Prague Walking Tour: Library, Gardens and the Castle Climb

Prague is a city of famous postcards, and this walk takes in the big ones, from the astronomical clock to Charles Bridge and the castle on its hill. But it also slips through two doors that many visitors walk straight past: the vast Jesuit college of the Clementinum, with its baroque library and its weather tower, and the walled garden of the Wallenstein Palace, a seventeenth century pleasure ground hidden in the Lesser Town. It is one of our self-guided walking tours that runs from Old Town Square across the river and up to Prague Castle, about three kilometers in all, flat for the first half and then a steady climb through cobbled streets to the castle gates.

Before you set off

The walking takes under an hour, but plan on three hours or more, and much longer if you want to go inside the castle, which can fill a whole afternoon on its own. The first half is flat. After the river, the route climbs steadily, and Nerudova Street, the last stretch before the castle, is steep and paved with big, uneven cobbles, so wear proper walking shoes and take it slowly. Charles Bridge and the Old Town Square are at their quietest early in the morning, and very crowded from late morning on, so an early start makes a real difference. The Wallenstein Garden is usually open only in the warmer months, roughly spring to autumn, and the Clementinum's library halls can be seen only on guided visits. Castle buildings need tickets, though the courtyards are free to walk through, and security checks at the gates can take time in busy periods. Check opening times for all of these before you go. Bring water, especially in summer, since the climb is mostly in the sun.

Old Town Square

Stand in the middle of Old Town Square and turn slowly. To one side rise the twin spiky towers of the Týn Church, dark and Gothic, like something from a fairy tale. Facing it stands the Old Town Hall with its tall tower, and on its side, the Astronomical Clock, first installed in 1410 and still working today, one of the oldest of its kind in the world. Its dials show the hour, the movements of the sun and moon and the signs of the zodiac, and at the top of every hour during the day a small show begins: a skeleton rings a bell, and the twelve apostles pass by in two small windows above the dial. In the center of the square, a great dark statue shows Jan Hus, the religious reformer burned at the stake in 1415, surrounded by his followers. It was unveiled in 1915, five hundred years after his death. Before you leave, look down at the paving in front of the Old Town Hall. Twenty-seven white crosses are set into the stones, marking the Protestant leaders executed on this spot in 1621 after a failed rebellion against the Habsburgs. Then leave the square at its southwest corner, cross the little square just beyond it and follow the narrow, winding Karlova Street west to a huge baroque building on your right, about five minutes.

Clementinum

The long, grand walls beside you belong to the Clementinum, and they go on for a surprisingly long time. This is one of the largest building complexes in Prague, second only to the castle itself. The Jesuits arrived in Prague in 1556, invited by the Habsburg rulers to win back for the Catholic Church a city that had largely broken with Rome since the days of Jan Hus, and they built their college here over two centuries, swallowing whole streets, churches and houses. Step through one of the gateways into the quiet courtyards and feel the change in sound and pace from the busy lane outside. Inside the complex is one of the most beautiful libraries in the world, the Baroque Library Hall, with painted ceilings, gilded columns and rows of old leather books, along with a collection of antique globes. Above it rises the Astronomical Tower, where weather measurements have been recorded every day since 1775, one of the longest unbroken records anywhere. In the nineteenth century, a man stood on that tower at noon and waved a flag, and up at the castle a cannon fired to tell the city it was midday. Today the Clementinum houses the National Library of the Czech Republic. Back on Karlova Street, continue west to the end of the lane, where a tall Gothic tower guards the entrance to the bridge, about three minutes.

Charles Bridge

Pass under the Old Town Bridge Tower and walk out onto the bridge, and stop a little way along to take in the view. Upstream and downstream, the Vltava spreads wide, and ahead of you, on the hill above the red roofs of the Lesser Town, stretches the long silhouette of Prague Castle, with the spires of St. Vitus Cathedral rising from the middle. That is where you are heading. Emperor Charles IV ordered this bridge in 1357, to replace an older one swept away by floods, and for centuries it was the only way across the river in Prague. It is built of sandstone blocks on sixteen arches, and the old story says that egg was mixed into the mortar to make it stronger. The thirty statues of saints along the parapets came later, mostly in the baroque era from the late 1600s onward, and most of the ones you see now are copies, with the originals safe in museums. Look for the statue of Saint John of Nepomuk, a priest thrown from this bridge in 1393 on the orders of the king. The bronze plaques below him have been rubbed shiny by passers-by touching them for luck. Cross the bridge and pass under the two towers on the far side, then turn right off the main street and walk north through the Lesser Town lanes to Letenská Street, where a gate in a long wall leads into the garden, about ten minutes.