A short trip to the iconic twin towers of Hazmburk castle: 4 km

• The ruins of the 14th century Hazmburk castle are one of the most prominent landscape features anywhere in the country, yet few know the actual name of the castle! The two Gothic towers – the Black and the White towers – perched on the summit of an isolated volcanic hill are an iconic landmark in central and northern Bohemia. They merit a visit, if only for the view from the top. In summer, the trip can be combined with a wine tasting on the slopes!
• The hill top was clearly occupied long before the construction of the current Gothic fortress. Relics from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages testify to the importance of the site in ancient times. There was almost certainly an old Slavic fortification on the hill top prior to the new construction, which may have begun in the 13th century. In its day, the castle was considered impregnable and was one of the few Catholic controlled strongholds to withstand a siege by the Hussite forces in the 15th century.
• Most visitors to Hazmburk use the (paid) car park below the castle and then take the marked trail around the hill before climbing to the castle ruins on the old access road. Access to the ruins (which are closed in the winter and on certain other days – check the entrance times on the website) requires payment of a further fee.
• The normal access path to the castle (the YELLOW trail) can be quite muddy and slippery. It can be avoided by taking the unmarked track in the opposite direction through the vineyards, to join with the RED trail. If conditions are dry, use the ‘normal’ route for the descent, making a nice round trip of around 4 km, which includes 170m of ascent/descent.
• Just before reaching the bottom of the hill, the trail passes close to some vineyards – a short diversion will take to the walker to a small kiosk in the vineyards (map point 2). The kiosk belongs the the JohannW winery and it sells wines by the glass during the summer months. This interesting winery project is developing several of the ancient vineyards in the České středohoří area (including those on Hazmburk hill itself). The volcanic soils and river terraces were the source of some of Bohemia’s oldest vineyards, dating back to at least the 11th century.
• For additional refreshments, there is a snack bar at the Hazmburk castle ticket office. If driving though Libochovice town there are various good refreshment options, including the Italian style  Café Della Porta, which serves excellent coffee and homemade cakes (located just next to the main entrance to the chateau).
• Note: for a longer trip consider the ‘there and back’ walk from Libochovice, which is described here.

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

• Starting at the car park below Hazmburk, take the unmarked trail from the car park heading east along the bottom of the hill (do not take the YELLOW trail – use this for descent if conditions are dry)
• After 300 m along the trail to the left is the winery kiosk (map point 2). Continue a further 300m along this path to reach the RED trail and there turn left
• Continue on the RED trail for 1.4 km to reach the summit
• Return down the RED trail for 700m to reach the Hazmburk – rozc junction and there turn left onto the YELLOW trail, which leads back to the car park after 1.4 km