Nymburk Czechia
Czech Rep
Frequently Asked Questions
On the Elbe, at the foot of the red brick ramparts reflected in the river. A few minutes' walk from the landing brings you to the medieval fortifications and the square. Nymburk lies 45 kilometres east of Prague.
Yes, everything is walkable and unhurried. Allow an hour for the ramparts and the square, and as much again for the island and the riverbanks. There is no shuttle and no transfer: this is a human-scale call.
Because the town made a rare choice for 13th-century Bohemia: where the kingdom built in stone, Nymburk raised its walls in brick. A long crenellated stretch survives, backed by the old moats, now the shaded promenades of Velké Valy and Malé Valy.
The rampart circuit, the square with its Renaissance town hall, St Giles church, then the footbridge to the wooded island in the river. A local beer at a tavern counter rounds off the day, and in Hrabal's town that is the fitting gesture.
The writer grew up here, inside the brewery his stepfather managed. His childhood memories fed whole pages in which beer, vats and local eccentrics became material for fiction. The brewery still operates, and he devoted a book to the town with a telling title: The Little Town Where Time Stood Still.
A Gothic brick nave built between 1280 and 1380, rising above the rooftops of the centre. Local guides like to point out a quirk on the altar: a figure with two left feet, a craftsman's error or joke that the centuries never corrected.
A wooded park in the middle of the Elbe, reached by a footbridge from the centre. Families picnic there, anglers cast their lines, and the view of the brick walls from the far bank makes the best picture of the whole town.
The Czech koruna. Cards work in the taverns and shops in the centre, but keep korunas for the bakeries: kolaches, round buns filled with poppy seed, plum or curd cheese, are best eaten warm on a bench along the ramparts.
Czech. This is an ordinary Czech town with its square, its brewery and its residents cycling along the water: English is understood among younger people and in a few taverns, less so elsewhere. French is not spoken.
May to September. The old moat promenades stay shaded and cool in high summer, the island suits a picnic, and cyclists on the Elbe route — which follows the river from Bohemia to Hamburg — give the terraces the feel of a staging post.
