The rose garden
Wide rose terraces in front of the observatory, open to the city view — the hill's calmest corner and the one visitors most overlook.
Ludek — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Dennis G. Jarvis — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Tilman2007 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Donald Judge — CC BY 2.0
Two hours for a comfortable route: funicular up, the tower, the rose garden, then down through the orchard to Újezd. Four if you add Strahov Monastery at the northern end.
The upper section is relatively flat with wide paths that suit gentle walking. The climb on foot is hard, so use the funicular both ways if needed. Some stretches are unpaved — wear suitable shoes.
South from the tower through the orchard, then west into the Kinský garden, or straight east to Újezd for the Memorial to the Victims of Communism and the tram. East is shorter, west is quieter.
The hill is always open but most of its inner paths are unlit, and wandering it after dark is not advisable. Stay for the hour before sunset and come down before nightfall.
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Petřín is Prague's green lung: an entire slope rising to about 327 metres, separating the Lesser Town from the Smíchov district and covered in gardens, orchards and shaded paths. From below it looks like a wood hanging over the city; from inside you find it is a chain of connected gardens, each with its own character — the rose garden, the orchard, the Strahov gardens, the Kinský garden. Running across the slope is the Hunger Wall, a defensive wall built by Charles IV in the mid-14th century. Its name comes from a tradition that the king ordered it during a famine to provide wages for the poor — a public works scheme six centuries before the term existed. Long stretches still stand and you can walk alongside them. At the top are the Petřín tower, the mirror maze, the church of St Lawrence and a small observatory. But the hill itself is the point: this is the best two-hour walk in Prague. In April cherry blossom opens across the whole slope and it becomes, without argument, the loveliest place in the city. Ride the funicular up from Újezd and walk down — the entire way is downhill and shaded.
Wide rose terraces in front of the observatory, open to the city view — the hill's calmest corner and the one visitors most overlook.
A 14th-century wall crossing the slope, built — so the tradition goes — to employ the poor during a famine.
At the foot of the hill at Újezd: a line of bronze figures of a man disintegrating further with each step back — Prague's most powerful memorial.
The southern slope is an open orchard you can sit in, and in spring it turns into a sea of white and pink blossom.
Petřín hill, between Malá Strana and Smíchov, Prague 1