Instead of Prague: Olomouc, the Bohemian Baroque That Nobody Knows

Prague is one of Europe's most visited capitals, and in August the Charles Bridge resembles a rush-hour metro more than a Gothic monument. If you love Bohemian architecture but want to experience it as people did twenty years ago — at a leisurely pace, at human prices and without umbrella-wielding tour groups — take a train to Olomouc.

Olomouc is the Czech Republic's sixth-largest city by population, but the first after Prague in density of historic monuments. Horní náměstí — the Upper Square — is dominated by the Column of the Holy Trinity, the largest Baroque sculptural group in Central Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. Thirty-five metres tall and decorated with statues of saints and fountains, it is a work that alone justifies the journey.

The Astronomical Clock on the town hall facade is the younger cousin of Prague's, but with a more surreal history: after the Second World War it was rebuilt in Socialist Realist style, with workers and scientists replacing the saints. It is a unique curiosity, and you will see it without the crowd that blocks the square in Prague.

Olomouc is a university city — Palacký University is the second oldest in the country — which gives it a youthful energy you feel in the cafés, pubs and theatres. Beer still costs less than one euro, and Moravian restaurants serve svíčková (beef with cream and cranberry sauce) at prices unthinkable elsewhere in Europe.

The historic centre is compact and can be explored on foot in a day: Baroque churches with breathtaking interiors, Renaissance palaces, six monumental fountains distributed across the squares. The Archbishop's Garden, just outside the centre, is a green lung where the Moravians come to walk their dogs.

The local gastronomic speciality is tvarůžky, a soft cheese with an extremely pungent aroma that divides the world in two: those who love it and those who flee. Try it fried, with bread and beer, in one of the traditional restaurants around the square.

Olomouc is reached from Prague in two and a half hours by train, from Vienna in three. From here you can explore all of Moravia: the castles of Kroměříž and Bouzov, the caves of the Moravian Karst, the wine-producing hills of Mikulov. It is the perfect base for a different Czech Republic.