General Information (EN)

Prague Botanic Garden

The Garden invites its visitors to see and enjoy open air exhibitions, arranged as an impressive park, historical Vineyard of St. Claire, Japanese Garden, tropical greenhouse Fata Morgana together with numerous festive and educational events, targeting visitors of all walks of life. Also of importance, the natural surrounding is far away from the disturbing influence of the city.
The Garden is under continuous development, new expositions are emerging. This may be the reason of imaginary disconnection of the whole area of the Garden. So called "Southern Grounds" is especially worth of seeing because of its open space exhibition with Japanese garden and St. Claire´s Vineyard, "Northern Grounds" are inviting visitors to see another open space exhibition with Peony meadow and a collection of frost-hard cacti, nicknamed "Mexico".

"SOUTHERN GROUNDS" AND ST. CLAIRE´S VINEYARD

As "Southern Grounds" we understand the exhibitions adjacent to Nádvorní Street together with the St. Claire´s Vineyard, dominated by a small chapel which is consecrated to this saint. Japanese Garden is considered to be the most attractive section of visitors of the Open Air Exhibitions. This part of the botanical garden is inviting to calm down and relax. Selection of plants and their placement has been adjusted to emphasize the grace of evergreen shrubs, conifers and deciduous trees; the changes of scenery during the turns of seasons are envisaged.
Japanese garden is divided into two subsections. The first one represents the "landscape with mountains, trees, stream and lake". The remaining part, rather a collection, offers an array of woody species, originating in Japan and China. Collection of Japanese maples and sugis (Cryptomerias) is a true rarity.

During summer, impressive plethora of 300 species and cultivars of perennial and annual plants collection are in blossom in the central bed.

"Southern Grounds" concentrate a valuable collection of bulbous plants; along the Vineyard´s wall the heaths are displayed together with an array of various bamboo thickets, interesting coniferous trees and shrubs, not to mention deciduous trees and bush.

The Mediterranean and Turkish collection is spread on the sunny slope under the Japanese Garden. Plants of rock steppes, semi-deserts and pastures of the central sections of Asia Minor and mountain flora of the Mediterranean are exhibited here.

Exhibition of Irises is displaying the assortment of hybrids of garden Irises, ranging from the traditional kinds to the most up-to-date cultivars. Hygrophilous Siberian and Kaempfer's irises, together with new cultivars of Iris spuria (butterfly or seashore Iris) are offered for admiration to our visitors.

St. Claire's Vineyard
This tiny chapel is a true centerpiece of overlooking not only the Troja Chateau, but whole Troja (a borough of Prague). Both the Chateau and the chapel have been built by count Václav Vojtěch Sternberk around 1680. The chapel is consecrated to St. Claire (Klára in Czech), patron saint of his wife Klára Bernardina, Baronesses of Malzano.
The Vineyard, which is under the protection of law as "National Heritage"; reminds of the past glory of Prague's viticulture. It is very likely that this Vineyard was established during the reign of King Vaclav II. in 13th century. Originally, this Vineyard was affined to the chateau of Troja. The assortment of vines is really extensive, being partially production-oriented and partially serves as display of vine strains. White must strains are represented by Rhein Riezling, Muller Thurgau, Sauvignon, Moravian Muscatel, Chasselas Blanc to name a few. Red strains are represented by Red Traminer, Blauer Portugieser, Chasselas Rouge, accompanied by other commercially interesting strains of Czech origin. At the display part of the Vineyard, almost complete set of vine strains cultivated and officially acknowledged in Bohemia are fostered, altogether about 50 of them. Our vinothéque is situated at the old Vineyard house and here a wide offer of local wines is for sale. Thanks to the south-oriented slope and exposition to the full sun grapes reach superb quality. Many highly prized kinds of wine are produced by St. Claire´s Vineyard, being of typical light, refreshing and harmonic taste. These wines can´t be bought elsewhere but at St. Claire´s Vineyard.
Exhibition of viticulture is a part of the Vineyard. Here our wine is produced and if you are interested to see the manufacturing of wines (Wednesday afternoon only), contact our Guided tours office well ahead.

"NORTHERN GROUNDS"

This part of the garden is accessible from the parking lot at K Pazderkám Street. Here we have our cultivation fields, but also very interesting and attractive exhibition Grounds and plant collections. Especially in May and June the Peony meadow is worth of a visit. This grassy area, bordered by woody plants, replenished by perennials and bulbous plants, is planted by a selection of woody peonies and magnolias ("sweet bay magnolia" in Eastern US). All this is surrounded by herbaceous peonies.
At "Northern Grounds", an interesting collection of Ilexes (American holly) and shade-loving perennials from deciduous forests of Europe, Asia and America is situated. An array of both dwarf coniferous and foliate trees is nearby. The meadow is close to a peat bog with a small pond, where peat plants are grown.
A real attraction is our exhibition named "Mexico" - collection of frost-hard cacti, particularly while in blossom. We target the genus Opuntia of North America, but as we want to show plants in their natural habitat, non-succulent plants are on display here, too.

FATA MORGANA

Fata Morgana, the tropical greenhouse is a modern construction with unusual "S" shaped ground plan which is embedded into rocky terrain. Natural breakup of the rocky surface is artfully exploited for terraced planting of displayed vegetation. This remarkable shape and unique solution for exhibition area is covering approximately 1750 sq. metres and is considered to be unparalleled in Europe.

The interior of the greenhouse is divided into three self - reliant sections with different temperature and humidity, in which the visitor gradually becomes acquainted with the vegetation of tropical and, in part, of subtropical climatic zones, too. The plants are differentiated according to the important phytogeographical regions with the aim to create the conception of natural plant formations.

Xeric vegetation of arid (dry) regions of the tropics and subtropics is on display in the introductory part of the exposition. Australian bush, unique flora of Madagascar, xerophilous vegetation from South Mexico and some regions of Africa is on display in phytogeographically structured expositions.
Central section I the largest part of the greenhouse and stands for lowland rain forest of humid tropics. An underground gallery, bored through the rock connects this part with the succulent section. At its end, huge windows at both sides of the gallery render a look into two immense freshwater aquariums.
Major part of the tropical forest is formed by plant associations of South America and selected regions of Central America, other parts are presenting the flora of Australia and Oceania, Africa and Madagascar, Vietnam, Sunda Isles and the Philippines.

The chilled section is the last part of the greenhouse, presenting the harsh environment of high mountains. Examples of the flora of South American Andes and alpine regions of both mainland and island Asia and subtropical South Africa are displayed in this section. The central part of this exposition is dedicated to rare vegetation of famed table mountains of Venezuela, co called Tepui formation.

All accesses and paths within the greenhouse are suitable for wheelchairs and disabled persons!

Climate in the greenhouse 

Succulent section   Lowland section       Mountain section

Diurnal temperature            20 – 30                  22 – 30                    18 – 25

Nocturnal temperature        16 – 20                  20 – 26                    10 – 15

Humidity                           35 – 55                  90 – 95                    80 – 90

Admission and Fees

Fata Morgana: Tuesday - Sunday
November - February 9 - 16
March 9 - 17
April 9 - 18
May - September 9 - 19
October 9 - 18

Open air expositions: daily
November - February 9 - 16
March 9 - 17
April 9 - 18
May - September 9 - 19
October 9 - 18

Joint Entrance fee (both Fata Morgana and Open Air Expositions):
Adults Kč 120,-
Children under 5 years free of charge
Children aged 6 to 15 Kč 60,-
Students under 26 Kč 60,-
Family fee (2 adults and 2 children) Kč 300,-
Year´s ticket (valid 1 year from date of issue) Kč 400,-

Entrance fee for Open Air Expositions:
Adult Kč 50,-
Children under 5 free of charge
Children aged 5 to 15 Kč 25,-
Students under 26 Kč 25,-
Family fee (2 adults + 2 children) Kč 125,-
Year´s ticket (valid 1 year from date of issue) Kč 160,-

Guided tours in foreign languages:
Order your tour in English either by phone +420 603 582 191 or by E-mail pruvodci@botanicka.cz. Price of guided tour through Fata Morgana, Open air expositions and St. Claire´s Vineyard: Kč 500,- per hour/group of max. 20 people + entry fee.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT 

City bus No 112 from subway station Nádraží Holešovice till the stop "ZOO" or "Botanická zahrada Troja" and then follow the signs for 3 minutes to the Botanical Garden
City bus No 144 from Kobylisy subway station till Na Pazderce stop, then a 10 minutes' walk to the Garden - just follow signs of the path through forest park.