AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Vyhlídka u Zámku, the "Viewpoint by the Castle," is one of several scenic lookouts set into the terraced slopes of the chateau park at Opočno in eastern Bohemia. From here the eye takes in the sweeping Renaissance façade of the State Chateau of Opočno perched above the Zlatý potok valley, and beyond it the green ridges of the Orlice Mountains (Orlické hory) with the Giant Mountains (Krkonoše) fading on the horizon.↗↗
The vantage point sits within an English-style landscape park that has been shaping this hillside for centuries: a castle stood here from the 11th century, the Renaissance seat and a formal garden followed in the 16th, and the ground was finally laid out as a romantic naturalistic park across roughly 20 to 22 hectares. Walking its paths, bridges and viewpoints is the main reason visitors pause at this spot, and the panorama over the chateau is its reward.↗↗
What makes the view special
This is a viewpoint made for lingering. The park's designers deliberately opened up several lookouts so that visitors could step back from the trees and take in the whole scene at once. From the terrace by the castle you look along the chateau and down the valley of the Zlatý potok, while in the opposite direction the land falls away toward the open foothills of the Orlice Mountains and, on a clear day, the silhouette of the Giant Mountains.
