Vyšehrad visitor guide: what to see at Prague's other castle

Vyšehrad is a fortified rock above the Vltava, a short ride south of the New Town, with free public grounds, a neo-Gothic basilica, a Baroque casemates system and the national cemetery where many of the most celebrated names in Czech culture are buried. Unlike Prague Castle, most of Vyšehrad costs nothing to see: the walk through the gates, along the ramparts and through the cemetery is free, and only a handful of individual sights need a ticket.

What Vyšehrad is

According to the Czech legend retold by Prague City Tourism, Princess Libuše and her husband Přemysl stood on the Vyšehrad ramparts and foresaw a great city across the river, ordering a castle to be built where the Old Town now stands. Historians treat the story as a legend rather than a documented event. What is better established is that the site carried significant fortifications from around the 10th century, and that Vratislav II, the first King of Bohemia, made Vyšehrad his seat in the second half of the 11th century, when both the Basilica of St Peter and St Paul and the Rotunda of St Martin were built. The hill later gave its name to the national cemetery that today holds the graves of Czech composers, writers and artists, a short walk from the local neighbourhood of Vinohrady, described in our guide to Prague's neighbourhoods.

What you can see for free

The park, the ramparts and the national cemetery are open to the public at no charge. A walk along the walls gives views over the Vltava and the New Town, and the grounds include a rose garden, lawns and benches. Two free sights worth looking for on the way:

• The Rotunda of St Martin, the oldest surviving rotunda in Prague, built in the second half of the 11th century. It served as a gunpowder store during the Thirty Years' War, and a cannonball still embedded in its wall recalls the Prussian attack on Prague in 1757. It is still a working church and is usually open to visitors only on a guided tour by appointment, but the exterior can be seen at any time.
• The Cubist houses below the hill, on streets such as Libušina and Neklanova, designed mainly by the architect Josef Chochol between 1912 and 1914. The Kovařovic Villa on Libušina street and the Hodek Building on Neklanova street are among the best known examples of Czech Cubist architecture anywhere in the city.

You enter the fortress through a sequence of Baroque gates, including the Tábor Gate and the Leopold Gate, built as part of the 17th-century remodelling of Vyšehrad into a star-shaped fortress.

What needs a ticket

The casemates and the Gorlice Hall

The casemates are a system of underground corridors built into the Baroque fortifications between 1656 and 1678. Their largest chamber, the Gorlice Hall, now displays several original Baroque statues that used to stand on Charles Bridge, including work attributed to Matyáš Bernard Braun and Ferdinand Maxmilián Brokoff, moved here when the bridge statues were replaced with copies to protect the originals from the weather. The casemates can only be visited on a guided tour, which starts at the Brick Gate (Cihelná brána); tickets are sold there or online. Hours and the ticket price change, so check praha-vysehrad.cz before you go.

The Basilica of St Peter and St Paul

The basilica was founded in the 1070s under Vratislav II and rebuilt several times since, most recently in neo-Gothic style, with its twin towers completed in 1902 and 1903. It was raised to the rank of basilica by Pope John Paul II in 2003. Visitors can go inside outside of Mass times. Recently published prices were around 130 CZK for an adult ticket, with reduced and family rates, but check the official site for the current price, since opening hours and fees change between the winter and summer months.

Vyšehrad Cemetery and the Slavín tomb

The Vyšehrad National Cemetery is free to enter and open daily, with longer hours in summer than in winter; check praha-vysehrad.cz for the current closing time on the day of your visit. It holds the graves of many of the most important figures in Czech culture, including the composers Antonín Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana and the painter Alfons Mucha. At the eastern end of the cemetery stands the Slavín, a shared tomb where some of the nation's most honoured figures rest together.

How to get there

The Vyšehrad station on metro line C is at the foot of the hill, a short walk from the fortress gates. Trams including lines 2, 7, 18 and 24 stop at Albertov, on the other side of the hill, from where a path leads up to the walls. Public transport routes and stops can change, so check the current connection on the PID (Prague Integrated Transport) journey planner before you travel.

Visiting with children, seniors or a small group

Prague City Tourism and the Vyšehrad authority describe the complex as largely wheelchair accessible, though because of its historic character some buildings and routes are not. The information centre and the Old Burgrave's House are fully barrier free, while the entrance to the underground Gorlice Hall involves three steps down, and the paths around the ramparts are uneven in places. Travelling by metro, leave the platform on the side towards the centre, since the opposite platform is not barrier free, and note that accessible parking near the fortress is limited.

For families, the open lawns, the ramparts and the park make for easy walking, and children usually enjoy the gates, the rotunda and the view over the river, while the national cemetery calls for a quieter pace. A car avoids the uphill approach from the metro or tram stop and gives flexibility to combine Vyšehrad with other stops on the same morning; see our tour at a relaxed pace by car.

How we help

Vyšehrad fills a good half day away from the Old Town, and it combines well with a walk through Vinohrady next door. Our Vyšehrad and Vinohrady private tour is led by a licensed guide who knows the legends, the casemates and the cemetery, and who plans the stops around the opening hours on the day. We arrange the licensed guide and, where needed, the tickets, as part of a written, itemised quote. See the licensed guides we work with, or send us your dates and we will plan the visit around them.