A walk around the English park at the historic Kynžvart chateau: 3 km

• Kynžvart is one of Bohemia’s grandest chateaux, situated a few kilometers northwest of the UNESCO World Heritage spa town of Mariánské Lázně. The neoclassicist chateau, constructed in the early 19th century was refurbished in 2000 and is open for guided tours from March to November. The extensive English park area is also slowly being refurbished and is today combined with an 18 hole golf course. The public can still walk around much of the park though!
• Kynžvart chateau was acquired after the 1620 Battle of White Mountain by the German Metternich family and remained in the family’s ownership until its confiscation by the Czechoslovak State in 1945. Originally a Renaissance chateau, which was then remodelled into a Baroque form in the 17th century, Kynžvart’s current grand appearance is due to a major reconstruction undertaken by the famous Chancellor and Diplomat, Klemens Metternich, between 1820 and 1839. The Metternich’s created a remarkable private library and historic artifact collection, which can be viewed on one of the tours.
• The chateau entrance is a 1.5 km walk from the Lázně Kynžvart train station, but there is a bus stop, just next to the entrance and a paid parking area. There is currently no marked trail around the park, but there are various signposts in the grounds. Highlights of the short walk include the open air wooden chapel, constructed on a rocky knoll, various ponds and some photogenic granite boulder fields.
• For refreshments, there is a café inside the chateau and the restaurant at the golf clubhouse is also open to the general public.

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

• As there is currently no marked trails in the park, the suggested roiute shown above is best followed using the mapz.cy application. There are, however, a few wooden signposts in the park directing walkers to key features