Bojnice Castle is undeniably one of the most romantic castles in Central Europe. Hidden in one of the villages in Bojnice, Henry was determined that we visit Bojnice Castle! My 2nd come back to Europe was totally unprepared. No itinerary, no nothing! All I know is I want to experience extreme winter in the mountains, try husky sledding, and that’s just it!
Henry is one of my awesome besties who live in Slovakia and he felt responsible for my Slovakia trip. I am such a pain in the head, I know. I am such a lucky monster to have such friends who can handle my spontaneity, and insanity. I know about Neuschwanstein castle in Germany that I am dying to see, but I never heard of Bojnice Castle until that day.
Bojnice Castle imposed a medieval Gothic style architecture and I swear to God it looks like a castle from a Disney movie. The beautiful castle is set in a majestic old-fashioned gardens complete with duck ponds and the manifold azure towers were like screaming for attention that pulled us closer to the castle. We were just right on time to get the entry pass for the last tour of the day. Like many other castles, it is primitive and the Renaissance element is such an incredible design.
We were escorted by the tour guide, a bored looking woman that speaks only Slovak language. I couldn’t understand a thing. It was like I have to figure out every single details in each chamber. She looked at me with terror and uttered this sentence with full conviction “No Video Please!” Oh my god, finally she have spoken English! But only to reprimand me. She reminded me of Miss Minchin, the main antagonist of the animated tv series Little Princess Sarah. I felt my cheeks warmed, and I wasn’t even taking videos, but was trying to capture a panoramic shot. We paid additional euros to get an exclusive pass to be able to take photos but found out that taking a video is not included and not allowed.
The second tour guide, thank God, looks lively and more interesting. She can only speak the Slovak language but she gave us an English handout with decent information about the castle. I was pleased to look around. The castle looked like it was restored as each of the halls were fully furnished and well-appointed with authentic artifacts that tells different stories of the history and regime. There’s a cave under the castle with crystal clear water which I find very impressive
The castle is really picturesque even from afar, it’ll tug you closer to its wonderful fairy tale château. I love everything except that the guided tour is not in English, no option to tour around solo, and it seems like the place is not tourist friendly at all. I’m pretty sure that they can make it better in the next few months or years. Perhaps, there’s an English guided tour and we were just unlucky to miss it. Nevertheless, the castle deserves a notable guide that will spread its rich history in a comprehensive way possible.
Perhaps Walt Disney drove to Bojnice at some point that he got his castle inspiration here. I am such a fan of Disney. We travelled all the way from Bratislava to Bojnice just to see the castle. No regrets here. In fact, despite all of this, it is by far my favourite castle!
How to get to Bojnice Castle from Bratislava?
- Take the train from Bratislava’s main train station, hlavná stanica to Prievidza. It would take approximately 4 hours. Train fare is 7.58€
- From Prievidza Station, take bus #50 or 91 to Bojnice, time travel would be 10-15 minutes. Bus fare is 0.55 € Note that the bus does not go all the way to Bojnice Castle. It will stop in Bojnice Town. Once you’re in town, you can walk to the castle. It is very near and you can see its colourful tower from afar.
TIPS:
- The tour is like more than an hour with a Slovak Guide. There could be an English tour but perhaps you may need to do advance booking otherwise be prepared for Slovak
- They provide an English version outline of the castle as an alternative to give you a general overview of the castle.
- The entrance fee is 8€ and an additional 2€, if you want to take photos.
- There’s a nearby hotel called Hotel Podzamkom, they offer 3 course fine dining for about 10€. We actually just paid 9.20€. Yes, 3 course meal for only 10€, How fantastic is that?
- There is really nothing to see in Bojnice, I highly recommend you visit this as a side trip.
- The exterior design is really very Disney, endless photo ops.
- You can also visit Bojnice Zoo, Museum of prehistory, St. Martin Church or even have a spa At Bojnice Spa.
- There aren’t so many attractions in Bojnice, so do not expect too much. The castle is very magnificent and one little caveat, you won’t get any informative details in English.
- The food in Bojnice is really cheap! Try some traditional Slovak Food like Halusky, Kapustnica, Schnitzel, Goulash and my favorite sheep cheese dumplings!
- The transportation around Bojnice is also pretty cheap, but you have to make considerations of the bus timings as this is a very quiet town.
- End your night with some tatra tea, a herbal liquor tea that originated in the high tatras of Slovakia. There’s a variety of alcohol percentage and you can choose the % you like! I have only tried the 52% and I loved it!
I kinda wanna end this post with my favorite Disney quote. “All dreams come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”
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