Petřín Hill & Tower

Viewpoint · Malá Strana / PetřínPrague, Czechia

Petřín is the wooded hill on the left bank, rising about 130 metres above the river, and the steel tower on its summit went up in four months in 1891. Members of the Czech Tourists' Club had visited the Paris exposition two years earlier, come home impressed, and raised the money for a lattice tower at roughly a fifth of the Eiffel Tower's scale. The slope beneath it carries older things: orchards, rose gardens, a Baroque church, a funicular railway, and the Hunger Wall — a fortification Charles IV had built across the hill in the early 1360s, whose name comes from the famine relief the work provided. The 299 steps inside the tower spiral tightly around a lift shaft, and the platform at the top gives one of the widest views in Prague, taking in everything at once: the castle strung along its ridge, the whole spired Old Town, the river bending through it, and on a clear day the hills of Bohemia beyond. Below, the hill is a park the city treats as its own. In spring the orchards flower and half of Prague lies on the grass.

Worth knowing

Good to know

The top platform is worth the last flight — the lower gallery is glassed and reflective, and the open level above it is where the castle, the river and the Old Town all line up at once.
Late afternoon turns the roofs copper — the sun sets behind this hill, so the city opposite catches the last direct light while you are already standing in shade.
The orchards flower for about two weeks — the slope fills with blossom in April, and it is the one time of year when the hill is busier than the tower standing on it.

Things to do

1
Climb to the open level
Take the stairs rather than the lift: the spiral wraps a central shaft, and the city appears in slices through the ironwork as you rise. At the top, walk the full circle — the castle, the river and the Old Town each get their own quarter of the horizon.
2
Walk down through the orchards
From the summit the paths drop east through fruit trees and rose beds toward Malá Strana. It takes about twenty minutes, the noise falls away entirely, and the Hunger Wall appears on your left roughly halfway down the slope.
3
Lie on the grass in spring
When the orchards flower, the east slope above Újezd becomes the city's living room: blankets, beer, dogs and students all the way down the hill, with the castle ridge across the valley in full view the whole time.