Křivoklát, about 50 km west of Prague, is one of the oldest royal castles in Bohemia and is run by the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ). Its Advent fair is held on the second and third weekends of Advent: the castle’s 2026 calendar lists Advent na hradě on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December and Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 December 2026, with the detailed programme still marked as in preparation when we checked. In 2024 the fair ran 7–8 and 14–15 December from 10:00 to 17:00, and admission was CZK 160 including the market, the programme and self-guided access to the castle interiors.
The fair fills the castle courtyards with a řemeslný jarmark — a craft market with demonstrations — and a programme that in recent years has included a tightrope walker, angels on stilts, a juggler, a fairy tale for children, a Christmas play with carols, an organ-grinder, a historical carousel for small children, children’s workshops, a nativity post office and a hunt for the golden piglet of Czech Christmas Eve lore. Christmas food and drink are sold in the courtyards, and the castle interiors are open at your own pace, with the Advent nativity scene set up inside. It is a traditional Czech Advent fair in a medieval setting rather than a costumed medieval market; the castle is the medieval part.
And the castle is worth the trip on its own: first mentioned by the chronicler Cosmas in 1110, rebuilt in stone under Přemysl Otakar II in the 13th century and given its late-Gothic Royal Hall and chapel under Vladislav II Jagiellon in the 1490s, it later served as a state prison — the Unity of the Brethren bishop Jan Augusta was held here from 1548 to 1564 and the English alchemist Edward Kelley from 1591 to 1593 — before the Fürstenbergs restored it and sold it to the state in 1929.
Trains from Prague via Beroun stop at Křivoklát station, a 15-minute walk up to the castle; parking in the village is limited on fair weekends, so the train is the easier option. The same rule gives 4–5 and 11–12 December 2027 as the expected dates. The castle’s other big event is Křivoklání, a medieval festival held in late September.
