Walks to the romantic ruins of Orlík castle near Humpolec: 2 km to 8 km

• Orlík castle was constructed at the end of the 14th century on a hill just outside the important early medieval town of Humpolec. It was probably abandoned during the 17th century and gradually fell into disrepair, its walls providing a useful local source of building materials. However, the main tower survived reasonably intact and with creative assistance of modern technology now offers an exceptional viewing platform over the Vysočina landscape. The castle is normally open from April to October (sometimes at weekends only).
• The castle can quickly be reached from the car park just off the main road 34 running between Humpolec and Havlíčkův Brod. It is just a 500m walk uphill to the castle from there. However, for those staying or starting in Humpolec there is an option to take the marked Březina nature trail which circles around Orlík castle, mostly in the forest areas. There are information panels about the nature and history in the area along the route (in Czech only).
• The full nature trail is 8 km long, with around 200m of height to ascend-descend, on generally easy forest paths. There are various short cuts available to reduce the length. There are several refreshment options in the center of Humpolec and some drinks may be available at the ticket office at the castle entrance.

Note: click ‘Show on map’ above to go to a full screen version directly on the mapy.cz site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file

Directions

• If starting at the car park off the main road, it is a 500m easy walk up the hill to reach the castle.
• If starting in Humpolec at the main square, start on the BLUE trail and head in the direction of Rybárna
• Follow the nature trail markings (green-white diagonal stripes) to reach the trail junction at Mlýn after 600m. Here the trail splits – take the left hand fork towards Rybárna
• Follow the trail for 1.4 km to reach the junction of Na Štůlách. Here there is the option to shorten the walk by just under 4 km by taking the YELLOW trail directly to the castle, or continue on the longer route following the nature trail as it winds through the forest, passing the parking area before finally reaching the castle (3.9 km from Na Štůlách)
• From the castle it is 2.1 km back to Humpolec square