If you're visiting Prague, you will certainly have walked around the streets and admired the buildings. But for a different view, as any self-respecting course in landscape photography will advise you, you need to get high. Fortunately, the Prague people know this and they've made it easy and safe go get access to several of Prague's many towers (for a modest price, of course). Also, if you put on some stout walking shoes and go to the West bank of the Vltava, you'll find some notable hills with spectacular views of the city's rooftops. Here's our guide to some of the best places to go to see panoramic views of the city – and, if you're a photographer, to find that perfect angle.
We start our trip in the morning at the black, Gothic Powder Tower (Prašná brána) towards the eastern end of Old Town. You'll need to negotiate some interestingly narrow steps to get up to the observation deck at the top, but you'll be rewarded with a fine view of the dome of Municipal House (Obecní dům), to complement its cafés and the Alfons Mucha interior that you may have already seen.
Walk (carefully) round the corner of the Powder Tower's observation deck and you will see the superstructure of Old Town Square, with Old Town Tower and the twin towers of the Church of Our Lady before Týn; far in the background is Prague Castle.
While you're in this part of town, head to the cubist House of the Black Madonna (U Černé Matky Boží). After a restorative coffee and cake at the Grand Café Orient (or at the Černá Madona restaurant next door), go past the Cubist Museum ticket office in to the stairwell and look upwards: you'll see why it's been given the name "Lightbulb staircase". However, it's also interesting to take the lift to the top and – if you don't suffer from vertigo – look down.
By the way, if you were in need of some brand shopping, the nearby Palladium Shopping Centre is super-glitzy and provides a different kind of "view from above" of the city.
Move on to Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) and go to the entrance of Old Town Hall, next to the Astronomical Clock. Unlike the Powder Tower, this has the advantage that the authorities have kindly installed a lift to take you to the Observation Deck, which is probably Prague's prime high viewpoint. There are stunning views all the way round: look West across the Vltava and you'll see Prague Castle, with the Gothic spires of St Vitus Cathedral.
To the left and just across the square, you'll get a close-up view of Our Lady before Týn.
And further round to the left, look down to get a bird's eye view of Old Town Square, with the Jan Hus Memorial in its centre.
It's hard to get above Prague Castle and St Vitus (that's kind of the point), but one place in Prague you can do it from is the park on Petrin Hill on the West bank of the Vltava. It's a fair hike up the hill from Malá Strana, but a delightful one in good weather and you're rewarded by wonderful views, such as this one of St Vitus from the Southwest. There is a lookout tower, by the way, which allows you to get even higher than I did. Your other choice for getting above St Vitus is Žižkov Television Tower, but that's much further away.
On the same side of the river but on the opposite side of the castle, Letná Park is a rather easier climb. The Hanavský Pavilion at the top offers coffee and cake (we are in Prague, after all) as well as what's probably the most famous view of the city: clusters of photographers gather for "blue hour" (the best time is around 30 minutes after sunset) to see the bridges neatly lined up.
While you're up at Letná Park, especially if you're a classical music lover, don't forget to look around left where you'll see the Rudolfinum, with the nearby street lamps reflected in the Vltava.
We'll end this photographic tour by heading back across the Vltava to another well loved Blue Hour venue: the Old Town Bridge Tower on the East side of Charles Bridge. This is the tower of the Smetana Museum next door.
And of course, if you look across the river at night, St Vitus blazes at you in lit-up splendour...
Photos taken in January 2020.
This article was sponsored by Prague City Tourism.
