*Easy walks around Zruč nad Sázavou, including its famous chateau and park area: 2 km to 10 km*
- The Neo-Gothic chateau at Zruč nad Sázavou, which was built on the site of an older Renaissance castle, is one of the best preserved (and photogenic) chateaux in Bohemia. Tour the chateau and its extensive gardens on this easy walk and maybe consider extending the trip with a walk beside the Sázava river and up to a fine viewpoint in the hills above the town.
- The chateau interior (which has been furbished to reflect the different periods of existence of the castle-chateau: from medieval times through to the modern day) is open for tours between April and October. The attractive gardens are accessible year-round.
- If travelling by public transport, the best connections (train or bus) are with Kutná Hora. If driving, there is a large free car park directly next to the chateau park (map point 6). It is a 600m walk from the train station to the chateau.
- The tour of the chateau area and gardens is no more than 2 km long and can be managed with a stroller (although there are some step sections). For some refreshment, try the excellent ZRUČné dobroty café directly in the chateau area.
- For a longer walk, consider the 7 km Zruč Nature Trail to the Lookout Tower, which starts at the train station, passes through the chateau park and then follows the riverside cycle track for a section before heading northwards to reach the new lookout tower, Babka, which offers a 360-degree panorama of the countryside around Zruč.
- The trail has information boards at various points (in Czech only). If fully completed the nature trail has just over 200m of height to ascend-descend. The trail should be navigable with a stroller, but the footpath up to the Babka tower is grassy and quite steep.
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
- Starting at the train station, follow the access road for 300m to reach the Zruč nad Sázavou and there join the RED hiking trail which leads into the chateau area
- Walk around the gardens and chateau area at leisure (there is a green-white diagonal marked nature trail with information boards to follow if desired)
- For the Babka viewpoint trail, follow the blue nature trail markers starting in the center of the park area
