Czechia · CZ

Castle ruins Blansko

High on a forested basalt hill roughly six kilometres from Ústí nad Labem, the ruins of Blansko Castle (Blankenstein) hang above the left bank of the Elbe like a stone crown over the river valley. Founded by the powerful Vartenberg family around the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries, the fortress has been a roofless ruin for centuries—yet it remains one of the most rewarding climbs in the České středohoří (Central Bohemian Uplands), and one you can visit freely, any time of year. What draws visitors is the sense of standing in a well-preserved medieval core with the whole country laid out below. Almost the entire enclosing wall of the castle still runs around you, the cistern tower and a vaulted cellar survive, and from the viewing platform the panorama sweeps across the Central Uplands, the Ore Mountains (Krušné hory), the Lusatian range and the sandstone pillars of the Děčín walls—on a clear day you can pick out ten other castles in the distance.