Křivoklat

Křivoklat is a drowsy village beside the Rakovnicky potok, a tributary of the Berounka River. Half the pleasure of going to Křivoklat is getting there - by train up the wooded Berounka valley, dotted with bungalows and hemmed in by limestone bluffs.

The 13th-century Křivoklat Castle was a royal hunting lodge, and contains an exemplary late-Gothic chapel, impressive halls and the requisite prison and torture chambers. The area is now protected but if you have energy and time to spare, consider the 18km trail up the Berounka valley to Skryje.