Prague Castle ticket prices in 2026

Quick summary: Prague Castle prices at a glance

The official Prague Castle price list

Admission is sold in bundles the Castle Administration calls circuits. Roman numerals in the list below match the numbers painted beside each building's entrance, so you can navigate by ticket.

Source: the downloadable English price list on hrad.cz. We are an independent guide, not the ticket seller — confirm current prices before you travel.

What the Main circuit ticket includes

• St. Vitus Cathedral (VIII) — the nave, the St. Wenceslas Chapel, the Royal Crypt entrance area and Alfons Mucha's 1931 stained-glass window
• Old Royal Palace (I) — Vladislav Hall, the Riders' Staircase and the Bohemian Chancellery where the 1618 Defenestration of Prague happened
• St. George's Basilica (III) — the Romanesque interior founded in 920
• Golden Lane with Daliborka Tower (V) — the sixteen miniature houses plus the armoury gallery running above them

Four monuments for 450 CZK works out at roughly 112 CZK each. If you only care about one of them, the maths changes — see our page on circuit tickets for the breakdown building by building.

What costs extra

• The Great South Tower — 200 CZK, 287 steps, sold separately from every circuit and worth it on a clear day
• The Picture Gallery — 200 CZK alone, or included in the 300 CZK Permanent exhibitions ticket
• Temporary exhibitions and concerts in the Riding School, Imperial Stables and Theresian Wing — priced individually
• Audio guide hardware — 350 CZK for three hours plus a 500 CZK deposit you get back with the unit

Ticket comparison: counter, online bundle or guided tour

The same 450 CZK admission sits inside almost every online product. What you are really choosing is how much guidance and queue-avoidance you want to pay for on top.

Who pays less: discounts and free admission

Reduced price — 300 CZK on the Main circuit

• Young visitors aged 6 to 16
• Full-time secondary-school and university students up to and including age 26
• Adults aged 65 and over

Proof is checked at the door, not at the till. Bring a student card showing full-time enrolment, or an ID with your date of birth. A photo on a phone is not accepted.

Family ticket — 950 CZK

Covers one to five children under 16 travelling with a maximum of two adults. Two adults plus two children pay 950 CZK instead of 1,500 CZK — a saving of 550 CZK. With three children the same ticket still costs 950 CZK, which is where it becomes genuinely good value.

Free admission

• Children under 6, no documentation needed
• Disability ID card holders, plus one accompanying person if named on the card
• Teachers accompanying school groups — one free adult per 15 pupils
• Licensed EU guides accompanying clients who hold valid tickets
• Anyone attending a service in St. Vitus Cathedral — this is worship, not sightseeing

How to save on Prague Castle admission

1. Decide whether you need the exhibitions at allThe 300 CZK Permanent exhibitions ticket adds four minor sites. For a first visit, the 450 CZK Main circuit covers everything people actually come to see. Skipping it saves 300 CZK per person.
2. Skip the rented audio guide350 CZK plus a 500 CZK deposit for three hours is more than the gap between the counter price and most online tickets that include an app-based guide on your own phone. Take the online bundle instead.
3. Use the free half of the castle properlyAll four courtyards, the Deer Moat path, the exterior of the cathedral, the changing of the guard and the gardens in season cost nothing. Budget travellers can spend a satisfying two hours here without a ticket.
4. Walk Golden Lane after closingOnce the monuments shut, the lane itself opens for free passage. The houses and armoury gallery are locked, but the street is quiet and photogenic — and free.
5. Check whether a city pass beats single ticketsThe Prague Visitor Pass bundles castle admission with public transport and other sites. It only wins if you will visit four or more paid attractions inside the pass window. For two attractions, single tickets are cheaper.
6. Use the two-day validityOne ticket, two consecutive days, one entry per building. Split a heavy itinerary across two calm mornings instead of paying twice.

Timing is everything: when tickets are easiest to get

Prague Castle does not sell out in the way that timed-entry museums do, but the ticket offices and the security gates both have rush hours.

• 8:30–9:30 — arrive before the monuments open at 9:00. Security takes two minutes, the ticket window is empty, and you get the Third Courtyard to yourself.
• 10:30–14:00 — the peak. Coach groups, hop-on buses and the noon guard ceremony all land in this window.
• After 15:30 — groups leave for dinner. In summer that still leaves 90 minutes inside the monuments and much warmer light outside.
• Tuesday to Thursday beat Monday, Friday and the weekend in every month.
• November to March — shorter hours, 9:00 to 16:00, but noticeably fewer people and no ticket-office queue at all.

Full seasonal timetables, including last entry times and garden seasons, are on our Prague Castle opening hours page.

The insider entry: where to buy and where to enter

Tickets are sold at the information centres in the Second and Third Courtyards, and at the Golden Lane ticket window. All three sit inside the security perimeter, which means you queue for security first, then for a ticket. Two separate lines, two separate waits.

1. Enter at Prašný most (the Powder Bridge)The northern entrance, closest to the tram 22 stop Pražský hrad. It usually has the shortest security line and puts you beside the Second Courtyard information centre.
2. Avoid the Matthias Gate at peak timeThe grand entrance on Hradčanské náměstí is where every guidebook and every bus sends people. Between 10:30 and 14:00 in summer it is the slowest of the four.
3. Come up the Old Castle Stairs for a reverse routeFrom metro Malostranská, the eastern approach brings you in at the Na Opyši gate beside Golden Lane. Buy at the Golden Lane window and walk the circuit backwards, ahead of the flow.
4. Carry the smallest bag you canLarge backpacks and suitcases slow the screening down for everyone, including you. There is no cloakroom for luggage inside the complex.

How to get to the ticket offices

Access routes follow the official guidance on hrad.cz. Prague rebuilds tram sections regularly — check stop status on the day.

Is Prague Castle worth 450 CZK?

For a first visit, yes, and the reason is two rooms. Vladislav Hall is 62 metres of column-free late-Gothic vaulting from 1502 that no photograph conveys, and the nave of St. Vitus Cathedral is one of the few Gothic interiors in central Europe that still delivers the intended shock of scale. Both need the ticket.

If your time in Prague is measured in hours rather than days, the free half of the castle — courtyards, cathedral exterior, Deer Moat, the noon guard ceremony — is a genuinely good hour and costs nothing. Save the 450 CZK for a Vltava cruise instead.

If you are travelling with children, Golden Lane is the part they remember: sixteen doll-sized houses, an armoury full of crossbows, and a prison tower at the end. It alone justifies the family ticket.

Prague Castle tickets: frequently asked questions