Vltava River

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Fisherman on the Vltava River

The Vltava River is the center of Prague. From the back of our Kampa Apartment you can watch it flow gently past. It flows through the heart of the city, dividing Mala Strana From Stare Mesto and the rest of the city. It winds its way slowly through the Czech Capitol and is one of the most beautiful things about Prague. Not big like the Danube, the river is rather more small and accessible although can turn into a raging torrent given the right circumstance (Iike the floods in 2002 demonstrated!).

Vltava River's lock covered in snow

Bedrich Smetana, the most famous Czech composer even composed a movement in his famous “Muj Vlast” (My Land in English) called the Vltava. If you listen carefully to this movement you can hear the river as it starts out as a trickle in the Sumava mountains to the south and then gains confidence and width, flowing northwards until it passes through Prague and further, finally joining the Elbe some 60 kms north of Prague. Buy the CD on the Charles Bridge and then play it on the CD players in any of our Apartments in Prague.

If you want to get really close to the water, head to Strelecky ostrov, which is in the middle of the river on the Most Legii (Legion’s bridge) opposite the National Theater, and get right down and touch the water. There are also paddle boats for hire if you want to spend an hour viewing Prague from a duck’s point of view. You can rent the paddle boats on Zofin Island. Starting in July there are movies shown in English starting at 2130H for a mere 90 or 100 CZK.

There are also plenty of boats cruising up and down the Vltava, we think the best of these is the Jazz Boat which goes every evening with a jazz band, cocktails and eats. If you want to spend a romantic evening taking it easy, take the Jazz boat.

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