Ride into the main square of Telč for the first time and you may laugh out loud, because it looks too perfect to be real. A long, tapering square is lined on both sides by Renaissance and Baroque houses, each with a different gable, painted in soft pastels, cream, pink, green and yellow, with arcades running along the ground floor. After a fire in the sixteenth century, the town was rebuilt under its lord, Zachariáš of Hradec, who had travelled in Italy and brought back a taste for Renaissance style. His château, at the end of the square, has richly decorated halls and a garden. The historic centre was listed by UNESCO in 1992.
The town is surrounded by ponds, created in the Middle Ages as defences and fish farms, and the reflections of the houses and towers in the water are lovely, especially in the evening. A walk around the ponds takes less than an hour.
Telč lies in the Vysočina, the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, a region of rolling hills, forests, fields and fishponds between Prague and Brno. It is a quiet, rural area, with small towns and villages, and the riding here is a delight. The minor roads wind through the hills, with gentle bends, short climbs and descents, and very little traffic. Surfaces vary from excellent to patched, and you will meet tractors, cyclists and the occasional deer. Nearby Dačice, a small town to the south, claims to be the place where the sugar cube was invented in the nineteenth century, and has a monument to prove it. Further south, the border with Austria and the Waldviertel region offer more good riding.
The Czech Republic has strict rules for riders: dipped headlights at all times, zero tolerance for alcohol, and a vignette for motorways. Speed cameras are common in towns. Note that the main square may have restrictions on vehicles at certain times.
Telč has fuel, shops, cafés and restaurants, many of them with tables under the arcades. Try a plate of svíčková, beef in a creamy sauce with dumplings, or fried carp from the local ponds, a Christmas tradition. Czech beer is famously good and famously cheap, but save it for the evening. Spring and autumn are lovely; summer can be busy with tourists, and winters are cold and snowy.