Velká Amerika: The Czech Grand Canyon outside Prague

The Czech Republic is not America, and outside of burger bars, it doesn’t want to be. You can get around here easily by public transport, for instance. But there is one bit of the country that prides itself on being a bit like the US. It’s the ‘Czech Grand Canyon’ of Velká Amerika (‘Great America’), a disused quarry that makes an easy half-day trip from Prague.

Getting there from the capital is a straightforward trip of just over an hour: take the metro line B to Zličín, then the (very infrequent: check timetables carefully) 311 bus to Obcodni lom. There’s nothing here, just a car park and bus stop and cubicle toilets: no cafe. There are, however, signs showing you where to walk.

A 2km circuit of the Velká Amerika quarry takes about an hour. It’s a flat easy stroll, but best to keep to the marked path. Some YouTubers are fond of going past the warning signs to get dramatic cliff-edge shots, but this isn’t a good idea. Czech medical facilities are very good, but it’s best not to have to find out. You get some splendid views of the old quarries, now filled with water and – in the right weather – showing as sparkling azure waters at the foot of a dramatic steep gorge.

A few metres from the west end of Velká Amerika is another smaller quarry called Mexiko. It’s every bit as Mexican as Velká Amerika is American, in other words not much.

If all that walking makes you hungry, your nearest refreshment is 2km down the road in the village of Mořice, from where the 311 bus makes more regular (hourly) journeys back to Prague. There’s a pub and bistro or two here.

But you have another option. A footpath runs from the western edge of Mexiko all the way (6km or so) to the well-touristed honeypot of Karlštejn Castle. Finding somewhere to eat and drink here is not a problem, and there are regular trains back to Prague. At any of these places you can have a beer for a couple of euros and not have to stump up a tip. You’re certainly not in America now.

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