The well-known Netflix series “The Witcher“ acquired a massive audience for its fascinating story, graphics, scenery and background fortresses used. Have you wondered if the castles in The Witcher are real?
Most of the castles used in filming “The Witcher” series are real-life castles like; Ogrodzieniec Castle in Poland, Kruzenstein Castle in Austria, Vajdahunyad Castle and Tata Castle in Hungary. However, the Aretuza Fortress( the Magical Academy) is Computer Generated Design.
Let’s discover together a bit more about these castles, as well as travel information.
Why producers chose this castles for The Witcher series
The Witcher Series creators don’t say much information about the reason behind the selection of these specific castles, but we can guess that the buildings matched most of the book’s descriptions.
Being book-based, that gave more of freedom to the directors in choosing the castles for the film.
Although a real castle looks more natural and involves less CGI work than recreating the ones from The Witcher video game.
Once reading the books, you can feel how accented the writer Andrzej Sapkowski’s is on the character’s emotions mainly.
By combining all these aspects like; talented protagonists, CGI effects, real-life medieval architecture and costumes, the Witcher proudly stands at the same level as the Game of Thrones series.
Filming of the series took place in locations like Canary Island, Hungary and Poland.
Ogrodzieniec Castle ( in the final episode)
One Castle particularly caught our attention is Ogrodzieniec Castle near Krakow, you have seen it in the final episode of the first season of the battle of Sudden.
Ogrodzieniec Castle rises on the highest hill of the Krakow area, on a 515 meters mountain.
Build in the 14th century by the royal family and rebuilt several times throughout history.
The last tenants left the devastated Castle in 1810.
However ever Ogrodzieniec Castle has been quite popular among filmmakers, used in other movies like:
- The Knight by 1980
- Spellbinder tv series 1995
- The Revenge 2001,
If you like to find out more about famous castles used in the movies, we encourage you to check out our Castles in the movies section for more fun articles.
Do you need to book in advance to visit Ogrodzieniec Castle?
As the Castle is quite a popular tourist destination, tourists who already visited the Castle highly recommend booking the tickets in advance.
There are nine different tours available for you to visit the Ogrodzieniec Castle you can book on TripAdvisor.
With TripAdvisor, you can cancel up to 24h before your tour starts, and you get the full refund.
What’s the best way to see Ogrodzieniec Castle?
The best way to see the Ogrodzieniec Castle is by booking in advance the tours offered by tripadvisor.com and also checking their website’s calendar for exciting shows and events happening at the time of your visit.
It will take you an hour and twenty minutes to drive to the Castle from Krakow, or with the bus D10 from the central bus station in the city which costs about 18 zl.
What attractions are near Ogrodzieniec Castle?
If you have allowed yourself plenty of time to visit the Castle, there are few more attractions to fulfil today!
Castle on the Mount Birow
In 1.5 km there is a small wooden castle on mount Birow.
Surrounded by wooden palisades and located on top of a hill where you can have a nice view of the local scenery.
Park Miniatur Ogrodzieniec
If you are travelling with your kids, you definitely need to check out Park Miniatur.
It’s a beautiful open-air museum with 1:25 scale models of the castles built in the mid-century along the Eagle Nest Trail.
Facts about the castles are available in Polish, English and German.
If you are a history fan, then that will be an enjoyable 30-40 minutes experience.
If you travel by car in a 30 minutes drive you can check out another two Polish landmarks.
Bobolice Castle and Mirow Castle ruins are close to each other which allows parking somewhere in between and walk down to both of the sites.
Kreuzenstein castle (Episode 3)
In the series, Kreuzenstein Castle represents the exterior of Vizima, an abandoned castle in Temeria in episode 3.
In just half an hour from Vienna’s city centre, it’s a Castle constructed in ruins of an early medieval castle.
With a unique medieval atmosphere inside and out, Kreuzenstein it’s worth seeing for both adults and children.
Do you need to book in advance to visit Kreuzenstein Castle?
The visit is only possible through booked in advance guided tours, so make sure you check their website for more information.
What’s the best way to see Kreuzenstein Castle?
The best time to see the castles is between August and mid-September and through the guided tours.
What hotels are near Kreuzenstein Castle?
Here we have a list of well-recommended hotels in the area:
Check out Vienna’s most gorgeous Airbnb accommodations.
Vajdahunyad Castle (Stregobor’s house Courtyard)
The Netflix Filming crew picked Vajdahunyad Castle to use as the inner courtyard of the wizard Stregobor’s house.
Build in 1896 as part of the Millennial Exhibition, and it’s a copy of the Corvinilor Castle in Romania.
Today hosts one of the most prominent agricultural museums in Europe.
Best way to experience the Vajdahunyad Castle
Obviously, TripAdvisor comes in handy as usual with top-rated tours, which, according to the travellers, is the best way to experience the Vajdahunyad Castle.
Best place to go for a meal near Vajdahunyad Castle?
Hungary is famous among the tourists for its incredibly delicious cuisine.
However, we have laid down a list of restaurants that are closer to the Castle:
- Varosliget Cafe & Restaurant 0.3km.
- Gundel Etterem 0.4 km
- Bagolyvar 0.4 km
- Robinson Restaurant 0.3 km
What attractions are near Vajdahunyad Castle?
As the Castle is not far from the centre of Budapest, you won’t be far from other attractions.
There is a lot to see near Vajdahunyad Castle, and we will leave the link here to the well organised Tripadvisor’s top-rated attractions in Budapest.
Tata Castle (Episode 5)
Picture from www.pikist.com
Another Hungarian landmark representing the Yennifer house in episode five of The Witcher series is Tata Castle.
If visiting all The Witcher Series filming grounds is your goal, it would’ve been a shame not to check out the Tata Castle which is only an hour drive from Budapest.
Built in the 14th century on the north side of lake Öreg, it’s one of the jewels of Tata city.
A summer resort and a residence of two kings Sigismund of Luxembourg (r. 1433–1437) and Mátyás Hunyadi (r. 1458–1490).
You can easily reserve a day for visiting the Castle, as there is so much to see for couples or a family day out.
Summary
We hope you found the information you were curious about and enjoyed the article. We only hope there will be more seasons of The Witcher and more forgiven castles will be promoted by Netflix.
If you are a castle lover, you can come back anytime to our blog section for more articles about castles in your free time.
Related questions
Are the castles in Game of Thrones real?
Yes, most of the castles in Game of Thrones are real. Some of them were partially completed or added with CGI graphics for a more dramatic impact. There are 13 real castles around the world used in the series, where you can recreate the famous Game of Thrones scenes.
Are the castles in Harry Potter real?
The castles in Harry Potter are varied and imaginative. One of the movie’s high points is the usage of real locations as opposed to a green screen. This is especially obvious when it comes to castles such as Hogwarts, which look absolutely stunning on the big screen.
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