Things to Do Nearby

The village of Skočice is located in the Strakonice district in the South Bohemian Region, about 8 km northwest of Vodňany and 15 km southeast of Strakonice. It is crossed by the I/22 road connecting the two towns. It has 228 inhabitants. To the south of the village there is a nature reserve Skočický hrad (Skočický hrad) situated around the 666 m high peak of the castle. The first written mention of the village dates back to 1399. The origin of the name of the village derives from Skoka (village of the Skoka people).

In the village square you will find a mixed shop connected with the post office called the Grocer's, where you can buy basic groceries. Just opposite is the Skočická pub, where they serve Platan beer. Next to the shop with the post office there is a small public playground with a ping-pong table.
In the next village, Lidmovice, you will find a new farm shop with organic meat and regional food.

For horse lovers, there are stables in the neighbouring village of Stettice with the possibility to book horse or carriage rides, more at http://www.stajestetice.cz/

Pilgrimage Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary - an early Baroque central building on an octagonal plan, consecrated in 1678. It was built by Polyxena Lidmila of Šternberk, née Žďárská of Žďár (+1691), for the pilgrimage image of Our Lady of Help (a copy of the Passau image). The painting had been in the chapel of the Skočická fortress since 1666, where it was transferred from the chateau chapel in Nalžove in the Klatovy region. It was given to Polyxena by her first husband Václav Ferdinand Švihovský of Riesenberk. Above the entrance to the church are the coats of arms of the founders - Polyxena Lidmila and her second husband Ignác Karel of Šternberk. The painting is placed on the main altar, above the entrance to the church there is a copy of it painted in a cartouche. When Prince Ferdinand of Schwarzenberg bought the manor in 1700, he took over the patronage of the church, had it equipped with additional altars and built an outer octagonal ambulatory; the original project with 4 chapels and 4 entrances was designed by architect Pavel Ignác Bayer, but only two chapels were realized, one of which is still standing (with the altar of St. John of Nepomuk), while St. Martin of St. Martin was demolished during the expansion of the cemetery. In the middle of the 18th century, an organ and a pulpit were built and two lime alleys were planted: to the Skočice castle and to Drahonice. The Stations of the Cross were painted according to Josef Führich's designs and, like the Holy Sepulchre, date from the mid-19th century. The church has been repaired several times, most recently in 2000-2002. Until 1947, pilgrimages were held here on the Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary on 2 July, but after 1989 they were restored. The church is administered from Vodnany.

Rectory - a Baroque building from the 1880s, originally the ground floor was occupied by hospital workers and the priest on the first floor.

The Skočický Castle is a nature reserve No. 975 located near the village of Skočice in the district of Strakonice. The reason for the protection is a complex of relatively very natural forest vegetation in the upper part of the hill of the Castle near Skočice. This site is the only one in the Strakonice district to preserve a natural stand of flowering beech of the Eu-Fagenion sub-variety. Valuable natural forest stands cover the western summit part (including the area of the prehistoric hillfort) and the eastern culminating part. The flat ridges and gentler south-facing slopes of both peaks are covered by predominantly deciduous beech-dominated stands, which are characterised by acidophilous beech to beech oak woodland with transitions to flowering beech. The area is managed by the Czech Nature and Landscape Conservation Agency.

The Fishermen's Museum in Vodňany is 6 km from Skočice.

The Museum of the Secondary Fishing School in Vodňany has two parts - aquariums with live fish and a historical part that documents the development of individual areas of fishing. Visitors can see aquatic organisms under microscopes or programmes on an interactive board in the attic. You can also see stuffed animals or historical fishing equipment in the museum.

The ruins of Střela Castle are 20 km from Skočice.

The ruins of Střela Castle are located on a hill near the village of the same name, between Strakonice and Katowice, in the vicinity of the ruins of a chapel and a ruined castle. The castle was built on a strategically very convenient location probably before the middle of the 13th century. The first written mention dates back to 1242, when Martin of Střela is mentioned. The owners of the castle changed rapidly.

Vimperk Castle is 28 km from Skočice.

Vimperk Castle was probably founded around the middle of the 13th century by King Přemysl Otakar II as a guarding fortress over the ancient trail leading from Bavaria to Bohemia. In the turbulent 15th century, the Chaplains of Sulevice responded with fortification works - the outpost of Haselburg was built and the castle was joined with the newly fortified town into one well-defended unit

The Strakonice Castle is 17 km from the village of Skočice.

The castle, which is uniquely preserved, stands in the South Bohemian town of Strakonice at the confluence of the gold-bearing Otava and Volyňka rivers. Today's complex includes elements of Romanesque, Gothic and more recent Renaissance and Baroque interventions, but its austere medieval character has been preserved over the centuries.

The first phase of construction (1220-1235) saw the construction of the main fortifications, including the deep moat on the south and west sides, the western part of the church with the tower, the ambo building and the palace with the chapter house. In 1235, the castle was first and unquestionably mentioned in a charter of Wenceslas I. The appearance of the castle in the middle of the 13th century is approximated by another surviving charter from 1243, in which Bavor of Strakonice donates a church and a house, with the exception of the prince's house, to the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem or Johannites. This date is the official year of the Order's arrival in the castle. Since then, the history of the Order and Strakonice Castle have been linked for many centuries. In 1260-1280, under Bavor II, a new palace with a tower was built and the amphitheatres were vaulted. At the beginning of the 14th century, Bavor III, the Burgomaster of Zywiec, rebuilt the western fortifications and the originally square tower into the present-day Rumpál (Gothic tower with a razor).

The Protivín Crocodile Zoo is located 8 km from the village of Skočice.

Crocodile Zoo Protivín was founded on the basis of private breeding of the operator of this zoo Miroslav Procházka. He dealt with crocodiles in his youth in the Station of Young Naturalists in Písek, where he gained basic knowledge in crocodile breeding. He has been breeding crocodiles privately since 1996, but he started to build a complete collection of crocodile species in 2000. Since 2005 he has been successfully breeding crocodiles.

The Velký Kamýk lookout tower is 14 km from the village of Skočice.

The lookout tower, which also serves as a transmitter for a mobile operator, was opened in 2006 on the Velký Kamýk hill (515 m) above the village of Velké Nepodařice, about 8 km west of the town of Písek.

The observation platform of the tower is 31 m high and is reached by 162 steps via a spiral staircase.

From the lookout tower you can enjoy a view of Písek, the Písek Mountains, Brdy, Šumava and the Temelín NPP. You can enter at your own risk, but entry is limited to a maximum of 8 people.

The tower is open all year round.

A red marked hiking trail leads to the tower.

The Hluboká nad Vltavou Chateau is 29 km from the village of Skočice.

Hluboká State Chateau is an important romantic complex in the European and world context due to its size, character, set of preserved original furnishings and large park.

HlubokáCastle was originally founded as a guard castle in the middle of the 13th century by Czech kings and was often pledged as royal property. Several aristocratic families took possession of the castle. Among the most important were the Pernštejn family, who founded the nearby Bezdrev pond in 1490, the second largest in Bohemia.

An important noble family of the Lords of Hradec purchased the Hluboka estate in 1561. Two years later, the new owners had the original Gothic castle rebuilt into a Renaissance chateau. At the end of the 16th century, the next owner of the estate was the Malovec family from Malovice, but as Protestants they lost the estate in 1619 and four years later, as a compensation for war debts, they received the estate from Emperor Ferdinand II. The Spanish general Don Balthazar de Marradas. In 1661, Jan Adolf I. Schwarzenberg bought Hluboka from his nephew.

The Javorník Ski Resort is 33 km from the village of Skočice.

The ski resort is located in the village of Javorník in the Bohemian Forest, near Kašperské Hory. Winter sports enthusiasts can enjoy 2 groomed ski slopes in Javorník. The first one is the 425 m long Tatrapoma ski slope, where smaller children up to 120 cm can also use the handy rope lift. For the bigger ones, but less skilled, there is a ruler lift. The second option for skiing is the Pod kapličkou ski slope. Here, too, there are children's lifts for children. On both slopes you can also take advantage of the popular night skiing.

You can dig your own Vltavín from the real original layer, where it was deposited by geological processes 15 million years ago, at an experience mining in Besednice https://www.vltaviny.cz/muzeum/zazitkova-tezba/