A visit to Loučeň chateau and its park areas, including a collection of labyrinths – 2 km to 7 km
- Loučeň is a well preserved Baroque chateau situated in an extensive English-style park, some 15km north of Nymburk in Central Bohemia. It is a popular destination, partly due to its unique collection of mazes and labyrinths in the attractive park area, which attract both young and older visitors. The chateau offers guided tours and has both a restaurant and snack bar, both of which are only open in the main tourist season and weekends/holidays.
- A full tour of the interior park and maze areas is little more than 2 km long. Note that there is an entrance fee to the park. The main paths can be navigated with a stroller but some of the side paths can be a bit muddy.
- For a longer walk, consider a tour in the hunting forest which is adjacent to the chateau. There is a marked trail which leads to the former gamekeeper’s lodge. There is also a marked nature trail, but this appears to be undergoing renovation (as of 2022) and most of the information boards are missing.
- It is also possible to continue through the forest past the gamekeeper’s lodge and on to the village of Jabkenice, where the Czech national composer Bedřich Smetana spent the last years of his life. There is a museum dedicated to Smetana’s period in Jabkenice, where he composed many of his most famous works, including the symphonic poem Má vlast. The museum is housed in the former forestry lodge where Smetana’s daughter and her husband (who was a forester for Loučeň chateau). The route from Loučeň to Jabkenice is 5 km, mostly on flat forest footpaths. There are buses back to Loučeň from Jabkenice.
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
- There are buses to Loučeň (and Jabkenice) from Nymburk and Mladá Boleslav. If driving, there are various parking areas in the village, including a large (paid) area directly next to the chateau
- From the bus stop take the RED hiking trail northwards up the main street to get to the chateau
- The paths around the chateau park area and mazes are shown in a small brochure obtained with the entrance ticket
- After visiting the interior park and chateau, if wanting to continue into the former hunting forest and on to Jabkenice, follow the RED hiking trail past the chateau
- The Smetana museum is reached in 5 km
