The trail to Hazmburk castle from Libochovice – 11 km (there and back)

• The ruins of the 14th century Hazmburk castle are one of the most prominent landscape features anywhere in the country. 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.
• 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 marked trail around the hill (the YELLOW trail) is often very muddy and slippery. It can be avoided by taking the (much more pleasant) unmarked track in the opposite direction through the vineyards, to join with the RED trail. The round trip from the cark is 4km.
• However, a nicer way to visit Hazmburk is to take the trail from the town of Libochovice (which has good bus and train connections with main line train stations in Louny and Lovošice). Libochovice itself is worth visiting for its famous early Baroque chateau and park area. Combining the short walk around the park with the visit to Hazmburk makes an excellent combined trip.
• The trail from Libochovice to Hazmburk starts by following the main road, but soon veers off into the fields and fruit orchards, offering excellent views of the castle on the approach. 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, belonging the the JohannW winery, which sells wines by the glass (during the summer months). This interesting project is developing several of the ancient vineyards in the České středohoří area – the volcanic soils and river terraces were the source of some of Bohemia’s oldest vineyards, dating back to at least the 11th century.
• After climbing to the ruins and admiring the 360 degree views of the volcanic landscape of České středohoří, there are several options for the return journey to Libochovice. There are occasional buses from the nearby villages of Klapý and Slatina (which is also on the regional train line). Slatina is an unusual circular medieval village, which has farm buildings constructed in a protective ring around the village center. Alternatively, walkers can return back to Libochovice on the outbound trail, resulting an an 11 km walk with 250m of ascent.
• For refreshments, there is a snack bar at the Hazmburk castle ticket office, and there are several options in Libochovice town, including the newly opened Italian style  Café Della Porta, which serves excellent coffee and homemade cakes (located just next to the main entrance to the chateau).

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

• Start the walk on the main square of Libochovice near the chateau (if driving there are a number of free parking spots directly on the street)
• Take the RED trail in the direction of Hazmburk (this is a section of of the classic long distance trail Zlatá stezka Zemí hradů  – “land of castles golden trail”)
• After a 1.8 km section following the main road, the RED trail turns right into the fields along a farm track (this turn appears to be unmarked so is best followed on the mapz.cz phone app)
• After a further 1.9km the trail reaches a cross roads. To the left is the unmarked trail which leads to the car park below Hazmburk. 350 m along this same trail to the left is the winery kiosk (map point 4)
• Continue along the RED trail for 600m through the orchards to reach the Hazmburk trail junction. Here turn left onto the red marked diversion trail that winds up the hill for 600m to reach the ticket office
• After visiting the castle, return back on the same route to the Hazmburk trail junction
• For the return journey, either take the YELLOW trail to Slatina village (for bus or train connections back to Libochovice) or walk back to Libochovice on the outbound trail