Prague on foot, from the older castle to the famous one
Start at the fortress most visitors never climb, walk the embankment north, cross the river once, and finish above the bridges with the city laid out below.
Prague is small enough to walk end to end and hilly enough that the order matters. This one front-loads the quiet: Vysehrad first, where the city's own founding legend lives and almost nobody goes, then the river north, then one crossing of the Charles Bridge rather than the usual three.
Where to start: Early. The bridge belongs to photographers at dawn and to crowds by ten.
The walk, in order
- 1 Vysehrad
Begin here, not at the castle everyone means. A walled hill above the Vltava with a twin-spired basilica and a cemetery of national names - and space to stand.
- 2 Dancing House
The embankment walk north delivers you to it. Two towers built on a bomb site and argued about ever since; ten minutes is enough unless you want the bar at the top.
- 3 Charles Bridge
Cross once, deliberately, and keep going. It is an hour if you stop at the statues and a scrum from mid-morning.
- 4 Kampa Island
Drop straight down on the far side: a mill-stream island with a park, a modern art museum and the giant crawling babies. The quietest patch within sight of the bridge.
- 5 Prague Castle
Now the climb, and it is a real one. Half a day if you take St Vitus and the palaces seriously, ninety minutes if you walk the courtyards and the view.
- 6 Letna Park
Leave the castle east along the plateau instead of going back down the way you came. The metronome where Stalin stood, beer under the trees, and the best view of the bridges you will get.
- 7 The Clementinum Baroque Library
Back over the river into the old Jesuit college for the 1720s hall of painted ceilings and globes. Timed tours only - book it in the morning, walk it in the afternoon.
- 8 Municipal House
Finish in Art Nouveau: Mucha's hall, and the room where Czechoslovakia was declared. There is a café that will take your weight.
Where to cheat
Tram 22 climbs to the castle and is not cheating - it is what locals do with shopping. The funicular up Petrin does the same job for the other hill. If the day is hot, cut Letna and take the metro from Malostranska.
Honest expectations
Two of the stops are indoor and timed, so this day only works if you book the Clementinum before you set off. And the Charles Bridge is at its worst exactly when most people arrive on it: if you cannot be there early, be there late.
More of this country is on the Czechia page. Going between towns instead? See the routes. Other cities on foot are on city walks.