Bernstein Castle

Bernstein is a medieval castle rebuilt after damage in the Ottoman wars, bought in 1892 by Edward O'Egan, a Scot, and held since by his descendants the Almásy family - among them László Almásy, the desert explorer and cartographer whose life supplied the loose basis for the novel and film The English Patient, born here in 1895. The family run the castle as a small hotel, so most of the building is in that use, with the vaulted knights' hall and the terraces open to guests and restaurant visitors rather than as a museum. The village around it is the centre of Austrian nephrite working: a green serpentine stone, sometimes sold as Bernstein jade, is quarried and cut locally, and the Felsenmuseum in the village shows the mining and stonework.

What you actually see

• A family-held castle - in the same hands since 1892, run as a hotel.
• The Almásy connection - László Almásy, the desert explorer, born here in 1895.
• A vaulted knights' hall - the main interior, used by the hotel.
• Nephrite working - the local green stone quarried and cut in the village.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

This is a working hotel, not a museum - casual visiting is limited and depends on bookings. The Almásy of the film is a fictionalised version of a more complicated real person.

Nearby

The Felsenmuseum is in the village; Lockenhaus and Stadtschlaining are close.