Český Krumlov Map: Castle, Old Town and Station Layout

What the Český Krumlov map looks like

The shape is a tight S: the Vltava River loops around a rocky promontory, the castle and chateau ride the ridge above the north bank, and the old town fills the land inside the bend on the opposite side. Because the historic core is small and walled, you rarely need transport inside it; the real decisions are where you enter, which river crossing you use, and how much uphill climbing you want in one go.

Two axes do most of the work. One runs along the ridge through the castle courtyards out to the Castle Garden; the other runs at river level from Latrán, below the castle, toward the old town and its square. Keep those two lines in your head and the map stops looking like a maze of lanes.

Which parts of town you will actually walk

In practice a visit covers four zones: the castle courtyards and tower, Latrán below them, the old town around its square, and the Castle Garden on the hill beyond the fifth courtyard. Each has a different character and a different cost, so it helps to decide which zones are priorities before you set out rather than drifting between them.

The lanes between the zones are short but steep in places, and the climb to the garden is the one stretch that catches people out at the end of a day. If you want a fixed order that links the castle, Latrán and the square in one loop, a self-guided route with named stops makes the map easier to follow on foot.

Castle routes on the map: which tour is which

Route I covers the original Renaissance and Baroque interiors, including the Chapel of St. George and the Masquerade Hall, and runs about 55 minutes with a cap of 45 people; the 2026 full price is 300 CZK, with seniors, youth and ZTP cardholders at 240 CZK and children 6–17 at 90 CZK. Route II follows the Schwarzenberg family from the portrait gallery to the corridors of the Cloak Bridge, also about 55 minutes but capped at 20 people, at 260 CZK full and 210 CZK reduced.

The Baroque Castle Theatre is the premium stop: the best-preserved Baroque theater in Europe in its original building, with orchestra pit, stage machinery, sets and costumes intact. It runs at set daily times in fixed periods and takes about 20 people per slot, with a 2026 full price of 400 CZK and a reservation needed.

The Castle Museum and Castle Tower is self-guided, with an optional audioguide, and combines the depositories exhibition with the painted tower that serves as the town's symbol and a viewpoint over the rooftops. Budget about 55 minutes and 280 CZK full in 2026, or 220 CZK reduced and 80 CZK for children 6–17; no reservation is necessary.

Two smaller stops round out the paid list: the Rococo Bellaria Summer House, restored between 2020 and 2024, takes about 60 minutes in groups of up to 20 at 200 CZK in 2026 and is best bought online in advance, while the Baroque horse stables are self-guided at 80 CZK. The Castle Garden is free and unguided, so it belongs on the map as a walk rather than a ticket.

How the castle courtyards connect

The castle is entered from below and climbs courtyard by courtyard, past the Little Castle and its tower between the first and second courtyards, on up to the fifth courtyard where the Renaissance House and the stables sit against the theater wall. From there the route continues out to the Castle Garden on the hill southwest of the castle buildings.

Because the courtyards are a through-route, you can treat the climb as its own free walk and pay only for the interiors you actually want. That also means the tower and museum slot easily into a gap before or after a timed theater entry, rather than needing a separate trip.

Latrán: the street below the castle

Latrán is the street that runs beneath the castle rock, carrying you from the castle gate down toward the old town and the river crossings. It is the natural corridor between the two halves of the map, and the tower above it looks down over both Latrán and the Vltava.

Walk it in the direction of your first booking: down from the castle to the square if you have a morning tour, or up from the river if you are heading straight to the courtyards. It is also where the map's two axes meet, so it is the easiest place to reset if you lose your bearings.

The old town and its square

Inside the bend, the old town is a compact knot of lanes, churches and the square, all walkable in a short loop. This is the half of town to wander without a fixed plan, since the map's value here is simply knowing which lane puts you back on the river or under the castle.

Beyond the churches and lanes, a couple of small museums and the local beer scene fill the gaps between castle slots. Both are worth pinning on your map ahead of time so a rainy hour has somewhere to go.

Where the Castle Garden and Bellaria sit

The Castle Garden lies on a hill southwest of the castle buildings, beyond the fifth courtyard, and appears on the castle's own pages with published hours of 7.00–17.00 and free admission without a guide. The Bellaria Summer House stands within that garden setting, and its entry is the one that most rewards booking ahead online.

The uphill walk is the trade-off. Doing the garden first, while your legs are fresh and before the paid interiors, keeps the climbing on the front end of the day rather than the last hour.

Timing a route on foot

Add the published lengths rather than guessing: 55 minutes each for Route I, Route II and the Castle Museum and Tower, and 60 minutes for Bellaria, plus the time you spend in the free garden and the courtyards. Two paid interiors plus the garden is a comfortable half-day; three or four is a full one.

Note that not every route runs every day. On the official tour list, Route II and several smaller stops were marked as unavailable on the reference day, so a plan built around a specific route needs a fallback from the same list.

Where the train and bus stations sit relative to the center

Arriving by rail or bus, the sensible map habit is to head for the river and Latrán, then decide whether to climb to the castle or drop into the old town first. Czech Railways and the national bus operators publish current station positions and timetables, so check those for exact platforms and journey times before you set out.

If you are coming from Prague for the day, a morning arrival leaves room for one paid interior plus the free garden and a walk through the old town before the return. The castle site also lists bus and rail access and town parking under its plan-your-visit section.

Car arrival and parking

Driving in, the old core is closed to casual through traffic in practice, so you park outside the historic center and walk in. The castle's plan-your-visit pages cover how to reach the site and parking in town; confirm current rates and lot locations there rather than relying on an old map.

From the lots, allow for a climb or a riverside approach, and aim to hit Latrán first because it links everything else. A paper or offline map of the core helps, since the lanes are narrow and signal can be patchy.

Trade-offs on the map

Three things shape a realistic plan: seasons, reservations and crowds. The theater sells timed slots with a 20-person cap and needs a reservation, Routes I and II only need booking for groups, while the museum and garden need none at all.

Midday is when the narrow lanes and square are busiest, so front-load the paid interiors and save the old town wander for late afternoon. Verify the current opening periods on the castle site before you lock in a theater time, since those slots run only in published windows.

Practical map sources

Start with the town's own map page for orientation and the castle site's plan-your-visit section for the courtyard layout, tour list and admission. Between them you get the two things a visitor needs: how the town sits and which building is which.

For the broader picture of what to see once you are oriented, the Things to Do in Český Krumlov guide ties the castle, the old town and the river together into a single itinerary, and the Český Krumlov Old Town and museums and churches pages fill in the smaller stops.

Build your Český Krumlov map plan around one route and one free walk

The cleanest plan uses the map's two axes: one paid castle interior in the morning, the free Castle Garden and a stroll through Latrán to the old town in the afternoon, with the tower and museum saved for a gap. That structure keeps the climbing sensible and the costs predictable.

Before you go, confirm which tours are running on your dates and lock in the theater slot if you want it, since that is the one with the smallest capacity and the clearest reservation requirement. Then let the map do the rest.