Stromovka

Stromovka was enclosed as a royal game park by Premysl Otakar II around 1268 and stayed a hunting reserve for five centuries before being opened to the public in 1804 and landscaped in the English manner, and at ninety-five hectares it is the largest park in Prague. Rudolf II had ponds made here and, to fill them, had a tunnel driven under the Letna hill from the Vltava in 1583-1593 - about a kilometre and a half of hand-cut channel, one of the more ambitious pieces of Renaissance water engineering in the city, whose portal is visible. There is a neo-Gothic governor's summer palace, a planetarium, an artificial cave, mature trees of some age, and a network of paths used by runners and cyclists. The Vystaviste exhibition ground with the 1891 Industrial Palace sits at the eastern end.

What you actually see

• Ninety-five hectares - the largest park in Prague, a game reserve from 1268.
• Rudolf II's water tunnel - a kilometre and a half cut by hand in the 1580s.
• A neo-Gothic summer palace - the governor's house in the park.
• A planetarium - and the Vystaviste exhibition ground at the eastern end.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The park floods - the 2002 flood destroyed a large number of mature trees and the effects are still visible. The tunnel is not enterable. The Industrial Palace burned in 2008 and has been under long reconstruction.

Nearby

Letna is east; Troja and the zoo are north across the river.