A walk to the magnificent Kašperk castle, highest royal castle in Bohemia: 3 km
- Kašperk castle is probably the most stunningly situated medieval castle in Bohemia, with extraordinary views over the Šumava mountains. At its time of construction, by King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV in the second half of the 14th century, it was the highest situated royal castle in Bohemia. It is a popular attraction in the Šumava region, with well regarded organized tours of the interior.
- Reaching the castle requires a 1.5 km walk up a gravel road from the nearest car park (payment required). Buses to the same spot run from Sušice and Kašperské Hory. Unless walking with a stroller (in which case the direct gravel path is the only option) consider taking the circular route first passing over the Pustý hrádek viewpoint. This offers a superb view over Kašperk. The ruined walls are the remains of a forward observation post, probably built at the start of the 15th century.
- The path up and down from Pustý hrádek is quite steep, but otherwise the route has few difficulties with 100m of height to climb-descend over the 3.3 km circuit. Opposite the car park is the excellent Pension and Restaurant Rychta na Račánku which serves good food.
- For a longer walk also including this circuit around, consider extending the trip to climb up to the Sedlo lookout tower, which is also the site of an import Celtic hillfort. For more details on this site see the separate Sedlo walk page. Extending the trip to visit Sedlo hill adds 7 km to the tour, if walking from Kašperk castle to Sedlo summit and then back to the car park. Note – the ascent and descent to-from Sedlo are quite steep if tackled from the Kašperk side. It is a gentler walk from the Albrechtice side.
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 follow the GREEN trail up the hill on the side road to reach the Žlíbek junction in 400m
- If taking the circuit over Pustý hrádek, turn left and follow the YELLOW trail for 900m to reach the viewpoint
- Descend the hill on the far side, following the YELLOW trail for 400m to reach the castle entrance area
- After visiting the castle, descend back to the car park following the GREEN trail. The car park is reached in 1.5 km
