Stromovka is the park Prague's kings kept to themselves, and it still feels like a secret kept from the tour groups. The largest green space in the city, a footbridge over the Vltava, and a baroque chateau on the far bank — four and a half kilometres that start in meadows and end among stone giants.
Come in by Výstaviště in the morning, when the sady (park) belongs to herons and rowers. Walk west past the Místodržitelský letohrádek, the neo-Gothic lodge above the ponds, and follow the water toward the river. The footbridge over Císařský ostrov is the hinge of the walk: flat, half-wild, and the only way across on foot. Midway, the city falls silent.
On the far side waits Zámek Troja, red and white, baroque, 1679, with a garden staircase swarming with wrestling stone giants. The gardens are free; the long view back along the axis is the photograph. Climb a little higher to the St Clare vineyard for a glass of Prague-grown wine over the rooftops, then finish at the zoo gates, where bus 112 carries you back to the metro.
