Breclav lies 55 km southeast of Brno at the border with Lower Austria on the Dyje River. The nearest Austrian town is Bernhardsthal. Breclav lies 10 km northwest of the Slovak border at Kuty and 100 km north of the Austrian capital Vienna.

In the 11th century a border castle was established by Duke Bretislaus I which took his name. The castle served as one of the ducal administrative centres in medieval Moravia, later becoming a manor house. The Zierotins rebuilt it in Renaissance style. In 1638 the House of Liechtenstein gained it, but the family did not reside there and in the early 19th century they rebuilt it to artificial ruins as a part of the Lednice-Valtice cultural-natural complex.

Breclav railway station is an important hub in the railroad network (the first junction in Austria-Hungary). It is located at the intersection of the routes to and from Brno - Prague, Ostrava - Krakow/Katowice (Poland), Kuty - Bratislava (Slovakia) and Hohenau an der March - Vienna (Austria). In addition, a local railway to Znojmo also branches out from the station.

Sights include:

• A Renaissance castle from the 16th century with an arcade on the courtyard; during the first half of the 19th century it was completely rebuilt as Neo-Gothic artificial ruins
• St. Wenceslas parish church in the Masaryk Square - a contemporary architecture from 1992-1995 on the spot of a Baroque one destroyed in World War II
• Synagogue - Neo-Romanesque building from 1868 with Neo-Moorish elements inside; nowadays it serves as a part of the town museum
• St. Mary parish church in PoŠtorna - a unique Neo-Gothic construction with a cupola, built in 1895-1898 with use of special bricks from local factory
• Jewish Cemetery with tombstones from the 18th century and a Neo-Gothic morgue from 1892
• Resurrection Chapel from 1875 in an area of the former cemetery in the Sovadina street
• St. Rochus Chapel (in front of the Gymnasium) - built in 1892 in memory of a cholera epidemic
• St. Cyril and Methodius Chapel (in a park in front of the station)- built in 1853-1856 in memory of a recovery of Prince of Liechtenstein, local lord; it served as a place of worship for local Catholic parish before the St. Wenceslas Church was built.
• Pohansko - an archaeological site from Great-Moravian times
• Pohansko castle
• The Lednice-Valtice Area - a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996