Castle-Museum Sypesteyn — Attraction in Wijdemeren

The gardens are truly beautiful and well worth a visit. The castle itself is nice, but please be aware that tours are mandatory and only conducted in Dutch. The guide did not offer any translation or responses in English, which made it difficult to follow along.

At the entrance, they do provide a short handout in English, but it contains only minimal information. I was required to join the Dutch-language tour, and the guide spent about 45 minutes explaining just the first two rooms. At that point, I attempted to leave the tour, but the guide seemed visibly upset and uncomfortable about it.

If the site wants to welcome international visitors, it would be very helpful to offer tours in English or at least provide an audio guide. More importantly, visitors should not be forced to join a guided tour—especially if it’s not available in a language...

A medieval castle that was build only 100 years ago to rebuild a family castle that actually never existed. Add to that, that the castle was never meant to live, but was almost intended as a museum for the founder's personal collection. Guided tour takes an hour and the ticket includes entrance to the gardens.

Inside the castle are various collections but the majority are porcelain/pottery and portrait painting. A bit to much porcelain for my taste, but the tour is interesting and just long enough.

The gardens are beautifully divided into several themes. Very nice to walk through.

Altogether it's easy to spend 2/2,5 hours here and than have a drink at the restaurant at the terrace.

Free parking options in the area, entrance reasonable. Lots of stairs, so not suitable for less...

Small but cosy castle. The castle was built at the end of 19th century with bricks from nearby abbey of 17th century. It has great collection of Dutch china. The collection of paintings is very interesting. My favorite was collection of arms. The park around the castle is very interesting and well maintained. These are many unique trees and plants. Do walk park even if you are not botanical nerd 🤓 Restaurant offers great sandwiches and yummy pastries. Special thanks to all staff who keeps this castle and passionate to tell about its history and collections. Reserve 1.5 hours or a bit more for the visit. A free parking is available behind the church...