The Brda area is indisputably one of the most picturesque landscapes of Europe which was given its special character by the turbulent past and where the traditional way of life has been preserved for much longer than elsewhere in Slovenia. The remnants of medieval architecture, vestiges of the colonate and the consequences of the 1976 earthquake  are perhaps only three signs of the past that were imprinted deeply in Brda and in lives of its inhabitants.

Several castles in Brda, along with churches and the picturesque medieval village of Šmartno, are dating from  the Middle Ages. The colonate, this peculiar way of  contractual relationship between landlords and tenants, called the coloni, could still be found in Brda even in 1950s. The lives of local people were also deeply affected by the two World Wars - the first one caused mass refugee movements while after the second one, a substantial part of Brda remained in Italy due to a new border.

And the earthquake of 1976 which shook Brda houses to their foundations also completely ramshackled all aspects of people's lives. The old was very quickly giving way to the new and the modern. Changes at every level were getting ahead of themselves and were creating great disharmony. In many cases, a tractor came to the house before a toilet or a bathroom.

The cultural heritage of Brda was, as everywhere, shaped and influenced by numerous factors. These were interacting through centuries, leaving behind various traces, from cultivated landscape, typical village architecture, castles, fortified villages, individual houses, typical dry walls and ponds to numerous ethnological curiosities of people's lives, their past and present celebrations, customs and habits and a typical dialect.

Cultural heritage jewels can be seen everywhere in Brda and it primarily depends on us what will attract our attention.

For the visitors interested in architecture, there is plenty to be seen in Brda. From the remnants of simple and modest coloni houses with "žbatafurs" (kitchen extensions with hearths) to castles with mighty towers, castle courtyards (Dobrovo, Vipolže), as well as fortified medieval villages (Šmartno). There are several clustered villages with narrow alleys, where you can see wooden balconies, small lattice windows and many other typical details. Worth of interest are also dry stone walls skillfully built of sandstone, a gray-brown rock typical of the Brda area. True gems are of course to be found in churches: in various parts of altars and other furnishing, in interesting paintings, murals… all the way to patriotic inscriptions from the time after World War II.

Fans of ethnological curiosities will be attracted by wine- growing, wine-storage and fruit-growing traditions while more persistent explorers will be acquainted by the locals with past and present customs and holidays as well as with the peculiarities of the Brda dialect some of which are quite amusing. Part of cultural heritage are also specialties of Brda cuisine you can enjoy in various places in Brda, especially during ethno-colored events.

Although the Brda area is mostly cultivated and transformed into vineyards and orchards, it is also exceptionally interesting for nature lovers. Attentive traveler's eye will notice numerous beauties, while those with more exploring spirit will ask around and the locals will reveal them a lot of interesting local geological, climatic and botanical features.

Thanks to flysch soils, and the climate with plenty of sunshine, sufficient rainfall, hot summers and mild winters, natural conditions in the Brda area are especially favorable for viticulture. Flysch (interchanging layers of marl and sandstone) which is 35 million years old in this area is constantly exposed to weathering and thus producing fertile soil especially suitable for wine-growing.

Vineyards in Brda are mostly located on terraced slopes interspersed with patches of woods where black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) for vineyard poles is growing and where game and singing birds find shelter. Oaks used to be the most common trees in the area (one of the largest oaks can be seen in Drnovk village) while in the northwestern part of Brda around Kožbana chestnut is still characteristic, also the marron, an important food source for many generations in remote villages along the border.

Despite cultivated landscape, diverse plant life can be observed everywhere in Brda, from auricula (which is otherwise an Alpine flower) along the Idrija river to colorful meadows on Korada where numerous orchids and other rare, endangered and thus protected plant species grow throughout the year.

Caves are a rarity in Brda since this is not a karst landscape. To find caves, you have to ask older locals. Otherwise, you can visit Krčnik, a natural stone bridge, and the Korita gorge on the Kožbanjšček creek near the villages of Hruševlje and Pristavo.