Day trips from Prague
An ossuary built from the bones of 40,000 people, a castle that once guarded the crown jewels, and a fortress with two faces of history. For each: how long it takes and how to get there.
- Karlštejn
- train from the Main Station or Smíchov
- Farther towns
- Karlovy Vary
If you only have time for one trip, make it Kutná Hora, about 50 min by train, with its bone ossuary and St Barbara's Cathedral, built by the same guild as St Vitus in Prague. Karlštejn is closer and shorter, half a day instead of a full one. Terezín carries a different story, of a fortress that became a ghetto.
Worth it, if you only pick one
In the Middle Ages, Kutná Hora was the second-richest town in Bohemia, built on silver mines that filled the royal treasury. That wealth left behind St Barbara's Cathedral, built by the same guild of masons as St Vitus in Prague, and the Sedlec Ossuary next door, a chapel decorated with the bones of roughly 40,000 people, stacked after medieval epidemics and wars. A train from the Main Station, train (Vysočina express) from the Main Station, takes about 50 min, a ticket from from €6.48. Seeing both sites takes a full day.
Shorter, half a day
Karlštejn Castle was built by Charles IV in the mid-14th century to hold the crown jewels of the Holy Roman Empire and its most valuable relics. It stands on a hill above the village of the same name, and from the station it's a walk uphill, with the castle growing larger at every step. A train from the Main Station or Smíchov, train from the Main Station or Smíchov, takes 40 min, a ticket from from €4.59. Unlike Kutná Hora, this trip fits into half a day.
A different kind of trip
Terezín is an 18th-century Austrian fortress that the Nazis turned into a ghetto and transit camp during the Second World War. The Small Fortress and the ghetto are visited together, by bus line 413 from Letňany metro station, about 50 min, a ticket at €8.20. This is a trip built around understanding that history, and it takes a full day.
Towns that need their own night
Karlovy Vary, a spa town with colonnades over mineral springs, is about an hour and a half by bus — too far for a comfortable same-day return with a proper visit.
Český Krumlov, a small town in a loop of the river with the second-largest castle in Bohemia, is about three hours by train — far enough that staying the night is worth it.
Plzeň, home to the brewery that gave the world pilsner, is an hour and twenty minutes by train or bus, with enough to fill its own day or two.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Which day trip from Prague is best if I pick one?
Kutná Hora, for the ossuary and St Barbara's Cathedral. It's about 50 min by train, and it takes a full day.
Can Karlovy Vary or Český Krumlov be done in a day?
They can, but the journey is an hour and a half to three hours each way, so a proper visit pays off better with a night there than a day trip.
What is Terezín?
An 18th-century fortress the Nazis turned into a ghetto and transit camp during the Second World War. A visit takes a full day.
Ready for Prague?
Where to next
Where to stay in Prague
→Staré Město puts everything within reach and charges the most for it. Malá Strana is quieter, right by the…
Kutná Hora · 63 km
→A town that turned silver into coin and cathedral, while the village beside it turned bones into ornament.
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→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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