GIVE A TRUE GIFT TO YOUR FRIENDS
CHOOSE THE RIGHT LEVEL OF EXCITEMENT FOR THOSE YOU CARE ABOUT THE MOST
Events
The Hike Around Prague – Winter Edition
FREE with Discovery Pass!
During this series of regular walks, you’ll enjoy Prague’s skyline from all possible angles, admire architecture of all styles and hear stories from all periods of Czech and European history! The goal of this hike is to discover interesting natural and cultural monuments outside of the city center.
The winter edition of this popular series of events has been modified and divided into 12 shorter walks for shorter and colder winter days ranging from 7-10 km (4.4 to 6.2 miles).
WHEN: Every Sunday morning at 10 AM (every other Sunday from January to March), you can join a group of friendly, international people and walk one section of the Hike. Where one part of the Hike ends, another starts until we will arrive back to the starting point. Everyone who completes the whole circle around Prague will be awarded a memorial certificate!
WHERE: The meeting point is different for each walk, please read the description below. To find the best connection from your location, use the journey planner.
Hello Discoverers!
We, and many of you, have grown fond of our regular Sunday hikes along the circumference of Prague. I would like to invite you for the winter edition of the Hike Around Prague! The route has been modified and divided into 12 shorter walks for shorter and colder winter days.
This orbital walk around the outer boundaries of Prague models The Capital Ring of London. The point of this hike is to discover interesting natural and cultural monuments outside of the city center. And believe me, there are many!
During this series of regular walks, you’ll enjoy Prague’s skyline from all possible angles, explore dozens of Prague’s parks and forests, admire architecture of many different styles and hear intriguing stories from the Czech and European history! And, hopefully, make many new friends!
After completing this hike, you will be able to safely say: I know Prague!
The whole, about 93 km long loop, is divided into 12 separate hikes/walks, ranging from 7 to 10 km (4.4 to 6.2 miles). It uses both marked and unmarked hiking trails and quiet back streets and follows places of interest rather than the shortest route. Each hike ends close to a good local restaurant for an optional lunch in the company of your fellow hikers!
We’ll meet every* Sunday morning at 10:00 am and walk a section of this ultimate urban hike of the Czech capital!
*every other Sunday from January to March
PRICE: 200 CZK or FREE with Discovery Pass!
Includes the guiding, planning and organization.
Please note: This is an open event with no fixed maximum number of attendees. You CAN just show up on the day without a previous registration on our website. However, if you want to use your Discovery Pass discount you have to reserve your place online on this page (even using your smartphone in the morning of the hike). Thank you for understanding and cooperation!
We’re looking forward to discovering Prague with you!
Cheers,
Filip & Sarah
Hike 1
from Bílá hora to Jenerálka
The first part of the Hike covers the oldest and most popular natural reserve within the Prague’s city limits – Divoka Sarka.
You will enjoy a pleasant walk along Sarecky potok (Sarka Creek) through beautiful Natural Reserve Divoka Sarka where you can admire interesting rock formations and forget for a while that we are still in Prague.
The walk ends by the restaurant „Jeneralka“. The restaurant offers a great selection of the classic Czech food at very reasonable prices and it’s only one stop by bus away from metro A Borislavka.
Take good shoes as the walk includes steep and uneven paths.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Visiting the memorial at Bila hora and learning more about the fateful battle taking place here in 1620.
- Walk across the lower part of Obora Hvezda
- The walk through the gorge of Sarecky potok (Sarka Creek)
- (Optional) after-the-hike lunch with your fellow hikers at Restaurace Jeneralka
DIFFICULTY: Easy (cca 9 km mostly flat or downhill)
Be prepared for uneven terrrain and late autumn mud!
MEETING POINT: Bila hora trams’ 22 and 25 terminus.
Hike 2
from Nadrazi Veleslavin to Hanspaulka
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Discovering less known parts of Divoka Sarka
- (Optional) after-the-hike lunch with your fellow hikers
DIFFICULTY: Easy to Moderate (includes a steep ascent and descent and uneven terrain)
Altogether around 7 km. Take good shoes as the walk includes steep and uneven paths.
MEETING POINT: In front of the metro A Nadrazi Veleslavin, exit “Evropska” (to the end of the corridor and then left around “Pizza Stazione” shop)
Reserve your place
[/hike_section]
[hike_section linkid=”#hike3″ title=”HIKE 3″]
Hike 3
from Hanspaulka to Bohnice
HIGHLIGHTS:
- The Baba Colony, with many fine villas built in the 30’s in the functionalism style.
- Beautiful view of Prague from the Baba
- Crossing the Vltava by a ferry
- Picturesque Salabka vineyard
- (Optional) after-the-hike lunch with your fellow hikers
DIFFICULTY: Easy to Moderate (includes a steep ascent and descent and uneven terrain)
MEETING POINT: Bus 131 stop “U Matěje”
Hike 4
from Bohnice to Ládví
This part of the Hike leads from the Bohnice plateau to the metro C station Ládví. During this hike you’ll learn more about the history of the suburban housing estates and see the longest panelák (house built of prefabricated concrete slabs) in the Czech Republic.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Walk one of the longest “panelák” corridors in CZ
- Folk architecture of Staré Bohnice
- Lovely vistas over the Bohnice Valley
- Disused cemetery of the Psychiatric hospital – the spookiest place in Prague!
- Pleasant walk in the woods on the northern fringes of Prague
- Visit to the Kobylisy Shooting Range Memorial, learning about the Nazi terror following the Heydrich’s assassination.
DIFFICULTY: Easy (includes some uneven and potentially muddy terrain)
MEETING POINT: Bus 102, 177, 202, 236 stop “Krakov”. By the entrance to the shopping center.
Hike 5
from Ládví to Hloubětín
The East End of Prague Part 1
We’ll continue our walk along quiet back streets of Sidliste Dablice” which is one of the greenest tower housing estates in Prague.
Strizkov & Prosek in Prague 9
After crossing the “magistrala” – Prague’s main trunk road, we’ll enter Prague 9 and the quiet residential neighborhood of Strizkov. We’ll enjoy a northeastern view of the city below and a path through Prosecke skaly Natural Reserve will bring us to the nicely renovated village square of the Old Prosek.
Vysocany
Following the Prague 9 Educational Trail, we will go downhill to Vysocany. It used to be a very industrial part of Prague. Factories have been replaced by residential housing and now it is a pleasant part of the city with good facilities and transport links. However, first we’ll have to endure walking through a rather spooky tunnel under the Prague – Vysocany Train Station.
The last few kilometers of the walk, between metro B stations Vysocanska and Hloubetin, will take us along Rokytka, a small tributary of the Vltava. It is so green and peaceful here. We might see coypus (nutrias) which dig their burrows in the banks of Rokytka. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coypu
Hloubetin
The last highlight of the walk will be the neo-gothic Hloubetin Chateau, serving as a private hospital. Interestingly, it was here in 2005, where the first baby-box in the Czech Republic was installed.
As usual, after the hike we’ll go for an optional lunch together.
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Unusual view of Prague from the north-east. Here we can track our progress – the first third of the Hike is behind us!
• Prosecke skaly Natural Reserve
• Old Prosek village
• Subway under the Vysocany Train Station (spooky!)
• Lovely green walk along the Rokytka creek.
• “English” style Hloubetin Chateau
DIFFICULTY: Easy to Moderate (flat or downhill, but with 10 km one of the longest sections!)
MEETING POINT: Outside of the Metro C station Ládví in Prague 8
Hike 6
from Hloubetin to
Strašnice
The East End of Prague Part 2
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Pleasant walk along the meandering river Rokytka in the Natural Park Smetanka
• Malesice woods
• Malesice Park with cool water installations
DIFFICULTY: Easy (8,5 km, mostly flat)
MEETING POINT: Outside of the metro B station Hloubetin by the sculpture. Take the exit “tram Lehovec – Palmovka…”
Hike 7
from Strašnice to Háje
Rails and Trails
HIGHLIGHTS:
- The “Triangle” Lake and Marsh – a surprising piece of wild nature in between three train lines just 20 minutes on foot from the Skalka metro station.
- Lovely walk along the Botic creek and the dam of Hostivar Reservoir.
- A surprising survivor of the old village Háj – a tiny chapel of St. John Nepomuk built after 1841
DIFFICULTY: Easy (but includes unpaved and potentially muddy paths!)
MEETING POINT: At tram 5,7 and 13 stop “Zborov – Strasnicke divadlo”.
Hike 8
from Háje to SAPA
A Tale of Two Cities
From the City of Dreams to the City of Commerce.
‘Háje’ means in slightly archaic Czech “woods”. In the 70’s most of the area was transformed to Prague’s largest housing estate – Jižní město (Southern City), in the slang known as “Jižák”. A green belt of Hostivarsky lesopark and of Milicovsky les has been preserved for the recreation of its residents.
Jižní město (and listening to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five NEW YORK NEW YORK on Radio Bayern III) inspired Alexandr (Lesík) Hajdovský to write the first Czech hip-hop song “Jižák” (Jižák, Jižák město snů… Jižák, Jižák the city of dreams…) in 1984. Later, the song became well-known thanks to the remix by PSH from 1994. One version is here.
We will end the hike in SAPA. Created in the late 1990’s on the site of former chicken meat processing plant, SAPA is the largest trading and cultural center of the Czech Vietnamese community and it’s truly “a city within a city”.
So here you have it – the tale of the City of Dreams and the City of Commerce.
This section has mere 67 meters of vertical gain so it is an easy flat walk.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Lovely park of the Kunratice Castle
• Lunch in one of the many restaurants in the SAPA Vietnamese Market Place AKA Little Hanoi. Supposedly one can get here the best Vietnamese food in the whole of Czechia!
• Opportunity for ingredients shopping for the recipes we learnt from Rahila earlier this year.
DIFFICULTY: This is an EASY 9 km long walk, suitable for people who are new to hiking and want to built-up their stamina. We should make it in 2,5 hours with ease. Nevertheless, take good walking shoes, as there are places where the trail is rather rugged.
MEETING POINT: Outside of the metro C terminal station Háje
Hike 9
from SAPA to Hodkovičky
The Deep South of Prague
This part is the most “hike-like” section of the whole loop. Hilly and leafy, with ponds and reservoirs along the way. Take good walking shoes, as there are places where the trail is rather rugged and expect lots of mud or ice (depending on the air temperature on the day).
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Natural Reserve Modranska rokle
• Natural reserve Kamyk
• Beautiful villas in Zatisi in Hodkovicky
DIFFICULTY: Easy to Medium (10 km, up and down). Mainly unpaved paths. More hike than walk!
MEETING POINT: Kacerov metro C station. From here we will take a bus to “Sidliste Pisnice” where the hike starts.
Hike 10
from Hodkovičky to Jinonice
Over the Barrandov Hills
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Crossing Vltava via so called “the Bridge of Intelligentsia”
• Once on the other side of the river, we’ll start climbing up to forested slopes called “Chuchelsky haj (Wood)” and stop at the small “Forest Zoo“.
• Natural Reserve Prokopske Valley -This deep and narrow valley is one of the prettiest natural areas of Prague.
DIFFICULTY: Easy to Moderate
This section is over 10 km long and with cumulative vertical gain of more than 300 meters is the hilliest stage of the whole hike around Prague.
MEETING POINT: At “Černý kůň” tram stop (tram number 17 and some trams number 3) in Prague 4 – Branik. It is a request stop – you need to indicate to the tram driver, you want to get off. For the best connection, check the journey planner.
Hike 11
from Jinonice to Bílá hora
To the Cross of the Knights of Malta
This hike will bring us back to our starting point at Bila hora tram terminus thus closing the loop of the Winter Hike Around Prague!
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Lovely Park Cibulka and the oldest viewing tower in Prague
- A pleasant walk in the forest on the northern slopes of Vidoule in Natural Park Košíře – Motol
- Natural monument Kalvarie in Motol
DIFFICULTY: Easy to Moderate, depending on the weather (about 8 km long walk with some steep ascents)
About 90% of the route leads on uneven and potentially muddy or icy forest roads and trails. Easy if the weather is dry, moderate if it is snowy and icy.
Wearing sturdy walking shoes with good grip is highly recommended!
MEETING POINT: Outside of metro B Jinonice, there’s only one exit
Hike 12
from Bílá hora to Nádraží Veleslavín
The Battlefield, the Rocks and the Lake
The 12th section of the Winter Hike Around Prague is an alternative route of the Hike 1 bringing the route back to the Summer Hike’s starting point at Divoka Sarka tram terminus and then continuing to Nadrazi Veleslavin metro A station.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Visiting the memorial at Bila hora and learning more about the fateful battle taking place here in 1620.
- A pleasant walk in the woods and meadows of The Divoka Sarka Natural Reserve.
- A lovely view from the top of Sestakova skala.
- The lake of Dzban
- (Optional) after-the-hike lunch with your fellow hikers
DIFFICULTY: Easy (cca 9 km mostly flat or downhill)
Be prepared for uneven terrain and early spring mud!
MEETING POINT: Bila hora trams’ 22 and 25 terminus.
Acknowledgement
We’d like to give credit to these two excellent websites:
We used them for planning all parts of the Hike.
We would also like to thank to all local municipal authorities for marking educational trails and fitting them with informational panels. We’ve learnt so much about Prague from them!
Last, but not least, we would like to thank to Klub Českých turistů for marking and maintaining the hiking trails in Prague and the Czech Republic as a whole.[/hike_section]
SAVE MONEY AND SUPPORT DISCOVERING PRAGUE &CZ
With Discovery Pass subscription the cost of most of our trips is close to what you would have paid if you had organized the trip yourself. But without the time-consuming work of researching the trip, booking tickets etc.! And by going with us you have guaranteed to meet lots of like-minded people!
