Czechia · Chřiby Hills · Staré Hutě
Zikmundov.
A place in no hurry at all.
A former gamekeeper's lodge among woods and pastures, where every room tells a different story, chefs invite guests into the open kitchen and evenings are measured by the crackle of wood beneath a hot tub.
The quick Good Direction
Zikmundov at a glance.
- Where
- In seclusion near Staré Hutě in the Chřiby Hills, between pastures, forest and the Buchlov ridge.
- What
- An intimate boutique hotel in a restored 1612 gamekeeper's lodge, with ten distinctive rooms, a restaurant and a small farm.
- Why go
- For the quiet, the people and the house's peculiar ability to move you from performance into the present tense.
- Food
- Long breakfasts, an unpretentious open kitchen and ingredients from the surrounding countryside and the hotel's own farm.
- Best moment
- Wine in a wood-fired tub, darkness over the pasture and knowing that tomorrow genuinely requires no alarm clock.
Nothing ostentatious happens at Zikmundov. That is exactly why everything important does.
The phone stays in your room, breakfast grows longer, a walk needs no destination and everyone drifts naturally towards the fire after dark. Zikmundov does not sell seclusion as a design concept. It gives it a soft bed, good food, music, hot water and people who know when to join you and when to leave you alone. It is a hotel, yet feels more like visiting friends with an exceptionally beautiful house.
A house with a memory
A 1612 gamekeeper's lodge given another life.
The original lodge stands on Adam Havlíček's family estate. When he decided to restore it, the goal was never a polished hotel stripped of its past. Architect Luděk del Maschio and sculptor Patrick Čabla allowed stone, timber and old proportions to speak, adding contemporary layers only where they made sense.
The result is neither an open-air museum nor a design gallery. Cement tiles, hand-printed wallpaper, old beams and bold individual pieces live together without needing constant explanation. Yet the finest detail is intangible: this is not a house to admire from a safe distance. It wants you to sit down, pour wine and stay for a while.
Read the restoration story ↗
Ten rooms, none anonymous
Sleep your own way.
These are not catalogue variations on a single template. Every room has its own mood, materials and small script for the stay. We chose four that best reveal Zikmundov's range.
Explore every room ↗
Most private
Na samotě
A separate room away from the main house, with its own hot tub, cinema screen, Bang & Olufsen sound, a Hästens bed and pasture views. For disappearing one layer deeper into Zikmundov.
Timber and views
Nad stájí
Above the historic stables, this room has a quiet and natural character. Book it together with Nad konírnou and a private lounge with bar, fireplace and cinema can become part of your stay.
For friends
Nad konírnou
The other half of the handsome pair above the stables. Ideal for four people who want a shared evening close at hand, then a door of their own to close in the morning.
Private terrace and tub
Olivový
A little Tuscany, a little Nordic wellbeing. Olive wood, wine fridge, terrace and private hot tub turn the room into a small world you never need leave after dinner.
The table at the heart of the house
A kitchen you can see — and occasionally talk in for hours.
Zikmundov does not hide its kitchen behind doors. It belongs to the dining room and to everything happening around it: guests watch the cooks, ask questions, taste and let the evening unfold. This is no obligatory open-kitchen theatre, but a natural way for guests and team to become one company for a while.
Ingredients draw on the landscape and the farm itself — eggs, meat, cheese, herbs and whatever currently makes sense. Menus change, so promising individual dishes would miss the point. What remains certain is a long breakfast, fresh juice and the feeling that nobody is hinting at the time.
If you are not staying at Zikmundov, reserve the restaurant online. Resident guests automatically have a table held for dinner.
See what is cooking now ↗
A day without an itinerary
Music, fire and water beneath an open sky.
Several rooms have private wood-fired tubs, while more bathing waits outside. There is a sauna, tubs heated with logs and a summer pool. The most important wellbeing treatment, however, remains the quiet surrounding it all.
Music is not background filler here. Bang & Olufsen systems belong to the character of the rooms as much as wallpaper or an armchair. In the evening, put on an album, light a fire and open a bottle. We would plan nothing more.
Our recipe: ask for the tub at blue hour, open the wine a little earlier and leave the phone somewhere else entirely.
Should you decide to move
The Chřiby Hills first. Wine country afterwards, perhaps.
Zikmundov is a fine reason to go nowhere. It is also an excellent base for the slow Chřiby Hills — and, if you want a longer South Moravian day, for vineyards belonging to a completely different landscape.
Castle · chapel · forest
Buchlov and Barborka
Buchlov Castle forms the region's defining silhouette. Pair it with St Barbara's chapel and walk part of the route; the Chřiby Hills are best once you stop counting kilometres among the trees.
Chateau · garden · lookout
Buchlovice and Salaš
Buchlovice Chateau park is a gentler counterpoint to the castle. For a more active afternoon, walk to the Salaš lookout; from Zikmundov it makes a rewarding trip across wooded hills.
Longer trip · Kyjov region
Moravian Tuscany
Rolling fields between Kyjov, Šardice and Želetice are among South Moravia's most photogenic landscapes. This is not the hotel's immediate neighbourhood, but it makes a beautiful longer drive — ideally early or in the last light.
Full day · wine
Bořetice wine cellars
The Republic of Kraví hora in Bořetice, its cellars and vineyards take you farther south. Give the trip a full day, make a sober plan for the driver and perhaps add Bukovanský mlýn or villages around Kyjov.
We ended our longer South Moravian day as one should: between vineyard rows, with a view and no need to squeeze in one more stop.
Before you go
The practical part — still at an unhurried pace.
- Address
- Staré Hutě 93, 686 01, Chřiby Hills, Czechia.
- Room
- Rooms are deliberately different. Choose for the way you want to stay: privacy, terrace, hot tub, shared lounge or proximity to the main house.
- Dinner
- Resident guests have a table secured. If you are coming solely for the food, book in advance through the official website.
- Wellbeing
- Arrange the sauna and wood-fired tubs ahead. The outdoor pool operates in summer.
- Moving
- E-bikes and horse rides are usually available. Walks begin at the house; a car helps for longer day trips.
- Our tip
- Stay for at least two nights. One is enough to admire the house; only the second lets you begin using it properly.
Where it is
Zikmundov
Chřiby · South Moravia · Czechia
Staré Hutě 93
Drawing the map…
The Good Direction verdict
The finest itinerary? Letting the day assemble itself.
Zikmundov is one of those places you understand only after you stop checking the time. The design is beautiful, every room has a story and the kitchen has talent. Yet the essential parts happen in between: over a late breakfast, in the silence of the pasture, beside a fire or in hot water with wine in hand. We left feeling that we had achieved very little. It was precisely right.