Castle Tour

Tracing the Aristocrats. The tour of castles leads us back to the 16th century, when aristocratic families fiercely competed for the power over the Krkonose Mountains and its foothills. At this time the local renaissance castles were built.

In the middle of the 16th century the King appointed the young Christoph von Gendorf from Austria as an adviser for mining and coinage. He quickly notices the wealth of mining resources in tte Krkonose Mountains and in 1533 acquired the manor of Vrchlabi and later on the manors of Trutnov and Zacler in the eastern Krkonose Mountains. In Vrchlabi he established Czechia´s largest ironworks.

Still, it wasn´t easy for him being a foreigner in Czechia. The Wallenstein family, his neighbours to the south and west (with the manors Hostinne and Stepanice), felt threatened by his activities and his expansion. All that´s left of the Stepanice castle are some foundation walls in the woods. In the second half of the 16th century the land was divided between Horni Branna, where Zdenek von Wallenstein built his castle, and Jilemnice where Krinecti von Ronov built his.

Today, the castles of Vrchlabi and Horni Branna are the domiciles of the city councils. A tiled stove in renaissance style is being preserved in the Vrchlabi castle. The castle of Horni Branna houses a Comenius-Museum and in the castle of Jilemnice you can visit the museum of local ski sport.

This trail (Zamecka stezka in Czech) starts at the Jilemnice chateau. Go past the kindergarten and hospital and take the dirt track to a junction where you take cycle track 4206 to the left. Continue past the U obrazku junction, the Hrabenka multi-sports facility, Martinicke fishponds and along the Old Chateau Track to the chateau in Horni Branna. Turn for Vrchlabi, turn right onto the dirt track just before the hill top and descend to Vrchlabi’s Vejsplachy fishpond. Continue through the town for the Vrchlabi chateau, then uphill past the Augustinian Monastery and take the green-marked hiking trail to Valterice and via Zlabek forest back to Jilemnice.

• Length: 27 km
• Surface: the route runs on asphalt, paved and unpaved surfaces.
• Attractions: Jilemnice Palace, Martinice ponds, J. A. Komensky Monument Horní Branná, Life at the Foot of the Mountains Permanent Exhibition Horní Branná, pond Vejsplachy, Vrchlabi Palace, Augustinian Monastery Vrchlabí