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Mělník Castle

A chateau on the cliff where the Vltava meets the Elbe, with its own vineyard

Mělník Castle
Photograph: Zdeněk Fiedler / CC BY-SA 3.0

Mělník Castle stands on a rock above the point where the Vltava runs into the Elbe, about 35km north of Prague. It has belonged to the Lobkowicz family since the seventeenth century, who still make wine on the slopes below it — the vineyards here are among the oldest in Bohemia. The interiors are seen on a guided tour; the terrace and the cellars are the parts people remember.

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Getting there

There is no useful train. Take metro line C (red) north to Nádraží Holešovice and the regional coach from the bus station there to Mělník; the ride is around forty-five minutes, so about an hour and a quarter from the Old Town Square. From Mělník bus station it is a walk of ten minutes or so through the town to the square and then to the castle gate, slightly uphill at the end. Buses run frequently on weekdays and more thinly at weekends, so check the return times before you commit to a late lunch.

What you see

The tour takes you through the family rooms rather than state halls: a long run of interiors hung floor to ceiling with the Lobkowicz picture collection, including seventeenth-century Dutch and Italian work, portraits of the family, and a set of early maps and views of Bohemian towns that is better than you expect. You pass through the dining rooms, the library and the bedchambers, and the guide puts most of it in terms of the family who lived there. Outside, the arcaded Renaissance courtyard is worked over with sgraffito, and the terrace at the back is the thing that sells the place: the vineyard falling away beneath you, the two rivers meeting, and the low country running north. Below the castle the barrel-vaulted wine cellars can be visited and tasted in, generally as a separate ticket. Next door, the Church of Sts Peter and Paul has a Gothic tower you can climb and an ossuary in its crypt where bones cleared from the graveyard were stacked and arranged in the early twentieth century.

What to pair it with

Mělník is a day trip, not a combination. In the town itself the church tower and the ossuary sit immediately beside the castle, and the wine cellars are underneath it, which is enough for an afternoon. The confluence can be reached on foot from the town if you want to stand at the water.

When to go

September is the obvious month: the grape harvest festival fills the town for a weekend and the vineyards are at their best, though the crowds that weekend are considerable. Otherwise late spring through early autumn, for the terrace and the view. A clear morning gives the longest sightlines north over the plain. Winter opening is reduced and the tours are fewer, so check before you go.

What is hard about it

The inside is tour-only, with set departures and a group, and English tours are not continuous — you may wait or you may get a Czech tour with written notes. The castle is privately held, and the cellar tastings, the tower and the ossuary are usually separate charges, so a full visit adds up. The rooms are modest in scale and some people find a picture-hung private house thin after the castles closer to Prague. The bus is the only sensible way there, and weekend services thin out badly. The town itself is pleasant but small, and there is not much to fill a gap if you mistime the return.

Common questions

How long do you need at Mělník Castle?

The tour and the terrace take about an hour and a half; two hours with the cellars. Half a day covers the trip including the bus each way.

Can you taste the wine there?

Yes. The estate's cellars under the castle are open for tasting, normally as a separate ticket, and the wine is sold on site.

Is the interior worth it, or is the view enough?

If you are short of time, the terrace, the courtyard and the cellars give you most of the pleasure. The tour is for people who want the picture collection.

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