Orlík nad Vltavou castle, Czech Republic

Orlík Castle stands on a rocky promontory above the Vltava in South Bohemia, about 20 km north of Písek. It was founded as a royal castle in the second half of the 13th century to guard a ford across the river. The Eggenbergs acquired it in 1623 and the Schwarzenbergs inherited it in 1717; between 1849 and 1860 they had it remodelled in the romantic neo-Gothic style, which gave it its white walls, battlements and turrets. Confiscated by the Communist regime after 1948, the castle was returned to the Schwarzenbergs in the 1990s and is still the family’s property.

The castle once stood about 60 metres above the river, but the Orlík Dam, built between 1954 and 1962, created a long reservoir and the water now reaches almost to the foot of its walls. The guided tour leads through Empire-style rooms with the family’s art collection, the Hunters’ Hall and the state rooms. Around the castle lies a 143-hectare English-style park with the neo-Gothic Schwarzenberg tomb, where the former Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg was laid to rest in 2023.

Visitor Information

A guided tour costs CZK 450; children, students and visitors over 65 pay CZK 350, and children under 6 enter free. The castle is open only at weekends and on public holidays in April, May, June, September and October (09:00–16:00), and every day except Monday in July and August (09:00–17:00). It is closed from November to March.

The best views of the castle are from the water or from the far shore of the reservoir. In summer, excursion boats run on the reservoir, and the Gothic Zvíkov Castle, at the confluence of the Vltava and the Otava, is a short drive to the south.

Orlík is about 90 km south of Prague by road, roughly an hour and a half by car. Public transport is limited to buses to the village of Orlík nad Vltavou, so most visitors come by car.