Sarospatak Castle

Sarospatak stands on the Bodrog at the edge of the Tokaj hills, and its castle grew from a fifteenth-century keep, the Red Tower, into a Renaissance residence of the Rakoczi family, who led the Hungarian risings against the Habsburgs and made this their base. The rooms are unusually complete, with carved doorways, tiled stoves and a loggia, and the best known is the Sub Rosa room, a small vaulted chamber with a rose carved in the centre of the ceiling, where conspirators met in 1670 under the old understanding that what is said under the rose stays there. The town also has a long Protestant college tradition and a Reformed collection of note.

What you actually see

• The Sub Rosa room - the vaulted chamber where the 1670 plotters met.
• The Red Tower keep - the fifteenth-century core of the castle.
• Renaissance rooms and loggia - carved doorways and tiled stoves.
• The Bodrog riverside - the castle walls above the water.

When to go

April to October. Half a day for the castle and the town. Closed Mondays. Guided routes cover the tower separately from the residential wing.

Honest expectations

Signage and guiding are largely in Hungarian. The Red Tower involves steep spiral stairs. The town beyond the castle and the college is modest. Trains from Budapest take three hours or more.

Nearby

Tokaj is south-west; Fuzer lies north.