Five free views of Prague

Prague has plenty of towers, lookouts and rooftop terraces with beautiful views of the city. At most of them, though, you first come to a ticket office. There’s nothing wrong with that. But a good photo doesn’t have to start with buying a ticket.

Just head for a park or a hill. Besides the view you get grass, trees, ramparts, stairs and people for the foreground. And no ticket time is ticking.

You pay nothing to get in. You work off the climb.

The following five places aren’t a ranking from best to worst. Each shows a different part of Prague and each needs a slightly different way of photographing.

Three notes before you set out. On Vítkov, only the viewing terrace on the roof of the memorial is paid — the park and the space around it aren’t. On Vyšehrad, the bastion by the Vyšehrad gardens has been under repair since September 2026 — the Šemík’s Leap lookout stays open, but only through a marked corridor, and the work will run into next year. And on Dívčí hrady, don’t enter the enclosure and don’t feed the animals.

At each of the five places you can set yourself the same task: make one wide panorama, one frame with a strong foreground and one detail taken with a longer focal length. That way you don’t take home five almost identical photos from each lookout, but a small series.

And you don’t have to do all the places in one day. Pick one, come back to it in different light and try to work out what, apart from the view itself, belongs in the photo.

Five views, not one for money.

Bridges one behind the other

Letná

the Metronome and Hanavský Pavilion

A longer focal length pulls the bridges together. Take stairs, a railing or a skateboarder into the foreground. Works in the blue hour too.

The Castle above the roofs

Riegrovy sady

western edge, the sloping meadow

Don’t chase people out of the frame — blankets and silhouettes against the sky help. But the direction of the sunset changes during the year, so check it.

Solid lines

Vítkov

the park around the memorial, not the terrace

Combine the city with architecture: the edge of the memorial, the staircase, the statue of Žižka. Walk around it from several sides; the view changes every few steps.

The river from the south

Vyšehrad

along the ramparts by the Vyšehrad gardens

Put a wall, a path or a piece of the basilica in the foreground. In summer the trees cover the gaps, in autumn they open up. Don’t climb the ramparts.

Prague with a piece of countryside

Dívčí hrady

the rise above the horse enclosure

Leave the wide-angle at home. A longer focal length joins the horses with Pankrác or the grass with the buildings. A piece of countryside stays between you and the city.