Instagram Travel
7 Most Instagrammable Spots in Český Krumlov, Bohemia's Fairy-Tale River Town
Wrapped almost entirely by a horseshoe bend of the Vltava river, Český Krumlov's medieval old town and Renaissance castle have survived intact enough to be a single UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992.
Sep 23, 2026 · BigTravel.in
Český Krumlov sits in South Bohemia, its medieval centre wrapped almost entirely around by a tight horseshoe bend in the Vltava river. That river-bound geography, combined with centuries of relative economic stagnation that left the town unmodernised rather than rebuilt, is why its historic centre and castle complex together were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. Here are seven spots worth the visit, each with a direct map link.
1. Castle tower viewpoint
Climbing the Round Tower of Český Krumlov Castle, first raised in the thirteenth century and rebuilt in its distinctive painted Renaissance form under the Rosenberg family, gives the clearest single view of the town's red rooftops curling around the river below.
2. Cloak Bridge (Plášťový most)
This multi-tiered stone bridge connects the upper castle to the Baroque theatre and gardens above, its arches stacked across a ravine; the view from its lower level, framing the town below through the bridge's own arcade, is one of the most reproduced images of the complex.
3. Vltava river bend from Seminářská Garden
The gardens on the opposite bank from the castle give the classic horseshoe-bend view of the old town, red roofs pressed inside the loop of the river; it is the single most photographed skyline angle in Český Krumlov.
4. Old Town Square (Náměstí Svornosti)
The main square's Renaissance and Baroque townhouses, painted in ochre and pastel and arranged around a plague column erected in 1716, form the town's civic centre and its most reliably lively spot outside the castle grounds.
5. Lazebnický Bridge
A small pedestrian bridge over the Vltava lined with statues, including one of Saint John of Nepomuk, this crossing sits directly beneath the castle and is one of the easiest spots to frame both the river and the castle tower in a single shot.
6. Castle Garden and the Bellarie pavilion
Laid out in the Baroque period and later reworked in a more naturalistic English style, the castle's formal gardens end at the Bellarie summer pavilion, which looks back across the grounds toward the theatre and the town beyond.
7. Egon Schiele Art Centrum courtyard
Housed in a former brewery, this gallery is dedicated to the Austrian painter Egon Schiele, who lived briefly in the town in the early twentieth century; its converted industrial courtyard is a quieter, more modern counterpoint to the town's medieval streets.
Traveller tips
- Český Krumlov has no direct train station in the centre; most visitors arrive by bus or car from Prague or České Budějovice, each roughly two to three hours away.
- The castle tower and Cloak Bridge viewpoints are busiest around midday with day-trip coaches from Prague; early morning or early evening light is quieter and better for photographs.
- The castle's interiors and theatre are visitable only by guided tour and require separate tickets from general entry to the grounds.
- The Old Town is entirely walkable, and its cobbled streets and bridges make the town best covered slowly on foot rather than by any single organised route.
Where this is
Český Krumlov, Czech Republic