Enjoy the magic of the medieval times in Cesky Krumlov

Have you ever felt that you are in a medieval movie? Would you like to? Visit the castle-filled magical town in the South Bohemian region and discover the 6 things we think are a must!

Český Krumlov is one of the most magical places in Czech Republic, lying around three hour from Prague by train. It is one of the most visited places in the country, but oh, it is worth it! In the historical center you can find a lot of well preserved buildings from as early as the 13th century, including a huge marvelous castle. The center is protected by Czech law of preservation and is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Are you hyped? I was! Walking on the streets and around the town makes you feel like you are part of a movie, and there are many ruins and preserved site around that you could spend the whole time just looking at them. We had a three day vacation in the town, we did a lot of things but these are the ones we consider as a must:

Visit the castle

As I mentioned before, the castle is standing since the 13th century, and is considered a world heritage site. It is one of the most preserved castles I have ever seen, and the inside of the castle offers a peek at the inside garden, canals with bears guarding them, the bridge, the tower, and of course the amazing views on the town. You should definitely make some time to walk around!

See the sunset from the chapel on top of the hill

About 40 minutes walk from the city center, lies a chapel. Like all the sites in this area, it is very old, and it is an active place of worship. In the chapel there is also an exhibition of the history of the place that tells a story of the importance of the chapel to the local population. If you are not interested in the history of the place or the religious sentiment, it is still worth to make the walk just for the elevated view of Český Krumlov. If you have the time, do the trip so you can catch the sunset, you won't regret it!

Take a hike to Dívčí kámen

One of the best place around is a castle ruin from the 14th century, once again, very well preserved, and in the summer even serves as a stage for concerts and events. You can walk the whole way (about 4.5 hours) or take a bus or a train to get you closer and walk the rest of it. On the way you can visit more historical sites, like Zlatá Koruna - a medieval monastery that serves, from time to time, as a home for local art exhibitions.

Take a tour in the mines

On the outskirts of the town you can find graphite mine. The area is known for mining graphite, silver, gold and other minerals. This is the Czech Republic’s last graphite mine, it was abandoned and is active anymore, but they do offer tours inside the mines, you even get to use old rail cars that get you deeper inside the mine. The tour takes about 2 hours, and tells the history of the area and the mines.

Eat in a medieval restaurant and have a beer anywhere (hey, it's Czech Republic after all!)

The town is fully embracing the medieval theme, and has plenty of places that call themselves medieval restaurants. In these restaurants, you will usually find the kitchen in the middle of the room, and they will be cooking on fire! The staff will be dressed according to the times and once again you will feel like you are in a movie, and the best part is that the dishes they serve are also on theme, that way you can try a soup inside a loaf of bread instead a bowl, pork ribs, or anything else you imagine can bring you to the medieval mood. As for the beer, it is Czech republic, so you will find beer everywhere. The town has also a historic Brewery, and some pubs that will sell local craft beer unique for Český Krumlov.

Walk the streets

I just cannot stress it enough how beautiful is the town, just take the time to walk around and soak all the beauty, check if there is an event when you are there, we had a classic cars exhibition on the main square, enter one of the many retro souvenir shops or just enjoy looking at the old buildings. There are also many viewpoints around the town that look on different parts of it, enjoy yourselves!

Final thoughts

Cesky Krumlov will offer you much more than I have suggested in this post, there is something for everyone, there is even an art museum in case this is your thing!

There are many more places to see and much to do in Český Krumlov, these are only the things we liked the most. Explore, discover more places, tell us what we missed!