Medieval festivals in Czechia

Czechia’s costume weekends are a train ride from Prague and built around a king coming home. At Královské stříbření Kutné Hory, on a weekend in late June, Wenceslas IV and his court process from the Italian Court, the royal mint, up to St Barbara’s, and the party runs in the park below the mint until late. On the last weekend of September Karlštejnské vinobraní brings Charles IV and more than a hundred courtiers up through Karlštejn village to the castle he built for the crown jewels, with tournaments and burčák, the half-fermented new wine that tastes like juice and is not. At Karlštejn, full costume gets you in free. Take the train: roads close and parking is scarce.