the beautiful tree, circling around Samson on skates or enjoying “Punch Wheel“. However, there are also other places in town where you can get a punch or a good coffee. On the Blind Branch of the Malše River in České Budějovice you will find the popular houseboat with floating café Vlnna. In addition to punch and coffee in several ways, there is also the possibility to have an unusual soup or sandwich or cake.
Traditional meeting of hardy people will be held on New Year’s Eve opposite the Lanna Café, in the shipyard of the same name on the left bank of the Vltava River, a short walk from the Long Bridge. Last year, the swimming started at 14:00 and for each participant of the dive there was a small treat and refreshments from the Lanna Café.
For a year 2025 uploaded by 150th anniversary of the first performance symphonic poems by Bedřich Smetana Vltava. On that occasion, the National Heritage Institute came up with the project “Vltava glorious & navigable”, which commemorates the importance of the Vltava River as a national symbol and cultural route in all its essential natural, cultural, social and economic contexts. The exhibition of the same name in the Prague Castle Riding Hall runs until 4 January 2026. The National Heritage Institute wants to draw attention to the phenomenon of the Vltava River, its broad historical, cultural and social significance, which will lead to the designation of the river as European Cultural Route.
Within the Vltava River Trail, it is possible to visit the Vltava River Trail from spring to autumn sail from the centre of České Budějovice from Lann’s shipyard through Hluboká nad Vltavou to Týn nad Vltavou and then at the upstream turn of the Lužnice River to Kolodějí nad Lužnicí with Mitrowicz Castle. Chamber on the Vltava in Hněvkovice then allows a cruise along the nearly 100-kilometre-long waterway from České Budějovice to Týn nad Vltavou and then to Orlík. On small boats, however, it is possible to sail through Prague and Mělník to Hamburg.
