More than two million visitors visited Prague Castle this year

More than two million visitors have visited Prague Castle this year. A number of new features await them in the coming year, but also an adjustment of admission fees starting in spring.  

Over two million people came to see Prague Castle from January to mid-December this year as part of one of the tours offered. A full 97 percent of them were visitors from abroad. They are not the only ones who will be treated to a number of innovations in the coming year. The administration of Prague Castle plans to expand educational programmes, increase the number of open days and open a new sightseeing object - the Rožmberk Palace. However, it must also take into account the hundreds of millions of dollars of investment needed to restore the existing castle monuments and decades-old technological facilities. After seventeen years, it will be forced to adjust admission prices. 

"We have to set new prices for several reasons. Inflation and the related increase in all inputs are to blame, of course. The most important argument, however, is the hundreds of millions of euros of investment that await us. From the reconstruction of monuments, such as the Institute of Noblemen, to the need to renew technological facilities that date back to the times of socialism," explains the Director of the Finance Department of the Office of the President of the Republic Pavel Vyhnánek. 

Despite the increase in the price of admission, valid from 1 March 2024 PDF document, the cost of visiting a total of four buildings of Prague Castle, including Golden Lane and St. Vitus Cathedral, will remain comparable, and in most cases even lower than in the case of similar monuments in Europe. In addition, the Prague Castle administration is planning to increase the number of open days next year, during which it is possible to visit the Castle free of charge. The plan is for up to three a year. The number of guided tours in Czech will also increase.   

"We want to continue to keep prices low, for example for educational excursions for primary schools. They now pay a symbolic 150 crowns per school class, which we plan to maintain. Families with up to five children can also enjoy a discounted admission price. Children up to the age of six can then take the tours for free," adds the Director of the Prague Castle Administration Vladimir Sonntag. The Prague Castle tour is also free of charge for holders of the Disabled Persons Card including their escorts, pedagogical escorts of school groups and licensed guides. Discounted admission is also available to young people from six to sixteen years of age, students of secondary schools and universities and seniors over sixty-five years of age. They can also enjoy discounted admission to exhibitions by a full fifty percent.  

Prague Castle was visited by 1.4 million visitors last year. The record for the last ten years is held by 2019, when over 2.5 million people visited the castle premises. 

Communication Department of the CPR CR/JaV