Petrin Hill and Observation Tower

Petrin hill is one of the slightly lesser known spots of Prague, often overshadowed by its more popular touristy sights. It is, however, the perfect place to spend a few hours among greenery, maybe pack a picnic lunch for an afternoon and stroll around, and best of all, take in awesome views of the city and the river.  

Petrin hill is by itself 318 metres high, and top of it, has a viewing tower that rises up 63.5 metres, so once you get to the top, there are beautiful unobstructed views of the city all around. 

Reaching petrin is very easy - the foot of the hill is located at the tram stop called Ujezd. (Prague trams have a display board which shows the name of the upcoming stop and it is also announced. But if your tram is crowded and you cant see the board, watch out for the announcement - when it is pronounced it sounds like “Uyez”.) Ujezd is only a couple of tram stops of away from the Malastrana Square - in case you are in that area for the Charles Bridge or castle. 

Once you get down at Ujezd, you have two options to reach the top - either walk up-hill, or the more fun option, take the funicular railway. Indeed, one of the very reasons to go to petrin as a tourist would be to take the funicular railway, enjoying the fun as it chug-chugs its way uphill slowly. The funicular railway (which is a ‘rope car’ or cable-car along an incline) is part of the Prague public transport system, and uses the same tickets. So if you already have a longer duration ticket that covers prague transport like the 1 day or 3 day ticket, you can use that itself - or else get a ticket from the vending machines right there. It can get a bit crowded in the car, but it’s only a few minutes trip, and there is one at every 10 or 15 min interval.  Once inside the railway car, it’s better to stand than sit, and preferably towards the back, so that you can get better views going up. 

There is one stop in between for a restaurant that's there midway up the hill, so unless you’ve already made plans to eat here, wait till the funicular railway goes all the way up to the top, which is the final stop. 

Petrin Tower

At the top of the hill is the Petrin Tower, which, as i already mentioned, is 63 metres high. The tower was built as an inspiration from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, so it does look somewhat like a smaller replica of it. It was constructed in 1891, and was used as a TV transmission tower between 1953-1992. Now it is just a viewing tower with an observation deck at the top. 

The tower has 299 steps, and an entry ticket. There are separate stairways to go up and come down. It’s certainly a bit of a climb, but there's also an elevator or lift inside the tower for seniors or kids. And once you get to the top the view is definitely well worth the climb. You can see the Vltava river, many of the bridges spanning it, the prague castle, and the red roofs characteristic of the city all over. Not to mention the greenery all over the hill and around it. 

View of Prague from top of Petrin Tower - the Vltava river and the bridges spanning it - how many bridges can you spot ? :)

View of Prague and Prague Castle, with St. Vitus Cathedral, from Petrin Tower

Once you have your fill of going around the observation deck and taking in the 360° views, you can come down and wander around the hill, with many of its green spaces and gardens. There are also trails that apparently lead from the hill to the Prague castle, which is not too far off (roughly around a 1.5 km walk) - that’s one thing in hindsight I feel I should have probably explored, it didn't occur to me at the time. 

Since i took the funicular while going uphill, i decided to take a walk coming down, to make it slower and take in a bit more of all the green cover of the trees. It is indeed a very cool and shady walk, and there are always other walkers or bikers(cyclists) around. Another bonus in walking down is that there are spots where you can stand and watch the funicular coming up its track. 

Petrin Funicular railway

Petrin Hill also has parts of a medieval wall from the 1300’s still existing. Known as the Hunger Wall (Hladova Zed), it was supposedly built as a fortification to the lesser town (Mala Strana) and castle, but was known as the Hunger Wall because its construction was used as a reason to provide employment and food to the people during a terrible famine. You can see parts of the wall while coming down the hill, but there is no detailed explanation or anything, just a few signs pointing the direction. 

 

Hunger Wall, or Hladova Zed, at Petrin Hill, Ujezd.

At the foot of the hill, near the Ujezd tram stop, there is also a memorial to the victims of communism, symbolising the harm and slow degeneration caused by it. Prague was under communist rule for nearly 40 years till the early 90s and its horrors are very much still in their memory, even though it is a vibrant, modern city today. 

Communism Memorial at Ujezd, at the foot of Petrin Hill. Note the complete, full figure at the front becoming more and more disintegrated and eroded over time behind - a symbolism to the effects of communism.

So if you have a few hours to spare, do make Petrin a part of your Prague itinerary and enjoy its natural beauty and splendid views. 

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