Free Walking Tour Český Krumlov: Castle and Old Town

The Český Krumlov walking tour, stop by stop

1. 1

   Náměstí Svornosti

   

   Start on the main square, because the whole town takes its measure from here. The fountain, the Marian column and the Renaissance town hall stand within a few strides of each other, so one slow turn on the spot gives you the old town's centre in a single view. The square is free and open around the clock.

   Take a moment to get your bearings before you head off. Radniční, the lane that carries the route toward the castle, leaves directly from this square, and the walk back at the end of the day brings you into this same quarter again.

   The square is also the town's stage. From late November into early January the Christmas market sets up here, mulled wine and an ice rink included, and at Easter it returns with hand-painted eggs and folk music. On the third weekend of June the Five-Petalled Rose Festival turns the clock back to 1586 with costumed processions and jousting, and more than 30,000 visitors pour into a town of roughly 14,000. If your dates land on that weekend, plan around the festival rather than a quiet walk.

   In July and August day-trippers fill the square from noon until five, one more reason to start early. From here it is only 190 m and two minutes to the tower, and on the way you pass the Marionette Museum.

   Hours

   Freely accessible, no opening hours

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Náměstí Svornosti on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Castle Tower

   

   The tower rises from the second courtyard of the castle, above the rooftops of the town. It belongs to the oldest part of the complex, the Hrádek, a palace with a tower from the 13th century and paintings from 1580.

   Climb it for the moment the town finally makes sense. The Vltava swings in a 270-degree loop around the old town, and from up here the whole horseshoe opens at once: the square you just left, the roofs packed inside the bend, the castle stretching along its rock. In October the forests around the loop turn red and gold, and on late-October mornings mist lifts off the river slowly, in layers. An early autumn morning up here is the high point of this route for many walkers.

   The ticket is a combination and a fair one: it buys both the climb and the self-guided Castle Museum. If you pay for exactly one interior on this walk, make it this one, because the tower is the place where the town itself becomes the exhibit.

   From the tower the route crosses the castle grounds to Cloak Bridge, 710 m and about 12 minutes on foot.

   Hours

   Jul–Aug Mon–Thu & Sun 09:00–17:30, Fri–Sat 09:00–18:30; Sep–Oct Mon–Sun 09:00–16:30; Nov–Dec Tue–Sun 09:00–15:30 (last admission 15 min before closing)

   Price

   280 CZK full, 220 CZK reduced

   Website

   castle.ckrumlov.cz ↗

   Location

   Castle Tower on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Cloak Bridge

   

   Cloak Bridge, Plášťový most in Czech, is no ordinary river crossing but a piece of the castle itself, built across a deep gorge to tie the Upper Castle to the baroque castle theatre, the fifth courtyard and the garden. Look at how it is stacked: three tiers of arches on piers at the bottom, an open covered walkway with statues in the middle, and three closed levels on top that hide two connecting corridors.

   Those corridors were the private paths of the court. The lower one runs from the Masquerade Hall to the theatre; the upper one links the castle picture gallery to the garden and continues all the way to the Minorite monastery in Latrán. The lords could move across their whole residence without once stepping into the street.

   On the parapet stand four baroque saints: Anthony of Padua, Felix of Cantalice, Wenceslas and John of Nepomuk. They are copies; the originals are kept in the castle lapidarium. In the Middle Ages a dug moat lay here, crossed by a footbridge with a drawbridge. The bridge you see grew in stages, in 1686, 1707, 1748 and 1765, and owes its baroque form to Duke Joseph I Adam of Schwarzenberg (1722 to 1782), who lifted the economy of the town and the duchy and also had the whole castle and its theatre rebuilt in baroque style.

   The bridge is free to cross during the opening hours of the castle grounds. From here it is just 180 m, two minutes, into the castle courtyards.

   Local name

   Plášťový most

   Hours

   Freely accessible during the opening hours of the castle grounds

   Price

   Free

   Website

   castle.ckrumlov.cz ↗

   Location

   Cloak Bridge on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Český Krumlov Castle

   

   Český Krumlov Castle stretches along a long, steep rocky headland with the Vltava below it to the south. It is the second-largest castle and chateau complex in the Czech Republic after Prague Castle, and the second most visited. The approach crosses the bridge over the Bear Moat and leads through a passage into the Lower Castle.

   Its history reads like a relay of families. The first castle stood here in 1253, seat of Witiko of Prčice from the Vítkovci. When that line died out in 1302 the Rosenbergs took over, and William of Rosenberg gave the castle its Renaissance makeover. After the Rosenbergs ended in the 17th century, Emperor Ferdinand II handed Krumau to Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg and made him Duke of Krumau. His son's widow, Anna Maria, ran the estate from 1649 to 1664, and her son Johann Christian I added the baroque wings, including the castle theatre now called the Eggenberg Theatre.

   In 1717 the Eggenberg male line died out and the Schwarzenbergs inherited. Their property passed to the state in 1947 and became Czechoslovak state property in 1950. The complex was declared a national monument in 1989 and joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992.

   The courtyards are free during the day. Tour Route I through the interiors is a separate paid ticket and only runs in the season. Book it if state rooms are your thing; otherwise the courtyards and the tower already tell the story. From here it is 630 m and 11 minutes up to the garden, past the Baroque Castle Theatre.

   Hours

   Castle courtyards freely accessible during the day; Tour Route I: Jun–Aug Tue–Sun 09:00–17:00, Sep–Oct Tue–Sun 09:00–16:00, Mon closed

   Price

   300 CZK full, 240 CZK reduced (Tour I); castle courtyards free

   Website

   zamek-ceskykrumlov.cz ↗

   Location

   Český Krumlov Castle on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Castle Baroque Garden

   

   Above the castle the grounds open into a 17th-century baroque garden. Look for the cascade fountain, the rococo pavilion, the castle pond and a revolving auditorium, which turns exactly the way the name suggests. After the stone of the courtyards, the open space itself is the reward, and entry is free.

   The season decides whether this stop delivers. The garden only opens in the warmer half of the year and stays closed through the winter, and the fountains, the cascade above all, run only in the warm season. In the first weeks of May the lilacs and fruit trees are in bloom.

   The little Bellaria pavilion inside the garden charges its own entry. Unless summer palaces are your weakness, the free garden is the better half of that bargain.

   This is the natural half-time of the walk and a good place to sit down for a while. Then the route turns back toward town: 920 m and 13 minutes down to the Egon Schiele Art Centrum, passing Krumlov Mill on the way.

   Local name

   Zámecká zahrada Český Krumlov

   Hours

   May–Sep Mon–Sun 07:00–19:00; Oct Mon–Sun 07:00–17:00; Nov–Apr closed

   Price

   Free

   Website

   castle.ckrumlov.cz ↗

   Location

   Castle Baroque Garden on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Egon Schiele Art Centrum

   

   Before you go in, look at the building. The Egon Schiele Art Centrum sits in the former town brewery, which brewed from 1608 until 1949. Four burgher houses once stood on this plot. The town won brewing rights in 1503 to cover its heavy expenses, bought one house as a malt house in 1523 to supply the small private breweries around it, then added the neighbour on the left in 1584 and the one on the right in 1606.

   After a rebuild by local master mason Hans Haas and the architect Domenico Benedetto Cometta from Budweis, the town's own brewery started at the end of 1608, earlier than the lords' Eggenberg brewery in Latrán. When the houses were numbered in 1882, the far-left house still counted as separate and got number 70, while the brewery carries number 71. The sgraffito façade has changed over time: around 1900 it showed dark, so-called diamond shadows, today it is plain shadowless ashlar plaster.

   The art centre was founded in 1992 by Hana Jirmusová from the Czech Republic, Gerwald Sonnberger from Austria and Serge Sabarsky from the United States. Since 1993 it has shown a permanent documentary exhibition on the life and work of the Austrian painter Egon Schiele (1890 to 1918), with prints, watercolours, drawings and items from his personal estate, alongside 20th-century and contemporary art.

   Go in if Schiele means something to you; the art centre charges its own entry. St. Vitus Church is 270 m and four minutes away, past Hospoda Na Louži.

   Hours

   Mon: Closed | Tue–Sun: 10:00–18:00

   Price

   280 CZK full, 230 CZK reduced

   Website

   esac.cz ↗

   Location

   Egon Schiele Art Centrum on Google Maps ↗

7. 7

   St. Vitus Church

   

   St. Vitus Church was the main sanctuary of the Rosenberg lands and later of the Duchy of Krumlov, which is why the same families you met at the castle run through its story. The late-Gothic building you see went up between 1407 and 1438, on foundations of an older church; parts of the nave masonry date from the second half of the 14th century. It has been a national cultural monument since 1995.

   The first church here was founded in 1309, Peter I of Rosenberg built the first presbytery in 1317, and Master Linhart rebuilt it in 1340. Henry III of Rosenberg then started the big rebuild, because the growing town no longer fitted inside. A surviving contract between pastor Hostislav and Master Jan spells out the plan: eight columns to carry a sexpartite vault modelled on the church of St. Giles in Milevsko, and a net vault inspired by Peter Parler's St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. Master Jan Staněk of the Prague stonemason family began the work but, for reasons nobody knows, did not stay.

   The Passau bishop Leonard von Laiming consecrated the church in 1439. Before 1500 an organ loft was added, later a massive Rosenberg mausoleum and a new altar with the Rosenberg rider coat of arms; the Jesuits pressed for both to be removed, and they gradually disappeared.

   Entry is free, so step inside even if you only have a few minutes and look up at the vaults. Seminary Garden is only 130 m and two minutes further.

   Local name

   Kostel svatého Víta v Českém Krumlově

   Hours

   Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri 09:00–16:30, Tue, Sat 09:00–18:00, Sun 11:00–18:00

   Price

   Free

   Website

   ckrumlov.info ↗

   Location

   St. Vitus Church on Google Maps ↗

8. 8

   Seminary Garden

   

   A short way up Horní, opposite the museum, Seminary Garden is a public park and viewing terrace, open around the clock and free. It is the one stop without an agenda: you stand at the edge and look back at the castle complex you walked through a few hours ago, the tower, the courtyards and the long line of buildings on the rock.

   Between June and September the castle is lit up in the early evening, and this terrace gives you a free seat for it. If your afternoon was full, this is the stop to come back to after dark.

   The last stop is right next door: 40 m, one minute, to the Regional Museum.

   Local name

   Seminární zahrada v Českém Krumlově

   Hours

   Freely accessible, no opening hours

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Seminary Garden on Google Maps ↗

9. 9

   Regional Museum Český Krumlov

   

   The Regional Museum Český Krumlov fills an early-baroque building put up between 1650 and 1652 on the plots of six medieval houses. The Jesuits used it as a seminary, it was altered in 1750, and after the order was dissolved in 1773 it stayed in use as a school.

   Museum work in the town goes back to 1891, and from 1916 to 1938 a German municipal museum operated here; its objects still form the core of the collection. In June 1946 the decision was made to found a new museum at Horní 152, and the first exhibition opened in 1952. During a renovation in the 1970s the museum moved temporarily into the second courtyard of the castle and returned in 1980.

   The piece to see is the ceramic model of Český Krumlov as it looked around 1800, at a scale of 1:200, made by the local artists Petr Pešek and Jana Pešková and the largest ceramic town model in the world. After a day on foot, finding the square, the bridge and the brewery in miniature is the perfect closing. The permanent exhibition also covers archaeology, crafts, folk culture and historic pharmacy, with late-Gothic statues of St. Peter and St. Paul from Svéraz and of St. Barbara and St. Catherine from Svatý Tomáš, carved in the 1380s.

   Entry is cheap, which makes it the easiest yes on the route.

   Local name

   Regionální muzeum v Českém Krumlově

   Hours

   Tue–Sun 09:00–12:00 and 12:30–17:00 (last admission 11:30 and 16:30), Mon closed

   Price

   Kč 60

   Website

   muzeumck.cz ↗

   Location

   Regional Museum Český Krumlov on Google Maps ↗

Three ways to walk the Český Krumlov route

The route splits naturally into the castle hill and the upper old town. Pick the half that fits your time, or walk all of it without buying a single ticket.

Castle hill only

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

For a morning with one big interior. From the square up to the tower, across Cloak Bridge, through the courtyards and into the garden: 27 minutes of walking. The tower ticket includes the Castle Museum; the guided Tour Route I inside the castle is a separate ticket if you want the state rooms too. Keep this one for the warmer months, when the garden is open.

Free outdoor loop

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

For tight budgets or a second, slower day. Walk the whole route in 48 minutes and stay outside every paid door: square, courtyards, bridge, garden, the façades of the brewery and the seminary, St. Vitus Church and the view from Seminary Garden cost nothing. Count on about two hours with time to look around.

Upper town, art and history

Stops: 6, 7, 8, 9

For an afternoon after a castle morning, or for anyone who cares more about Schiele than about state rooms. Four stops, seven minutes of walking. Egon Schiele Art Centrum and the Regional Museum charge entry, the church and the garden terrace are free.

How long the Český Krumlov tour takes with tower and museums

The pure walking time is 48 minutes over 3.1 km. The longest legs are the 710 m from the tower over to Cloak Bridge and the 920 m down from the castle garden into town; everything after the Egon Schiele Art Centrum sits within a few hundred metres.

Realistically, plan about five hours: roughly an hour for the tower and the Castle Museum, half an hour in the courtyards and on the bridge, half an hour in the garden, an hour with Schiele, and a short look into St. Vitus and the Regional Museum. Add the guided castle tour and you have a full day. The castle-hill variant fits a morning, the upper-town variant an afternoon, and the free outdoor loop takes about two hours.

Before you set off in Český Krumlov

• Start and finish: The recommended start is Náměstí Svornosti and the walk ends at the Regional Museum Český Krumlov, a short way from the square. You can join at any stop, and the GPS navigation in your browser leads you from the last stop back to the start if you like.
• Best day: Pick your day with the museums in mind: the Egon Schiele Art Centrum, the Regional Museum and the guided castle tour are not open every day of the week. Square, courtyards, bridge and St. Vitus Church are not affected.
• Season: The warmer months are when the whole route works: the castle garden and the guided castle tour are both seasonal. In winter the garden is shut and the tower keeps shorter hours.
• Time of day: Start in the morning, once the tower has opened, and do the castle hill first. That leaves the museums for the afternoon.
• Costs: The tower with the Castle Museum, the Egon Schiele Art Centrum, the Regional Museum and the guided castle tour each charge entry, and reduced tickets exist for each. The route itself and the GPS navigation are free; the AI Tour Guide starts with 100 free credits, then €19.99 for this tour with no time limit or €5 per hour.

Common questions about walking Český Krumlov