The Ostrava City Guide
Welcome to my latest Brume & Daisy travel series, featuring a stop-over in Ostrava, Czech Republic and an Ostrava City Guide. This is part of my most recent backpacking Europe series.
Now, a little on Ostrava, because I don’t think it’s a very commonly toured Czech town — in fact our AirBnb host asked us repetitively why we, as Americans, had come to Ostrava. Truthfully, we wanted to make our way to Slovakia, but decided to cut the travel shorter by stopping over in Czech Republic. We’ve been to Prague and Brno, and Ostrava is the third largest city, so we decided to stop there are see what it was all about.
Ostrava is an industrial city, formed around the coal, steel and iron industries for generations. Like a Rust Belt city, it seemed to have a blue-collar, self-deprecating attitude about it. But I think a good travel can find the cool in any city, so I’m here to share the gems (seriously good ones!) we found in Ostrava.
Where to Stay in Ostrava
You’ll likely stay near Stodolní ulice, which is the main strip of shops and restaurants in Ostrava. It’s also densely packed with bars and clubs — I’ve heard the going out scene is pretty crazy, but we were there on a Monday-Tuesday so it wasn’t as bumping as the weekend, I’m sure.
Where to Eat & Drink in Ostrava
COKAFE Centrum – There are several of these COKAFE coffee bars/co-working spaces around Ostrava and we stopped in for coffee and breakfast treats while in town. They do a limited daily offer menu and everything is fresh and delicious. They do their own sourdough breads and homemade jams and these were amazing!
Pelmeški – Pelmeški does traditional Russian food, specifically a huge variety of dumplings, both sweet and savory. I’m not positive what we ordered, but it came topped with sour cream and dill and we were in heaven!
MeryJane Bistro – This was one of the only places we went in Ostrava that didn’t have an English menu, but you’ll be fine, just ask the staff if you have questions. Please don’t let that deter you from going because this food was amazing. I have eaten Czech food all across Czechia, and back in the United States (I used to work for a Czech cultural organization) and this is THE BEST Czech food I’ve ever eaten. This little bistro does breakfast, lunch and desserts, and they also serve locally-made wine.
Hoppy Dog Pivovar – As always, we sought out good craft beer in Ostrava. Hoppy Dog Pivovar does a lot of heavily-hopped beers, like IPAs or APAs, but they also have a couple of the classic German and Belgian styles too.
HogoFogo Bistro – Another place with incredible food in Ostrava. I guess you’d call this a gastropub, they make dishes with seasonal and local ingredients. They’ve got everything from meals to pastries to wine to (our favorite) Pilsner. Plus the shaded garden area is a lovely place to spend and afternoon.
Radegast beer pubs– Radegast beer is brewed in the area, so you’ll find lots of Radegastovna beer pubs throughout town. Like in a lot of Czech pubs you can get the beer ‘z tanku,’ or ‘from the tank,’ which means it’s unpasteurized and fresh from the brewery. Tank beer has to be served within a couple of weeks, so you’re getting it as fresh as can be.
*A little tip on Ostrava, we encountered a lot of businesses with signs posted that they were “closed for August for vacation” and even more that were closed random days of the week, or even weekends. I think Americans are used to places being open all the time so when you’re abroad I recommend you check Facebook before stopping in just to make sure,
Get into nature in Ostrava
If you’re on a long backpacking trip, I always advise going somewhere chill, maybe somewhere you can get out in nature for a few days. It’s important that you don’t feel obligated to rush around and sight-see every single day you’re on the road or you’ll wear yourself thin! This and more slow travel tips can be found on the blog here.
So in Ostrava we spent a whole day just hiking the Halda Ema, or the Ostrava Slag Heap. These slag heaps are essentially waste sites that has walking trails and birch tree forests on them, cool right? You get the best views of the city from the top!
That’s all for the Ostrava City Guide!
Until next time — let’s chat on Instagram or Twitter, where I’m @brumeanddaisy.
Want more of this backpacking tour? We also visited Berlin, Germany; Wrocław, Poland; Warsaw, Poland; Kosice, Slovakia; and Budapest, Hungary. Plus I have loads more guides and travel content here!
