A short walk around Blatná and the park area behind the famous water castle: 4 km

• Blatná castle is one of the best preserved (and most important) ‘water’ castles in Bohemia. It dates from the end of the 13th century, but was modified several times over the subsequent centuries, adding late Gothic and Renaissance features, before acquiring its current neo-Gothic appearance in the 19th century. The castle changed hands many times, but since the end of the 18th century has been held by the Hildprandt family (originally a Tyrolean noble house), who continue to restore one of Southern Bohemia’s architectural jewels.
• Behind the castle is an English-style park, today filled with very friendly free roaming deer and a number of colourful peacocks. In prehistoric and early medieval periods the park area was marshland crossed with streams, known for millennia as rich sources of gold. The area was likely settled by both Celtic and Slavic tribes to exploit the mineral wealth through gold-panning. The huge number of mounds in the park are not burial sites but actually waste material discarded from the gold panning, which probably continued for well over a thousand years.
• A walk around the park area is little more than 1 km in length, but if arriving in Blatná by public transport, the castle entrance is 1.5 km from the bus and train stations. The castle is open for guided tours from April to November, while the park is open year round (and has an entrance fee). The area is essentially flat and the walk around the park is easily managed with a stroller.
• Blatná has a number of good refreshment options, including some pleasant cafés. The café in the castle courtyard is popular, but another nice option is Kavárna V Podzámčí Blatná (map point 3).

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’  to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

• From the bus-train station follow the BLUE hiking trail to reach the main town square after 1.2 km
• The castle entrance is 400m from the town square, following the GREEN hiking trail
• After visiting the castle area, explore the park area at leisure
• If preferring a short cut back to the station there is an exit from the park through a turnstile on the northern side of the park
• From this exit it is 500m back to the stations