Daniel and I were just out for a walk near Malostranská – he’d taken me for a pink chai tea. But Prague has one quality you’ll know too: cobblestones. Big cobbles, perfect for spraining an ankle. And me, being quite clumsy, of course managed exactly that. Nothing serious, but it ruled out a long walk – and I didn’t want to give up on a beautiful day either.
So we headed to the nearby Wallenstein Garden. Slowly, step by step. And that’s when it clicked: the whole time, I didn’t have to climb a single step. For me, that was exactly the walk I needed that day.
My ankle was a minor thing. But not everyone can climb stairs – anyone using a wheelchair or pushing a pushchair has to deal with cobbles, steps and hills in Prague every single time. That’s why this article exists. In it you’ll find places where we didn’t climb a single step ourselves, and ones where we did hit steps, plus the metro, parking with the Czech disability card (ZTP or ZTP/P), toilets you can open with a Euro key (Czech: Euroklíč), and eight hotels with step-free access and parking. Step-free Prague, it turns out, isn’t just about stairs – we discovered that more than once while writing this. For accommodation by neighbourhood, prices and an itinerary, see our complete Prague guide; here we focus purely on where you can walk and wheel through without steps.
Let’s be upfront from the start: neither of us uses a wheelchair, and we walked the places in the first section on our own two feet, not in a wheelchair or with a pushchair. So from our own experience we can mainly tell you where we didn’t see any steps and what it’s like to walk there. We looked up gradients, gate widths and toilet facilities in the accessibility audits carried out by the Prague Organisation of Wheelchair Users on Přes bariéry – they measure everything with a tape measure in hand.
While researching, we discovered that even a place where we didn’t climb a single step can, according to the measurements, have a gradient of around 20%.
“Step-free” doesn’t necessarily mean “barrier-free”. Cobbles and a steep hill can be more of a struggle than three steps.
We don’t distinguish between wheelchairs and pushchairs in this article. Where the difference matters (a narrow gate or a toilet, for example), we say so for that specific place.
This is the place where this whole article began. Wallenstein Garden belongs to the Senate, entry is free, and it’s one of the calmest spots in central Prague. Peacocks wander around freely here (according to the Prague Organisation of Wheelchair Users, they’ve been kept here since 2000), and the whole garden is flat, with paths of well-maintained compacted gravel.
In my view, it’s worth stopping for the giant artificial dripstone wall – a grotto that’s part of the garden’s original decoration. It reminded us of a set from Game of Thrones! 🙂
WATCH OUT for the entrance. The main entrance from Valdštejnské náměstí isn’t step-free – there are steps from the palace courtyard. Use the back entrance from Klárov, near Malostranská metro station (a 90 cm gate with a 4 cm threshold, preceded by a stretch of historic paving with a 5% gradient), or the wooden gate from Letenská street (an 85 cm door, no threshold). You’ll find a partially accessible toilet to the left of the sala terrena.
Our recommendation: if you only have time for one peaceful spot in Malá Strana, make it this one.
Just a short walk from here lies Vojan Gardens, another garden with peacocks, open all year round. A large part of it is step-free, and you can stroll along the asphalt paths without hurrying. BUT! The last section, where you go to see the peacocks on the iron structure, is up on a terrace reached by a flight of steps. On site, I estimated around 20 steps, and I didn’t notice any step-free route.
The audit gives an exact figure of 19 steps and mentions no ramp or lift.
Also bear in mind that right behind the entrance gate from U Lužického semináře street, the path drops steeply (a gradient of up to 16% over about 15 metres, rough paving). There is an accessible toilet, but the ramp leading to it has an 18% gradient.
Deer Moat below Prague Castle has free entry, and it’s a lovely walk. We went in from the side, near the entrance to the Castle grounds, and the path led us down a series of switchbacks all the way to Malostranská, close to the metro. We didn’t climb a single step along the way. From this side, though, the path is a bit steeper – if you go “from the bottom” starting at Malostranská, we think it’s more pleasant.
This confirms what we said above: step-free doesn’t mean barrier-free. The path from Prašný most has a gradient of up to 18% and uneven paving; the lower entrance from Na Opyši street has a long gradient of up to 20%, rough historic paving, and a 5-15 cm step at the gate. Paradoxically, then, according to the measurements, it’s the lower entrance – the one that felt more pleasant to us on foot – that’s actually steeper. The upper part of the moat is paved, the lower part is asphalt. You won’t find a toilet or reserved parking here.
One more thing: the metro Malostranská has no lift. For step-free travel from here, take the tram – though the Malostranská tram stop is only partially accessible.
Our recommendation: if you’re in a wheelchair, the audit suggests this one isn’t doable. With a pushchair, be ready for a steep hill and cobbles.
Grébovka (officially Havlíčkovy sady) in Vinohrady is a hillside park and it isn’t fully accessible. But you can get exactly where you want to go without a single step: to the Grébovka Grotto and to the viewpoint over all of Prague. That’s the route we took. But step-free doesn’t mean flat – according to the audit, the asphalt paths around the Grotto have gradients of 8-14% in places.
The best entrance to the upper, flat section (Gröbe Villa, Grébovka Pavilion) is from Rybalkova street, at the junction with Kozácká – an 89 cm gate, a short stretch of asphalt with a gradient of up to 13%, then a flat paved path. The vineyard gazebo, on the other hand, is only reachable by steps.
At Prague Planetarium in Stromovka, which we visited ourselves, we noticed two things. The reserved spaces are right on the ground floor of the dome hall, and you’re let in before everyone else. It’s worth making use of that – once it opens to everyone, the hall fills with a crowd.
The planetarium isn’t fully step-free, but platform lifts will get you into the dome hall, the cinema hall, part of the exhibition and the toilet. Two things are worth knowing in advance: there’s no lift in the building, and the changes in level are handled by platform lifts rated for 225 and 250 kg, both usable only with staff assistance. A short ramp with a 34% gradient leads from the platform lift into the dome hall, so according to the audit the hall is inaccessible in an electric wheelchair, and in a manual one you’ll need help. The entrance is via a side ramp with a bell.
The digital art gallery Signal Space at Rytířská 10, a few minutes from Old Town Square, was another place where I didn’t see a single step anywhere. Here, the operator confirms it too: according to the official website, the gallery is fully step-free, and an accompanying carer gets in free.
Signal Space – tickets online – ticket to the Signal Space gallery – free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance. We recommend it: it was a beautiful show
We haven’t walked these places ourselves to test accessibility, so here we’re relying purely on official information and audits. We picked the ones where accessibility is best documented.
| Place | What’s step-free | Admission | What to watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Museum | the whole building except the dome; entrance via the New Building and a lift; an accessible parking space in the basement (access from Vinohradská) | 360 CZK / €15, reduced 260 CZK / €11, free for ZTP and ZTP/P (and for ZTP/P, the companion too) | the dome is not accessible; you can’t get into the Children’s Museum with a pushchair (leave the pushchair in the ground-floor cloakroom) |
| Old Town Hall Tower | lifts and a platform lift on the stairs, all the way to the top of the tower | 350 CZK / €14, 230 CZK / €10 with a ZTP card, free with ZTP/P including the companion; a 100 CZK / €4 supplement for the lift, free for ZTP and ZTP/P | arrange entry at the ticket office next to the Astronomical Clock (there’s a bell), the historic halls aren’t accessible, and the accessible toilet is on the third floor, opened with a Euro key (the key is at the ground-floor ticket office) |
| St Vitus Cathedral | metal ramps at the west front, no restrictions inside | only with a circuit ticket to the Castle | ramp no. 1 has an 18% gradient, the royal crypt isn’t accessible |
Prague Castle – official ticket to Prague Castle – skip-the-line, free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance, listed by GetYourGuide as wheelchair accessible
Old Town Hall Tower – ticket to the Old Town Hall Tower with the Astronomical Clock – skip-the-line, free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance
National Museum – ticket with an online audio guide to the city – free cancellation, though with a Czech ZTP card you get in free at the ticket desk
Private tour of Prague – a 4-hour private walk through Prague – the Castle, Charles Bridge and the Jewish Quarter, wheelchair accessible, free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance
Vltava river cruise with dinner – a cruise on a glass-roofed boat with a buffet – 3 hours, wheelchair accessible, free cancellation up to 6 hours before departure
For food in the centre, we recommend Knedlín at Národní 24, opposite the Máj department store. Good classic Czech food right in the city centre. There’s no step into the ground floor, just a raised threshold, and you can eat right there downstairs. There’s usually plenty of room, since most of the seating is upstairs, so the ground floor tends not to be packed.
BUT: the toilet is upstairs. So Knedlín really is just for food – plan on using the toilet somewhere else.
Sweet dumplings here cost 59-99 CZK / €2.40-4, and savoury ones, such as duck with cabbage, 85 CZK / €3.50. It’s open Mon-Thu 9:00-21:00, Friday until 22:00, and weekends 10:00-22:00. The nearest metro station, Národní třída, is step-free.
Metro. According to the Prague Public Transport Company (DPP), 48 of 61 stations are step-free. The problem is that the ones that aren’t are often exactly where tourists are headed. No lift at Malostranská, Staroměstská, Hradčanská and Náměstí Míru (line A) and Náměstí Republiky (line B). Můstek and Národní třída, on the other hand, do have lifts. Flora has been completely closed since 2 February 2026 for a full reconstruction; it’s due to reopen in late November or early December 2026, and lifts there are expected to start running in the first quarter of 2028.
Trams. DPP guarantees low-floor vehicles on all daytime tram lines, and they’re marked in the timetables with a wheelchair symbol (DPP).
App. The journey planner in the PID Lítačka app can search for routes via step-free stops and low-floor vehicles, and it avoids escalators and out-of-service lifts (PID).
Fares. With a Czech ZTP or ZTP/P card, you travel around Prague for free. With ZTP/P, the companion (or guide dog) and any mobility aid travel free too (DPP fare table).
WATCH OUT for Petřín: The Petřín funicular started running again on 22 September 2026 after two years of reconstruction, but the Újezd and Nebozízek stations won’t get lifts until 2028-2030. For now, don’t count on it as a step-free route up Petřín.
Is a ZTP card enough to park free in the blue zone? It isn’t. Neither a ZTP nor a ZTP/P card entitles you to park free in the blue or purple zone. The same rules apply to you as to everyone else – in Prague 1, that means 80 CZK / €3.30 an hour in the blue zone (visitors max. 1 hour), and 40 CZK / €1.60 an hour in the purple zone.
You can park free only in spaces reserved for people with disabilities marked with a road sign, as long as they aren’t reserved for a specific number plate. The condition is a valid ZTP or ZTP/P card, together with a parking permit displayed in the car. You’ll find spaces like this on Valdštejnská street, by Wallenstein Garden, or on the corner of Cihelná and U Lužického semináře, by Vojan Gardens.
A ZTP card alone isn’t enough in the blue zone. You park free only in a reserved space marked with a sign, with a parking permit displayed behind the windscreen.
If you’re driving, the simplest option is to choose a hotel with parking (see below). You’ll find general tips on parking in Prague in our article Prague by car: where to park and where to sleep.
The Euro key opens locked accessible toilets across Europe. In Czechia, people with reduced mobility can get a subsidised one for free, while an unsubsidised one costs around 900-1,000 CZK / €37-41 (svaztp.cz). It’s issued, for example, by the Union of the Physically Disabled in the Czech Republic (Svaz tělesně postižených v ČR) at Karlínské náměstí 12 – all you need is a Czech ID card and a TP, ZTP or ZTP/P card (or a medical report).
Before your trip, it’s worth checking two maps:
For all eight hotels below, Booking.com lists step-free access, and the hotel offers parking – its own garage, a car park, or valet parking. Only Century Old Town has documented adapted rooms for wheelchair users (2 rooms); at the others, request an accessible room directly when booking. We haven’t stayed in any of them, so the selection is based on verified details and guest reviews. Before you book, tell the hotel exactly what you need (a level-access shower, door width, a reserved space) – we didn’t find a mention of a reserved parking space for ZTP holders at any of them. We write in more detail about the individual neighbourhoods in our article where to stay in Prague.
Chosen from our own experience
Always check with the hotel that no renovation work is under way, to be sure access stays step-free
The advantages of staying in the centre: you’re close to Wallenstein Garden, Signal Space and Knedlín, and you don’t have to travel anywhere in the evening. The downsides: higher prices, parking at €20-36 a day, and three of the hotels are near Náměstí Republiky, where the metro has no lift – for step-free travel, take the tram, or use the metro at Florenc.
Here we mainly checked one thing: that the hotel was a short walk from a step-free metro station. Prague Towers also has free parking according to Booking.
Cobblestones, even in “step-free” places. Historic paving covers Charles Bridge (granite setts), and the approaches to Wallenstein Garden and Vojan Gardens. A place can be technically step-free and still jolt you around badly if you’re using a pushchair with small wheels or a manual wheelchair.
Winter closures. Wallenstein Garden is closed from November to March, and Deer Moat from November to February. Vojan Gardens, Grébovka, the Planetarium and Signal Space are all open year-round.
Metro near the Castle. Neither Malostranská nor Hradčanská has a lift. To reach the Castle and the gardens below it, take a low-floor tram – check the accessibility of the specific stop in the PID Lítačka app.
You can manage without steps with a pushchair, after an injury, or in a wheelchair. You’ll manage Wallenstein Garden (through the entrance from Klárov), most of Vojan Gardens, the Planetarium, Signal Space and the National Museum without steps. In an electric wheelchair, though, you won’t get into the Planetarium’s dome hall.
Expect complications if: you get around in a manual wheelchair on your own. The hills around the Castle, the cobbles in Malá Strana, and metro stations with no lift right in the tourist centre are real barriers – it’s better to plan your route by tram, and with someone to help you.
This article grew out of one sprained ankle. Prague isn’t a fully step-free city – cobbles, hills and steps come with the territory. But once you know which entrance to use, where they’ll let you into the hall first, and where the reserved parking is, you can cover far more than it might seem at first glance. If you don’t know where to start, start with Wallenstein Garden – like we did. For the rest of Prague, we have a complete guide.
Is Prague Castle step-free? Partly. St Vitus Cathedral has ramps (one with an 18% gradient), and the royal crypt isn’t accessible. Neither the Hradčanská nor the Malostranská metro station has a lift – take a low-floor tram, and check the accessibility of the stop in the PID Lítačka app.
Do ZTP holders travel free on Prague public transport? Yes. Holders of a Czech ZTP or ZTP/P card travel around Prague for free, and with ZTP/P, their companion travels free too. A foreign disability card doesn’t entitle you to free travel in Prague.
Can I park free in Prague with a ZTP card? Only in reserved spaces marked with a sign, and only with a parking permit displayed behind the windscreen. A ZTP card doesn’t entitle you to free parking in the blue or purple zone.
Where can I find accessible toilets in Prague? Přes bariéry and VozejkMap both have maps of verified toilets. Some public toilets (for example, in Grébovka) are locked with a Euro key. The subsidised version is free, but it’s only issued to holders of a Czech disability card, in the Czech region where they’re permanently registered, and as of September 2026 the NRZP has none in stock – so don’t count on it as a visitor to Prague.
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