A Fairytale-Style Chateau
Hluboká Chateau, located in South Bohemia, ranks among the most beautiful chateaux in the Czech Republic. The snow-white mansion was finished in the 19th century after the owners, the aristocratic Schwarzenberg family, returned from their journey to England and, inspired by Tudor and Elizabethan architecture, decided to rebuild the chateau in the manner of Windsor Castle. You will have an opportunity to see how aristocracy used to live, visit their private rooms and luxurious reception halls with carved wooden boarding, coffered ceilings, elegant stylish furniture, crystal chandeliers and rich collections of paintings, silverware, china and tapestries.
However, the tour around Hluboká Chateau is just the beginning; the town of Hluboká nad Vltavou features a number of nice hotels and family guest houses that will pamper you. There you will find a golf course, summer water park, tennis courts and other sports centres, and the flatland is ideal for lighter hiking trips or cycling. Adrenaline lovers can ride quad-bikes or do parachute jumps and fans of fishing can rent equipment and try their luck in one of the many ponds around the chateau. Other places worth visiting are, for example, the nearby zoo of Ohrada or the Museum of Forestry, Hunting and Fishing at Ohrada Chateau.
Visit Kunětická hora and its dragon!
Even tiny hills rising above the plains around the river Labe look like tall mountains. One of them, near the town of Pardubice, features a late-gothic castle called Kunětická hora. Apart from historical interiors and several exhibitions of various kinds you can admire the largest dragon of all Czech castles, measuring more than eight metres from snout to tail. You will have a lot of fun because handicraft fairs, meetings of hawkers and fencers and many other events regularly take place there, accompanied by various competitions and leisure activities for adults and their children. After a thorough tour you can visit the town of Pardubice.
Did you know that the local racecourse has featured the “Velká pardubická” steeplechase for more than a hundred years and it is the oldest European horse race dating back to 1874 and the second most difficult race in the world, after the Grand National Steeplechase? The local gothic/Renaissance chateau features collections of the East Bohemian Museum such as the exhibitions of weaponry, modern glass, postcards and historical toys. Water lovers will surely appreciate the outdoor swimming pool of Cihelna or a water park that is open throughout the year. If you are into cycling, take a ride along the “Labská” cycle route. Or go to on the quay below the chateau and take a cruise on board the pleasure boat “Arnošt z Pardubic” with a restaurant - you can also try their gourmet cruise, offering a barbecue and various specialities!
Golf at Konopiště
If you would like to combine a tour of an aristocratic mansion with golf, visit Konopiště Chateau and the successor of the Habsburg throne. However, you will not meet Franz Ferdinand d'Este in person, but it was he who turned Konopiště Chateau into his private residence at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The archduke furnished the chateau with superb antique furniture and had a vast collection of weaponry and hunting trophies. The tour includes greenhouses with exotic and tropical plants as well as a spacious English park and ornamental gardens. After that you can finally head off for a nice game of golf - just a few kilometres from the chateau you will discover one of the finest golf resorts in the Czech Republic. Apart from 18-hole championship courses and a 9-hole course open to the public you will find a manor situated in the centre of the resort offering luxurious suites, a clubroom, reception, a shop selling golf equipment, the Steak House restaurant and a conference hall hosting golf and other events.
Take a Stroll around the Loučeň Chateau!
Apart from its interiors, illustrating the lifestyle and history of the Czech branch of the Thurn-Taxis family at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Loučeň Chateau has a vast park with ten unique mazes and labyrinths. The first labyrinth complex in the Czech Republic and the only one in Europe was designed by Adrian Fischer, a world-famous master of this extraordinary craft.
Each of the Loučeň labyrinths and mazes looks different and they also differ in the materials used. You will discover a lovely colourful labyrinth made of glazed burnt bricks, a grass labyrinth with lines covered with crushed brick, another is paved with limestone boards, one is a box-tree hedge labyrinth and the courtyard features a light labyrinth. A maze constructed of ropes with four different colours will be great fun for you and your friends, and lonely players will surely appreciate the “finger maze”, carved in a large menhir. An educational trail will take you around the park, with instruction panels advising on how to get out of the labyrinth. Loučeň offers accommodation in a stylish chateau hotel with a restaurant and café.
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