Czechia · Self-guided walk
Český Krumlov in one walk 8 sights, 35 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Český Krumlov Old Town: 8 sights on one 2.4 km loop, about 35 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 2.4 km, a loop
- Time
- about 35 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- hrad a zámek Český Krumlov
- Steps
- on Kláštery Český Krumlov, Myší díra, Zámecké schody
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Český Krumlov walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Český Krumlov, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. hrad a zámek Český Krumlov
the start
The round tower is the one you can see from everywhere, painted from foot to top in bands of colour that no other tower here bothers with. Visitors are allowed up it. From the gallery the whole bend lies open below you, with every lane you have already eaten laid out in it.
Next: Pivovar Eggenberg, 340 m, about 5 min, along Zámek, Kláštery Český Krumlov, Nové Město.
2. Pivovar Eggenberg
about 5 minutes of walking from the start
A yard on the river side with a gate you can walk straight through. Go in, stand in the middle, and look up at the roofs closing it on three sides. The lane outside smells of the place long before you get there, which is how I find it in the dark.
Next: Lazebnický most, 300 m, about 5 min, along Nové Město, Latrán.
3. Lazebnický most
about 10 minutes of walking from the start
Everything funnels through here. It is short, it is crowded, and most of the people on it are aiming a phone in exactly the same direction. Point yours the other way, upstream, where the water swings into the bend. Then keep moving, because this is the one spot where standing still turns you into furniture.
Next: Městský pivovar, 340 m, about 5 min, along Dlouhá, Hradební.
4. Městský pivovar
about 15 minutes of walking from the start
The far western end of the level, past the point where the crowds give up. The lanes out here are wider and emptier, and behind an ordinary gate there is a long yard that nobody is queueing for. Go and look, then walk back up. Somebody has to eat the quiet ones.
Next: most Dr. E. Beneše, 180 m, about 3 min, along Hradební.
Lunch break
Hospoda Na Louži, Kájovská 66, about 30 m off the route, open Mon–Sun 10:00–23:00.
A family pub on Kájovská, on the ground floor of an old house in the Old Town. More on what to eat in Český Krumlov.
5. most Dr. E. Beneše
about 18 minutes of walking from the start
The plain one. A road, a pavement and a great deal of air underneath. Nobody stops on it, which is its entire attraction: for thirty seconds the river is yours alone, and thirty seconds is a long time when you are made of rock.
Next: svatý Vít, 160 m, about 2 min, along Kájovská, Kostelní.
6. svatý Vít
about 20 minutes of walking from the start
The tall one on the town side. Its tower turns up over the rooftops from almost every lane in the loop, which is what you steer by down there. Go in when the door is open and look straight up. The ceiling is the best part of it and nobody ever photographs the ceiling.
Next: Regionální muzeum v Českém Krumlově, 160 m, about 2 min, along Horní.
7. Regionální muzeum v Českém Krumlově
about 22 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Tue–Sun 09:00–12:00, 12:30–17:00, Mon closed
Stop outside before you go in. The terrace in front of it hangs out over the roofs below, with the rock and its tower filling the far side. Then go in, because there is one thing in there I would eat if anybody let me near it.
Next: Plášťový most, 720 m, about 11 min, along Parkán, Zámecké schody, Zámek.
8. Plášťový most
about 33 minutes of walking from the start
You meet this one twice: once from beneath, where it looks like a mistake in the rock, and once from the walkway on it, where you find out how far down the bottom is. The best view of the town is from the middle of it. The best view of it is from the lane below. Take both.
Back to the start: hrad a zámek Český Krumlov, 220 m, about 3 min, along Zámek.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Český Krumlov.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 35 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Český Krumlov Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.