Backpacking in the Kingdom Of Wallachia: The Wacky Country Bordering Czechia

Valašské Kralovství – The Kingdom of Wallachia

Let the madness begin again as I reached country 181 on my mission to visit 200 real countries at the age of 40. This place, the Kingdom of Wallachia (in Czech – Valašské Kralovství) dates back to 1997 and borders Czechia. It fitted in nicely with my trip to Prague to watch Czechia v. Northern Ireland in the international football friendly, where I stayed in the excellent Plus Prague Hostel. At this point, can I also mention that Northern Ireland won the match 3-2 (having been 3-0 up at half-time!).

The Kingdom of Wallachia was one of two Czechia based Micronations I planned to visit, however my visa and permit to enter the Femidom Sexual Queendom, OWK was declined by one of the mistresses, so Wallachia it was to be.

What is the Kingdom of Wallachia (Valašské Kralovství)?

The Kingdom of Wallachia (Czech: Valašské Kralovství) is named after the region of Moravian Wallachia and is a tongue-in-cheek micronation that was founded in 1997 by the photographer Tomáš Harabiš as an “elaborate practical joke”. It’s no joke though – own passports and even passport stamps – I really backpacked it!

The location is in the northeast corner of Czechia, 230 miles from Prague. Since the country’s formation, a reported 80,000 Czech citizens have acquired “Wallachian Passports”. It’s a real country and up there with my visit to wacaday fantasy kingdoms such as Narnia (which borders Northern Ireland), Krolestwo Dreamlandu (which borders Poland) and San Escobar (which also borders Poland).

The flag of the country is this:

The coat of arms of the country is this:

The passport of the Kingdom of Wallachia looks like this:

A soldier guarding the Kingdom of Wallachia looks like this:

How to get to the Kingdom of Wallachia

I’ll write a full guide on crossing the border from Czechia into the Kingdom of Wallachia. My arrival was on a direct train from Prague (Czechia’s capital city) to Valašské Meziříčí. From the Kingdom’s official website, here are the many ways to get to the Kingdom of Wallachia:

From the entire world …… Air connection to the Wallachian Kingdom, to its airport in Ostrava – Mošnov, is provided by two airlines – Air Ostrava and CSA. After the arrival in Prague, continue with another one hour flight eastwards and you will be in our country. Europeans can drive to us through Prague or Brno and then take the north-east direction.

From other parts of Czechia

By car : If you drive by car, you´ll be using some of the following roads:

If you drive from Prague: You can take highway D1 to Brno and from Brno take E462 through Olomouc to Hranice na Moravě, where you turn on E422 and continue in direction of Valašské Meziříčí, where you´ll be already in the Wallachian Kingdom. You can also continue farther on E462 towards Nový Jičín and Příbor or all the way to Frýdek-Místek and enter the kingdom from its north-west side. The trip will take you six or more hours depending on the speed of you car.

By bus : Bus connection to the kingdom is fairly good. Just take a look at the bus timetables in larger cities or ask at information desks. You need to get to Vsetín, Valašské Meziříčí, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm etc. Ticket prices and timetables change fast, so it does make sense to write about them. But you will manage.

By train : This was my route into the Kingdom of Wallachia and I recommend it – it was easy to book a ticket, board the train and relax on route. The main railway, which will get you to us, is route 270 (Prague) – Česká Třebová – Přerov – Bohumín. However, in Hranice na Moravě you must change to route 280, which will get you to Valašské Meziříčí and then even farther to Vsetín. Valašské Meziříčí was my first stop in the Kingdom of Wallachia.

From Slovakia By car : From Slovakia to us lead several roads. The most frequently used are E442 through Makov, road 49 from Puchov or road 57 from Nová Dubnica.

Getting Your Passport Stamped in the Kingdom of Wallachia

The good news for Every Passport Stamp geeks, is that you CAN get your passport stamped here. I decided to visit two cities in the Kingdom of Wallachia, starting off in Valašské Meziříčí. It was here in the tourist information office that I was able to get my passport stamped. Valašské Meziříčí is the largest city in the Kingdom of Wallachia, however it is NOT the capital city. The capital city lies further east and deeper into the countryside – that honour is owned by Valašské Klobouky, which has only 5,000 inhabitants and to all intents and purposes is the recognised capital city of the Kingdom of Wallachia.

Valašské Meziříčí, Kingdom of Wallachia

While Valašské Meziříčí is the biggest city, it’s not the capital of the Kingdom of Wallachia but I wanted to visit this place, you can read about Valašské Meziříčí on Wikipedia, Facebook and the Official City Page . I liked the city flag, which is very spookily similar to the flag of one of my favourite Polish cities – Starogard Gdanski. That, was unplanned and uncanny.

Souvenirs from the Kingdom of Wallachia

Again, great news for souvenir buffs is that the region has many and various souvenirs. I personally picked up postcards, stamps, leaflets and a fridge magnet. I got these in the tourist information office, shops and cafes of Valašské Meziříčí and Hranice. None of them have the flag of the Kingdom of Wallachia on them however, since most Czechs don’t recognise the country’s existence. It’s not a contentious issue though – many still see the Kingdom of Wallachia as merely a joke left in 1997.

The country issues its own passports, stamps and coins. However in the failure to get actual coins or banknotes, I picked up a fake “One Tipping Dollar” banknote in a bar in Prague, Czechia. It was basically an advert for a strip club, but I personally don’t recognise it as Czech currency so I include it in my goody bag and souvenir getation from the Kingdom of Wallachia!!

Sightseeing in the Kingdom of Wallachia

Again, my article on this will follow as I visited both Valašské Meziříčí and Hranice in the Kingdom of Wallachia and should compile a top backpacking sights article. Overall, the main square in Valašské Meziříčí, as well as churches, bridges, rivers, bars and restaurants were the main sights. It’s a very beautiful kingdom, here’s a sneak preview…

Good websites and links to check out:

Kingdom of Wallachia on Wikipedia
Kingdom of Wallachia on Facebook
United Website for the Kingdom of Wallchia’s people
Czech radio report on their “country that doesn’t exist”
English Independent Newspaper Report on this wacaday country

Valašské Meziříčí city website

Contact the Kingdom of Wallachia:

Here are some videos I made whilst backpacking in the Kingdom of Wallachia: