Prague Castle Area, Lesser Town
You can start your day with a visit to the Prague Castle area (Hradčany) where you can spend several hours. From there you can continue to Lesser Town (Malá Strana). To get to the Prague Castle, we suggest you take tram 22 to Pohořelec. This will put you above the castle and you will end up walking downhill to the Lesser Town area. As you get off the tram at Pohořelec, just walk in the direction of Loreto, Strahov Monastery, and the Prague Castle.
STRAHOV MONASTERY AND THE PRAGUE LORETO
Start your tour at the Strahov Monastery with its Convent and one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. The library holds 280,000 books, the oldest and most valuable being the Evangeliary (a liturgical book containing portions of the Gospels), which dates to the middle of the 9th century. The book is covered in red velvet and its front is decorated with precious stones and ornaments that were added in the course of time. The center of the cover is adorned with a cross, supposedly a gift from king Charles IV. The Evangeliary on display is a somewhat recent copy, but don’t think you’re being shortchanged. When the copy traveled to an exhibition in Germany in 1999, it was supposedly insured for 1.5 million deutschmarks.
An interesting part of the Strahov Library exposition is the xylotéka, a collection of 68 “tree books” made by Karel of Hinterlagen around 1825. Each “volume” is really a box representing and documenting one European tree. The box cover is made from the wood of the tree and is covered with its bark. If you opened the box, you would find different parts of that tree – a root, a twig, a leaf, a dried piece of its fruit, etc. The boxes are protected behind glass, so you can only see them from the outside. The Strahov xylotéka is one of two such collections in Europe.
An enjoyable route to follow after visiting Strahov is to enter the castle area by walking down Loretánská to Hradčanské náměstí (Castle Square). You can stop at the Prague Loreto along the way.
PRAGUE CASTLE
You will not find one single castle on the hill, but rather a number of buildings, a few churches, and hundreds of years of history. Before entering the castle courtyards, walk to your right for a beautiful view overlooking Prague. For more details on the Prague Castle and the sights, see our Prague Castle page.
LESSER TOWN
After exploring the castle area, walk through the castle gardens or take the historic Nerudova Street down to Malostranské náměstí, the heart of Lesser Town. From Malostranské náměstí, it’s only a short walk down Karmelitská Street to the Church of Our Lady of Victory (Karmelitská 9) where the world-famous Infant Jesus of Prague is kept. Following Mostecká Street for a few minutes will take you right to Charles Bridge and the quaint Kampa Island.
KAMPA ISLAND
Spend some time on Kampa Island, which is just off of Charles Bridge. Walk through the park and enjoy the view of the bridge and across the river. Getting on a boat on the small Čertovka Stream (Devil’s Channel) is a special experience and will make you feel a little bit like you’re in Venice. 🙂