A wooded hill above Malá Strana with orchards, a funicular, a mirror maze and a small Eiffel Tower built in 1891 by people who had just been to Paris.
The tower
The Petřín Lookout Tower is 63.5 metres of steel lattice, built in 1891 for the Jubilee Exhibition by members of the Czech Tourist Club who had visited the Paris Exposition two years earlier and come home enthusiastic.
It is roughly a fifth of the Eiffel Tower’s height, and because it stands on a 327-metre hill its top is at almost exactly the same altitude above sea level, which is the fact everyone repeats and which is true.
299 steps, or a small lift. On a clear day you can see most of Bohemia, and on any day you can see the whole city laid out with the castle at eye level.
Everything else on the hill
The Mirror Maze, in a mock Gothic castle from the same 1891 exhibition, with a diorama of the 1648 defence of Charles Bridge against the Swedes. It is aimed at children and adults enjoy it more than they admit.
The Štefánik Observatory, with public telescope viewing on clear evenings.
The Hunger Wall, a fourteenth-century fortification built by Charles IV. The name comes from a tradition that he commissioned it during a famine specifically to give the poor paid work, which may even be true.
The Rose Garden and the orchards, which are the best of it in spring — the hill is covered in fruit trees and in April it is white with blossom.
St Lawrence’s Church and the small Calvary chapel with a sgraffito façade.
The Memorial to the Victims of Communism at the foot of the hill on the Újezd side: a line of bronze figures descending the steps, each more fragmented and eroded than the one below, with a bronze strip giving the numbers imprisoned, executed and driven into exile. It is free, it takes two minutes, and it is more effective than the museum.
Getting up and down
The funicular from Újezd runs every ten to fifteen minutes and takes four. It is part of the integrated transport system — a standard 30-minute or 90-minute ticket covers it, and so does a travel pass.
Walking up from Újezd through the orchards takes about twenty-five minutes and is pleasant rather than punishing.
From Strahov, the path along the ridge is flat and connects the two, which is the efficient way to do both.
Down through the orchards to Malá Strana, or down to Újezd for the tram.
Timing
Late afternoon for the light on the city from the tower, and spring for the blossom.
The hill is large enough to absorb people, so even in high summer the paths away from the funicular station are quiet.
