Brno runs on student money, so prices stay low: lunch menus at 130-180 CZK, a 24-hour tram pass for 99 CZK, and free entry to the cathedral, the reservoir shore and half the city's parks. The best views cost nothing at all.
The castle interiors charge 90-260 CZK, but the surrounding park and the outer rampart walk are free and open around the clock. Circle the northern bastion for a full panorama of Petrov Cathedral and the red-roofed old town below.
A tiered 19th-century garden on the Petrov slope, built on old city fortifications. The obelisk terrace looks straight down the railway lines and over to Špilberk. Locals bring bread and beer here rather than paying tower entry above.
Airflow through the vaults naturally mummified around 50 monks and townspeople buried from 1656 onward, including Baron Trenck. Open Mon-Sat 09:00-18:00, Sun from 11:00. One of the cheapest major sights in the country.
The passage through Radnická 8 is free to walk: the crocodile hung as the 'Brno dragon' and the wagon wheel wagered on a bet in 1636 both hang overhead. The Gothic doorway above has a deliberately crooked pinnacle.
Brno's market square has traded since the 13th century and still runs Mon-Fri from early morning to about 18:00, Sat until noon. Moravian apricots, kohlrabi and smoked cheese sold by the growers themselves at well under supermarket prices.
University canteens in Brno serve the public at a modest surcharge over student rates. Expect soup, a main of svíčková or knedlíky, and a drink for a fraction of restaurant prices. Weekday lunch service only, roughly 11:00-14:30.
A neighbourhood beer hall in Zábrdovice pouring unpasteurised Starobrno and Poutník. Half-litres sit in the 30-40 CZK range, well below the tourist-facing pubs on Česká, and the utopenec pickled sausage is a meal in itself.
The square around St James's Church fills with cheap standing-room wine bars pouring Moravian Veltlínské and Ryzlink by the deci. Two decilitres typically runs 40-60 CZK, and the ossuary entrance sits a few steps away.
An unfinished Nazi-era tunnel network converted into a Cold War nuclear shelter beneath the castle hill, kept at a constant 10°C. Concrete corridors, decontamination showers and Soviet-era filtration gear, all still in place.
A 24-hour zone 100+101 ticket covers the whole network. Line 1 runs west from the centre out past Pisárky and the exhibition grounds to Bystrc, effectively a cheap sightseeing route through interwar Brno architecture.
A 10 km dammed stretch of the Svratka with free public swimming beaches, forest trails and Veveří Castle visible from the water. The marked shore path from Bystrc to Rokle needs no ticket and takes about two hours at a stroll.
A hillside woodland laced with paths above the Masaryk quarter's functionalist villas. The clearing near the top gives an unobstructed evening view over the whole basin, with the cathedral spires catching the last light.