River & Gardens: Troja Chateau, Prague Zoo & the Wild North
In the green valley north of the city, where the Vltava makes its widest bend, Prague keeps some of its best surprises: a Baroque imperial summer palace surrounded by formal French gardens, one of Europe's finest zoos occupying a hillside above the river, a botanical garden filled with rare plants, and Císařský ostrov — the Emperor's Island — a nature reserve where herons nest and willows trail in the current. This is Prague's least-known escape.
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Troja Chateau
The Baroque summer palace of Troja — Trojský zámek — was built between 1679 and 1691 for Count Václav Vojtěch of Sternberg as a summer retreat and a statement of aristocratic ambition. The French formal gardens, with their geometric parterres and terraced stairs decorated with mythological sculptures by Johann Georg Heermann, are among the finest surviving Baroque gardens in Central Europe. The palace interior is famous for its Great Hall ceiling fresco, a monumental allegory of the Habsburg victory over the Ottoman Turks painted by Abraham Godin in the 1690s. The palace now houses a collection of 19th-century Czech painting from the National Gallery — a somewhat unexpected use of a Baroque jewel, but one that gives visitors a quiet art experience away from the city center's crowds.
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Prague Zoo
Founded in 1931 on the steep hillside above the Troja valley, the Prague Zoo is consistently rated among the best zoos in the world — it ranked number one by TripAdvisor in 2015 and has been in the global top five for years. The zoo's 58-hectare site, divided by a chairlift that crosses above the enclosures, houses over 5,000 animals from 670 species. Its architecture is unusually sensitive to the landscape: the enclosures are designed to mimic the animals' natural environments using the hillside's varied terrain, and several indoor pavilions — including the Indonesian jungle house and the Africa house — are genuinely impressive immersive environments. The zoo was devastated by floods in 2002; its complete rebuilding made it one of the most modern and visitor-friendly in Europe.
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Prague Botanical Garden (Troja)
Adjacent to the zoo, the Botanická zahrada hlavního města Prahy is one of the largest botanical gardens in the Czech Republic, occupying 25 hectares of hillside above the Vltava. The garden is divided into themed sections — a Japanese garden, a Mediterranean terrace, a collection of cacti and succulents, and an extensive rock garden with alpine plants. The centerpiece is the Fata Morgana tropical greenhouse, a vast glass butterfly-shaped structure completed in 2004 that houses a rainforest environment with free-flying birds and thousands of tropical plant species. The garden's hillside position gives it sweeping views of the Vltava valley and the wooded hills beyond.
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Troja Bridge
The Trojský most — Troja Bridge — is one of Prague's newest and most elegant bridges, a single-arch concrete and steel structure completed in 2014 that spans the Vltava between Holešovice and the Troja district. Its minimalist design contrasts pleasantly with the ornate Baroque chateau visible upstream. The bridge has a dedicated pedestrian and cycling path, making it the most pleasant way to arrive at the Troja complex from the city center. From the bridge's midpoint, the view upstream toward the wooded hillside and the zoo's rooftops is one of the least-photographed but most beautiful in Prague.
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Císařský ostrov (Emperor's Island)
Císařský ostrov — the Emperor's Island — is a long, narrow river island north of Troja that was, in the 16th century, a private imperial hunting reserve and pheasant park. Today it is a protected natural reserve: one of the last stretches of natural floodplain woodland in the Prague urban area. The island's interior is a tangle of old-growth willows, poplars, and alders; grey herons nest in the treetops; kingfishers dart along the shallows; and in spring, the island floods with water as the Vltava rises, a natural cycle that has continued undisturbed for centuries. Access is via a wooden footbridge from the Troja riverbank; the island has no facilities and no crowds — an extraordinary piece of wilderness five kilometers from Wenceslas Square.
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Stromovka Park South
The southern end of Stromovka Park, closest to the Holešovice neighborhood, is the most atmospheric section of Prague's oldest park — a dense old growth of oaks, linden, and chestnut trees with a network of quiet paths. The park's southern pond, a former fish pond from the medieval royal hunting ground, is still intact and surrounded by willows. In the early morning, before the cyclists and joggers arrive, the park's silence is complete: only birdsong, the creak of old trees, and the distant murmur of the city. The Exhibition Grounds at the park's southern edge host a permanent amusement park, a planetarium, and the Industrial Palace — a landmark of 19th-century iron-and-glass architecture — giving the park an urban edge that contrasts with its ancient interior.