Czech name: Královská obora Stromovka
Your Prague sightseeing should include this “Central Park” located in the Bubeneč district and bordered on one side by the Výstaviště Fair Grounds, It is also referred to as a “tree park.” With the size of 104.55 hectares, it is also the largest Prague park. There is a great variety of trees including oaks as well as many varieties of woody plants, streams, ponds and meadows.
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Location & How to Get There
Royal Park Stromovka is best reached by trams 6, 12, and 17 – the stop is Výstaviště. You can get there also by a metro line C which goes to Nádraží Holešovice Station. From there, it is about 10-15 minutes by walk or one tram stop by tram number 6, 12 and 17 to the Výstaviště Holešovice stop.
Opening Hours & Entry
The park is open every day 24 hours a day. There is no entrance fee.
What to Do & What to See
The Park is a greenery island on the Vltava river floodplain that is an oasis in the middle of a bustling metropolis. It is a place to relax, take leisurely walks, cycle, skate, take advantage of the picnic area, let the children enjoy the three playgrounds, and more. Also featured is a Neo-Gothic style summerhouse, a planetarium, two restaurants, a former gamekeeper’s lodge, a former railway building, and a former ice house.
The park is a place for relaxation and sport activities and it represents calm island of greenery in the capital city. Visitors can admire beautiful surroundings and feel as if they were in the countryside.
History
At the start of the 19th century, it became a park, which, in the 19th and 20th centuries, was reduced in size by the construction of the exhibition ground, the Planetarium, the Academy of Fine Arts, a ship canal, and railways. The park is maintained as an English landscape garden and is protected as a cultural and natural monument.
An English landscape garden is a style of garden which began in the early 18th century in England and spread as the principal gardening style across Europe. It replaced the more symmetrical and formal 17th century garden. It drew inspiration from the landscape paintings of Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain and normally included gently rolling lawns, groves of trees, a lake, and recreations of Gothic ruins, temples, bridges, and other picturesque subjects.