The white cliff
Walls above the rock.
LMih — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Szilas — CC BY 4.0 · Szilas — CC BY 4.0 · Luboš Holič — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Szilas — CC BY 4.0 · Szilas — CC BY 4.0
Beckov Castle is a huge ruin on a sharp rock cliff above Beckov village, overlooking the Váh valley in west Slovakia. From afar it seems to grow out of the rock. It is a national cultural monument, and its present look comes from renovations in the last quarter of the twentieth century and since 2002. Its original name was Blundix, from a Slavic word for a maze, after the difficult terrain. The cliff served as an outpost in Great Moravia, and the stone castle was probably built in the mid-thirteenth century to guard the Kingdom of Hungary's border. Matthew Csák held and fortified it, and in 1388 King Sigismund gave it to the noble Stibor, who made it a grand residence. You climb a cobbled path along a long wall to stone courts topped by the remains of a tower and palace. Inside are modern stairs and wooden walkways, with old windows looking over the valley, village and fields. The finest view of the castle is from below the cliff, with walls above white rock. You may find repair work or scaffolding in places. The castle is 15.7 km in a straight line south-west of Trenčín. It opens daily from 9:00 to 18:00 from April to September, with fewer days and shorter hours otherwise and closure in December and January, and last entry is 30 minutes before closing. Wheelchairs can reach only the first courtyard. Parking below the castle is paid.
Walls above the rock.
A cobbled path up.
Views of village and fields.
Above Beckov village, Nové Mesto nad Váhom district
Wheelchairs reach the first courtyard only, over uneven ground.
It closes in December and January, and opens at weekends in some other months.