The Pálava Protected Landscape Area lies in the warmest and most arid area of the Czech Republic and its climate is almost Mediterranean. The local landscape comprises of fertile fields and vineyards, pure white limestone rocks, rocky steppes and forest-steppes with unusually rich thermophillic flora and fauna. Pálava belongs to places with the longest settlement in the Czech Republic. Numerous excavations of prehistoric campsites of mammoth hunters, on top of which there is the renowned figurine of Venus of Dolní Věstonice, stem precisely from this area. In 2003, Pálava became a part of the UNESCO Dolní Morava biospherical reserve.
The most frequently visited and perhaps the most beautiful place of Pálava is Děvín, an elongated ridge between Dolní Věstonice and Klentnice. The pure white limestone rocks alternate with the steppe grass and oak-hornbeam forests, while the nature is abundant in thermophillic plants and animals. What is more, many tremendous vistas of substantial part of Southern Moravia and Lower Austria open up from Děvín. A typical sight of Pálava are the ruins of romantic medieval castles, the most notable ones are Sirotčí hrádek, Kozí hrádek in Mikulov and Dívčí hrady above the Nové Mlýny reservoirs.
Since Pálava is quite small, many sights of importance can be visited in just a couple of days from either Mikulov or Dolní Věstonice.
Mikulov is the largest municipality in the Pálava area and belongs to the most sought-after Czech wine-growing destinations. A prominent feature of Mikulov is the palace and the Holy Hill (Svatý Kopeček), being a favourite tourist spot with a few chaples and also a location of natural-science importance. Dolní Věstonice, on the other hand, is situated on the southern bank of the Nové Mlýny reservoirs and its surroundings are world famous for excavations dating back to the age of mammoth hunters living approximately 25 to 30 thousand years ago.
