Dvor Trakoscan (Trakoscan Castle)

Dvor Trakoscan (Trakoscan Castle) Review

Perched resplendently several hundred feet above the parking lot where the tour buses come and go, the romantic white hilltop Dvor Trakoscan is set amid beautifully landscaped grounds, overlooking a lovely lake circled by a hiking trail. Croatia's most-visited castle took on its present neo-Gothic appearance during the mid-19th century, compliments of Juraj VI Draskovic, whose family had already owned the castle for some 300 years and would go on to live there until 1944 (there has been a building here since the 14th century). The inside is as spectacular as the outside, with the wood-paneled rooms—a baroque room, a rococo room, a neoclassical room, and so on—filled with period furnishings and family portraits, giving you some idea of how the wealthy local aristocracy once lived. A restaurant, café, and souvenir shop occupy an uninspiring, Ministry of Culture-owned building at the foot of the hill.