What to See Inside Hluboká Castle
The Representation Rooms, the carved library, the armoury and Princess Eleonore's apartments — a concierge guide to the highlights of the guided tour.
Hluboká Castle is seen from the inside on a guided tour, and the headline route is Circuit I, the Representation Rooms — the state apartments of the Schwarzenberg family, kept as they left them. Over about an hour you pass through reception and dining rooms, the celebrated Renaissance-panelled library, an armoury of historic weapons, and the private rooms of Princess Eleonore, all richly furnished with tapestries, chandeliers, carved wood and paintings by old European masters. This guide walks you through the highlights of the tour, the Windsor-inspired style of the château, and the gardens, park and estate around it, so you know what to look for and how to make the most of your visit.
What is the Circuit I Representation Rooms tour?
Circuit I, the Representation Rooms, is the main guided tour of Hluboká Castle and the one most international visitors take. It leads through the grandest of the Schwarzenberg family's state apartments — the rooms in which they received and entertained distinguished guests — in the sequence a 19th-century visitor might have experienced. The route includes the morning room, the reading and smoking rooms, the small and large dining rooms, the library and the private apartments of Princess Eleonore, together with an armoury reached through an entrance hall of arms. The whole tour takes about an hour and is led by a château guide, and it is available in English a limited number of times each day.
Because entry to the interiors is only by guided tour, this circuit is how you experience the inside of the château, and its quality is a large part of why Hluboká is so admired. The rooms are not empty museum spaces but fully furnished aristocratic interiors, preserved much as the Schwarzenbergs left them when the family departed in 1939. Our concierge tip: listen for the small details your guide points out — the provenance of a tapestry, the maker of a chandelier, the story behind a portrait — as they turn a beautiful room into a window on the family who created this Windsor-of-Bohemia. Booking an English departure in advance ensures you can follow that commentary rather than joining a Czech-language tour.
What are the highlights of the interior?
The single most celebrated room is the library, panelled in Renaissance woodwork of extraordinary craftsmanship — much of the carving executed by hand over years — and lined with the family's books; it is one of the finest such rooms in the country. Close rivals are the dining rooms, laid and furnished as if for a grand meal, and the armoury, whose collection of historic weapons and armour is displayed through an entrance hall of arms and ranks among the most important château arms collections in the Czech Republic. Throughout, the rooms are hung with tapestries, lit by chandeliers and decorated with Delft faience and paintings by 16th- to 18th-century European masters.
The private apartments of Princess Eleonore add an intimate counterpoint to the grand reception rooms, showing how the family actually lived within their vast palace. Look up as you go: the hand-carved wooden ceilings are a highlight in their own right, and the quality of the woodwork throughout — doors, panelling, staircases — reflects the money and years the Schwarzenbergs poured into the 1841–71 rebuild. Our concierge recommendation is to take your time in the library and the armoury above all, and to notice how the English Tudor-Gothic taste that shaped the white exterior carries through into the interiors, tying the whole château together as a Romantic vision of an English country house transplanted to Bohemia.
Why does Hluboká look like an English castle?
Hluboká looks English because it was deliberately rebuilt to resemble England's Windsor Castle. In the middle of the 19th century its owners, Prince Jan Adolf II of Schwarzenberg and Princess Eleonore, travelled to England and were captivated by its Romantic Tudor-Gothic architecture. Between 1841 and 1871 they had the older castle transformed into the white, battlemented, pinnacled palace you see today, with slender towers, clustered chimneys and traceried windows in the Windsor manner, set in an English landscape park. This is why Hluboká is so often called the Windsor of Bohemia and why it looks more like an English fairytale palace than a Central European fortress.
Understanding this history enriches the tour, because the English inspiration runs from the exterior silhouette right through to the interiors, the woodwork and the taste for the landscape garden outside. The château that resulted has 140 rooms and 11 towers and is one of the most photographed buildings in the Czech Republic. Our concierge tip: before or after your interior tour, walk out into the terraced gardens and the park to take in the whole white composition from a distance — it is from the grounds, not the courtyard, that the resemblance to Windsor and the storybook quality of the château are most striking, and it is where the classic photograph is taken.
What can you see in the gardens and on the estate?
Around the château lie terraced formal gardens, with clipped hedges, urns and flower beds that frame the white towers, and beyond them a large English landscape park of about 1.9 square kilometres, with sweeping lawns, specimen trees, avenues and ponds. Both are open to walk through without a tour ticket, so you can enjoy the grounds even outside tour hours, and they are where most visitors take their photographs of the château. Allow time to stroll the park for different views of the building; many people spend as long in the grounds as inside on the tour.
The wider estate holds two further attractions. The former winter riding hall in the château complex now houses the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery, one of the region's most important art collections, with medieval and later works — a natural add-on to the interior tour. A short distance away, on the shore of the Munický pond, stands the Ohrada hunting lodge, an older Baroque building containing a hunting and forestry museum, beside a zoo that is popular with families. Our concierge recommendation is to decide in advance how much of the estate you want to see: the château tour and gardens are a half-day, but adding the gallery, the lodge or the zoo easily turns Hluboká into a full and varied day out.
How should I plan my visit inside Hluboká Castle?
Start by booking a specific English tour time, because the interiors are seen only on a timed guided tour and English departures are limited. Aim to arrive at the château courtyard fifteen to twenty minutes before your slot, having allowed for the uphill walk from the town. Use any spare time before the tour to photograph the white towers from the terraced gardens, since interior photography is often restricted. Large bags must go in the cloakroom before you enter. Our concierge tip: the first English tour of the day is both the quietest and the easiest to secure, so it is our recommended slot.
On the tour itself, the pace is set by your guide, so there is no need to rush; simply follow the group through the sequence of rooms and take in the details as they are explained. After the roughly one-hour circuit, give yourself time for the gardens and the park, and consider adding the Aleš gallery on the estate if you enjoy art. If you are travelling with children, the fairytale towers, the armoury and the open park make the visit engaging for them, and booking everyone onto the same departure keeps you all on the same English tour. Plan the rest of your day — České Budějovice, or Český Krumlov 40 kilometres away — around your booked château time rather than the reverse.
Frequently asked
What is the main tour at Hluboká Castle?
The main tour is Circuit I, the Representation Rooms — the Schwarzenberg family's state reception and dining rooms, the carved library, the armoury and Princess Eleonore's apartments. It lasts about an hour and is available as an English-language guided tour.
What are the highlights inside Hluboká Castle?
The celebrated Renaissance-panelled library, the grand dining rooms, the armoury of historic weapons, and the hand-carved wooden ceilings throughout. The rooms are furnished with tapestries, chandeliers and paintings by 16th- to 18th-century European masters.
Do I have to take a guided tour to see the interior?
Yes. The historic state rooms are seen only on a timed guided tour; you cannot walk them independently. English-language departures run a limited number of times a day, so booking an English slot in advance is recommended.
Why does Hluboká Castle look like an English castle?
Because it was rebuilt between 1841 and 1871 in the Tudor-Gothic style of England's Windsor Castle, after its Schwarzenberg owners admired English architecture on their travels. This is why it is called the Windsor of Bohemia.
Can I take photographs inside Hluboká Castle?
Interior photography is controlled by the château and is often restricted or requires a separate permit, so follow your guide's instructions. The exterior, courtyards, towers and gardens are freely open to your camera.
Can I visit the gardens without a tour ticket?
Yes. The terraced gardens and the 1.9-square-kilometre English park are open to walk through without a tour ticket. Only the state interiors require a guided-tour ticket, so you can enjoy the grounds and the view of the towers freely.
What else is there to see on the Hluboká estate?
The former winter riding hall houses the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery, an important regional art collection, and nearby the Ohrada hunting lodge holds a hunting and forestry museum beside a zoo popular with families — good additions to the château tour.
How long is the interior tour of Hluboká Castle?
The Circuit I Representation Rooms tour lasts about 60 minutes. With the gardens, the park and the walk up from the town, most visitors spend two to three hours at Hluboká in total.