It is situated slightly to the south west of the city center at an elevation of about 860 metres (2,820 ft).

During the 10th century, the area around Kastamonu was under the rule of the Byzantine commander Manuel Erotikos Komnenos who built the castle bearing his name: Kastra Komnenon, "Castle of the Komnenoi", a corrupted version of which later became the name of the city in Turkish, i.e. Kastamonu.

[1] After the Çobanoğlu, the castle fell to the Candaroğulları and finally to the Ottoman Empire.

During the Turkish Republic era, in 1943, a part of the castle was destroyed as a result of 1943 Tosya–Ladik earthquake.

But presently only the inner castle which was restored during the Candarid era is partially standing.