Excursions​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

To enhance your conference experience, we invite you to join one of our curated excursions and explore Prague and its surroundings from new perspectives. From rewilding reserves and community-led nature conservation to outdoor adventure and socially impactful city tours, these excursions combine learning, culture, and memorable experiences.

Whether you are interested in biodiversity restoration, sustainable land management, adrenaline-filled activities, or gaining deeper social insight into life in Prague, there is something for everyone. All excursions are guided by local experts and practitioners and are designed to complement the conference theme while providing space to connect, reflect, and recharge.

All excursions will take place on Thursday, 21 May, in the afternoon. You can register for an excursion while completing your registration for the event, via the conference registration form.

Join us beyond the conference venue and discover the people, landscapes, and stories that make this region truly special.

Excursion 1. A visit to the rewilding reserve in Milovice

We will travel to a unique reserve located in the former military area in Milovice, which had been abandoned for many years and had overgrown with self-sown trees until the Czech Landscape organization arrived with the goal of returning large ungulates to the area. Today, you can find here the rarest species of butterflies, 111 species of valuable flowers, protected crustaceans, and vertebrates.

A guide will accompany us to an area that is usually closed to the public, where back-bred aurochs and wild Exmoor ponies graze freely. They help to restore biodiversity in the reserve, serve as ecosystem engineers, and create ideal conditions for the return and life of other species such as hoopoes, pied wagtails, and white-tailed eagles.

Large ungulates have been an integral part of European nature since ancient times. Wild animals were gradually hunted to extinction and replaced by domestic ungulates, which took over their role in the landscape for the next several millennia. In the 20th century, however, livestock were moved to farms and intensive pastures and virtually disappeared from the landscape. Thus, the ecosystem engineers, who had always had a fundamental influence on the face of European nature and created space in which many other organisms could live, disappeared from European nature. Three species used to be key: the European bison, the auroch, and the wild horse. For thousands of years, the presence of large ungulates was a source of many small disturbances that maintained a delicate landscape mosaic.

Another, originally secondary but all the more important, effect of the project was adaptation of the landscape to climate change and water retention. Grazing by large ungulates helps to restore the soil and return organic matter to it. This in turn helps to bind carbon in the soil and at the same time retain water in the landscape during heavy rains, which became apparent during the five extremely dry years beginning simultaneously with the launch of the project.

The Milovice Nature Reserve is part of the Milovice-Mladá Special Area of Conservation. The most valuable features here are the preserved open steppes, inhabited by a number of rare plants and animals. The diversity of invertebrates here is particularly exceptional. In the drying pools and puddles, we can find trilobite-like crustaceans such as the summer leaf-footed bug and the Branchipus schaefferi.

During the excursion, we will visit the reserve with an expert guide and move directly among wild animals – Exmoor ponies and back-bred aurochs. Participation is at your own risk. Participants in the excursion are required to stay with the group and follow all instructions given by our guide. Expect mild to moderate physical activity – we will be walking off the path and hiking several kilometres.

Excursion 2. Pražská pastvina (The Prague Pasture)

Join us for a walk through one of Prague’s most remarkable natural sites – the Prague Pasture, where goats, sheep and volunteers help to restore steppe habitats and bring butterflies back to life.

Along the way (approx. 3 km, mostly easy terrain with some slopes) we will talk about:

* why we cut shrubs and trees instead of planting them,

* how traditional grazing helps endangered species,

* and how everyone can take simple steps to help nature to thrive.

You will see how care of the landscape, animals and people come together to form a living community – and maybe find inspiration for your own corner of the world. At the end of the excursion, we will make a fire and prepare typical Czech “bushcraft food”, roasted sausages.

Please note that we will be in nature – there are no lavatories onsite, but there will be water provided for you to wash your hands and paper to dry them.

This excursion is part of the Prague Pasture project, which takes care of 50 hectares of protected steppe landscapes within the Bohemian Karst. They combine nature conservation with community life – grazing animals, maintaining orchards, and welcoming volunteers from all over the world.

Excursion 3. The Prague Rock Climbing Experience

On this half-day adventure, you are going to see what it takes to climb a 20metre vertical cliff, and you will learn how to rappel down, in the stunning setting of a Natural Park just outside Prague.

The instructor will give you detailed instructions at the beginning of the session, and you will have enough time to climb a couple of routes of various difficulties. It will be a fully hands-on experience, and thanks to the special belay devices we use, you are not only going to learn how to climb but also how to belay other group members!

After about 2 hours of intense climbing, you will grab a beer (or another cold drink) or two with your instructor, share your fresh feelings about the whole experience, and get some tips on what to do and see in Prague during your visit.

The climbing part of this trip will take about 2 hours, during which all members of the group will have a chance to climb 3 or more different routes and rappel down a 20+ m cliff. Adrenaline and memories! The excursion meets the highest possible safety standards. High-end climbing equipment will be available, and you will be accompanied by professional, licensed climbing instructors.

Excursion 4. Pragulic

Pragulic is a social enterprise that challenges the stereotypes associated with homelessness by enabling people to experience the world from the perspective of the homeless.

Experience Prague through the eyes of a homeless person and learn their story – the tour guides are or were homeless for many years, and they talk about their life during the tours. They will show you places you would not normally get to see or visit.

Excursion 5. Prague – The Intersection of Cultural and Ecology (History Walk)

Can you imagine that a cultural pearl such as Prague would never have existed without ecosystem services? You probably can. Yet Prague — largely intact even after the Second World War — offers a rare opportunity to observe the historical interaction between nature and culture directly, with your own eyes.

Against the backdrop of a city of 1.3 million people lies a natural core that is also the historical core of everything that has happened here since the early Middle Ages. Events that took place in Prague shaped the history of Europe, and people connected with Prague have left traces as far away as Central America and Asia.

This walk-and-talk will provide basic historical context for Prague (and Czech) history, but above all it will highlight the natural and social conditions that are not always easily visible in today’s city. The focus is on how nature and society have co-evolved, and how ecosystem services have quietly underpinned Prague’s cultural development.

We will meet at the conference venue and travel together by public transport to Prague Castle, where the walk begins. Along the way, we will pass through some famous (and touristy) locations, but we will also visit places largely hidden from most visitors — gardens, public parks, and overlooked corners of the city. These spaces allow us to experience ‘nature within culture’. For this reason, the walk is also suitable for those who have already taken a conventional tour of Prague: the places may sometimes be familiar, but the perspective will not be. As far as we know, this tour has never been offered before.

The walk will last approximately 3.5 hours, cover around 3–4 km, and proceed at a relaxed pace. We plan to finish in a traditional Prague restaurant, enjoying a typical Czech lager — often considered the country’s most iconic provisioning service. Participants are warmly encouraged to engage intellectually: a small interactive game will be part of the excursion.

The tour is guided by Linda Blättler, a PhD student in ecosystem services and a long-time student of Prague’s history. Her interdisciplinary perspective — shaped by decades of engagement with the city and transformed by an ecosystem services lens — offers a distinctive way of seeing Prague. After this unique walk, you may still dream of knights on horseback, but also of tables filled with trade-offs.

Everyone who wishes to spend time in the city while still being immersed in nature is welcome.