Prague Islands

Updated 20/05/2026

Kampa Island / Ostrov Kampa
Štvanice Island / Ostrov Štvanice
Křížovnický Island / Křížovnický ostrov
Imperial Meadow / Císařský luh
Rowing Island / Veslařský ostrov
Slavic Island / Slovanský ostrov (Žofín)
Children's Island / Dětský ostrov
Shooter's Island / Střelecký ostrov
Petržilkovský Island / Petržilkovský ostrov
Imperial Island / Císařský ostrov

Prague's Vltava holds 17 islands within the city - from the protected wetlands of Císařský ostrov up north to the wooded park of Střelecký ostrov right across from the National Theatre. Ten of them get regular visitors, show up on navigation maps or get a mention on river cruises. Each one's pretty different - some are formal parks that've been here since the 1800s, others are working sports clubs, nature reserves, or neighbourhoods that feel like they've got almost nothing to do with the rest of the city. From the water - which is the best way to see them, and pretty much every Prague boat tour covers this ground - they look like one long green strip running through all the stone: bridges, towers, embankment walls, the lot.

This guide covers all ten islands - Czech and English names, a bit of history, area, how to get there and what each one's actually like from the water. For the islands where boat tours pass close by or stop nearby, there's a list of cruises from Alle Travel at the bottom of each section.

Prague Islands - The Vltava's Green Corridor

Prague's relationship with its islands goes back further than the city itself. The Vltava has always split and shifted across the Bohemian basin - leaving gravel banks and low meadows behind that gradually turned into permanent parts of the landscape. Some of the islands now sitting right in the middle of the city - Kampa, Střelecký ostrov, Slovanský ostrov - show up on medieval maps and have been in use for centuries. Others came later, as people started managing the river more seriously: millraces were dug, banks got reinforced and side channels were locked into place, essentially creating the islands we have today.

What they've all got in common - besides the obvious river thing - is that they're green. Prague's embankments are stone and formal; the islands aren't. Mills, shooting ranges, rowing clubs, concert halls, playgrounds and bird colonies have all ended up out here at various points. And that variety is probably the main reason the Prague waterfront stays genuinely interesting for the full length of any river cruise - there's always something different coming up.

You can browse Alle Travel's full catalogue of Prague river cruises to find tours that pass the islands covered in this guide.

Kampa Island / Ostrov Kampa

Czech name: Ostrov Kampa | Alternative names: Prague's Venice (Pražské Benátky)

Kampa is probably Prague's most-visited island - though technically it's not quite an island at all. What separates it from the Malá Strana (Lesser Town) quarter isn't the main Vltava channel but a narrow historic millrace called the Čertovka (Devil's Channel). The Čertovka's been around since at least the 12th century - it once powered three watermills along its banks and you can still see the last functioning watermill wheel from the water today.

The name probably comes from the Latin campus (field) - it was just open farmland once, which explains a lot about how flat it is. Kampa grew slowly through the medieval period and by the 17th century it'd turned into a craftsmen's and millers' neighbourhood. Crucially, it missed the big 19th-century redevelopment wave that tore through much of inner Prague - and that's why it's still got cobbled lanes, low baroque houses and mill buildings right down at the water's edge. The whole area is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Prague's historic centre. The Museum Kampa (Muzeum Kampa) - opened in 2003 in one of those restored mill buildings - has one of the best collections of Central European modern art in the country, mostly built around works by František Kupka and Otto Gutfreund.

Area: approx. 3.5 ha
District: Praha 1, Malá Strana
Address: Ostrov Kampa, 118 00 Praha 1
Nearest metro: Malostranská (line A) - 8 min walk
On foot: Walk south from Charles Bridge along the Malá Strana embankment and descend to Na Kampě street via the steps right beside the bridge arch. Alternatively there's a small footbridge from Říční street on the right bank.

Particulars: The John Lennon Wall (Lennonova zeď) is just across on the Malá Strana side - worth knowing because it pulls a lot of people to the area and the lanes around it can get quite full in summer. And the watermill at the northern tip of the Čertovka is probably the most-photographed single detail anywhere on the Prague waterfront - it's that image that turns up in practically every guide to the city.

See Kampa from the water - boat tours on Alle Travel

The Čertovka channel is what makes Kampa worth seeing from a boat rather than just from the embankment. Cruises that go through it or along it give you something - mill wheels, low stone arches, terraces right at water level - that you just can't get from anywhere on foot. This is the bit people mean when they call it "Prague's Venice", and it's a fair comparison, actually.

Štvanice Island / Ostrov Štvanice

Czech name: Ostrov Štvanice | Historical name: Hunting Ground Island

The name Štvanice comes from the Czech verb štváti - to bait, to hunt by driving. That's a pretty accurate description of what went on here from at least the 16th century: deer, bears and boar were driven together (štváni) for public spectacle hunts put on by the Habsburg court. The island sits in the northern inner city, between the Holešovice and Žižkov embankments.

Once the hunting era wound down, the island gradually shifted to sport and recreation through the 19th century. The 20th century added the Štvanice Stadium (Stadion Štvanice) - plus an ice rink that's one of the oldest artificially refrigerated surfaces in Central Europe - and a tennis complex that was a pretty early centre for Czech racquet sport. The island took serious damage in the 2002 Vltava floods, which were about as bad as it gets in Prague's modern history, and it's been through several rounds of partial renovation and infrastructure work since then.

Area: approx. 7.5 ha
District: Praha 7, between Holešovice and Žižkov
Address: Ostrov Štvanice, 170 00 Praha 7
Nearest metro: Florenc (lines B and C) - approx. 10 min walk
On foot: Pedestrian bridge from Nábřeží Kapitána Jaroše on the Holešovice embankment.

Particulars: Štvanice is one of the very few Prague islands that still has working professional sports facilities - the tennis club (TK Štvanice) and ice rink have been operating in some form for over a hundred years. It doesn't feel like a tourist destination at all, which is actually fairly unusual for an island this close to the city centre.

See Štvanice from the water - boat tours on Alle Travel

Štvanice comes into view on longer cruises that head north past the railway bridges into the Holešovice stretch. The wooded profile and the stadium are pretty easy to pick out from the water - it's one of the more recognisable shapes on the northbound part of the river.

Křížovnický Island / Křížovnický ostrov

Czech name: Křížovnický ostrov | English translation: Knights of the Cross Island

Křížovnický ostrov is one of Prague's smallest islands - it sits right at the foot of Charles Bridge on the right bank, next to the Church of St. Francis of Assisi (Kostel sv. Františka Serafinského) and the monastery of the Order of Knights of the Cross with the Red Star (Rytíři Křižovníci s červenou hvězdou). That's the only chivalric order actually founded in Bohemia, established in 1233 by Blessed Agnes of Bohemia - and the monastery's been at this same Old Town bridgehead since the 13th century, which is where the island gets its name.

The island basically formed as a byproduct of the construction history of Charles Bridge and its predecessor, the Judith Bridge (Juditin most) - it was part of the bridge's hydraulic setup, handling millworks and flow regulation on the right bank. It's too small to have much of a tourist presence, but from the water it's actually pretty striking: sitting directly under the bridge's arch, it ends up in the frame on pretty much every water-level approach to Charles Bridge.

Area: approx. 0.5 ha - one of Prague's smallest islands
District: Praha 1, Staré Město
Address: Křížovnický ostrov, Praha 1
Nearest metro: Staroměstská (line A) - 3 min walk
On foot / by water: Limited pedestrian access from the Old Town embankment. Best seen from the water, where its position relative to Charles Bridge becomes fully apparent.

Particulars: Honestly, the best way to see it is from a small boat at water level - that's where you can actually take in the relationship between the island, the bridge piers and the Old Town tower. It's one of the more architecturally interesting views anywhere on the river. On foot it's barely accessible, so the water approach is really the only one that makes sense here.

Explore by small boat - Alle Travel

Private Hire of Small Boats

Imperial Meadow / Císařský luh

Czech name: Císařský luh | Translation: Emperor's Meadow

Císařský luh is a broad, flat island in Holešovice, sitting just south of the larger Císařský ostrov (Imperial Island) and forming part of the same green corridor that runs from Stromovka park down toward the Troja bend. The císařský bit (imperial) gives away who owned it - it was Habsburg crown property, basically hunting and recreational land kept outside the city's medieval boundaries.

For centuries it was imperial land, then municipal land - and eventually it turned into what it is today: a public park with a seasonal campsite. Autocamp Císařský ostrov is actually one of the most central campsites in Prague - mostly used in summer by cyclists on the Vltava cycling route (Vltavská cyklostezka), which runs right past it. There's a footbridge from the Holešovice embankment and Stromovka, one of Prague's biggest historic parks, is pretty much next door.

Area: approx. 18 ha
District: Praha 7, Holešovice
Address: Císařský luh, 170 00 Praha 7
Nearest metro: Nádraží Holešovice (line C) - approx. 20 min walk; or tram to Výstaviště, then on foot
On foot / by bike: Footbridge from the Holešovice embankment; also reachable by bicycle from Stromovka park via the marked riverside cycling path.

Particulars: Císařský luh and Císařský ostrov to the north basically function as one big riverside green zone - together they're the largest continuous stretch of that kind in Prague's inner city. The campsite is a pretty rare option if you want to sleep close to the centre without paying city hotel prices.

Rowing Island / Veslařský ostrov

Czech name: Veslařský ostrov | Translation: Rowers' Island

Veslařský ostrov - literally "Rowers' Island" - is a narrow, elongated island in Smíchov, running parallel to the left bank between a side channel and the main river. The name's pretty self-explanatory: from the late 19th century on, this was where Prague's competitive rowers based themselves.

It grew as a sporting enclave during the late Habsburg era, when river sports had become fashionable among Prague's Czech and German-speaking bourgeoisie - and several rowing clubs (veslařské kluby) set up their boathouses along its banks. Rowing, canoeing, kayaking - that whole waterside culture has been going here for over a century, which makes it one of the Vltava's longest-running active water sports sites. Today the island's still got rowing club facilities and boat storage and it's kept a deliberately low-key, working-club feel.

Area: approx. 5 ha
District: Praha 5, Smíchov
Address: Veslařský ostrov, 150 00 Praha 5
Nearest metro: Anděl (line B) - approx. 20 min walk; or tram to Smíchovské nábřeží
On foot: Footbridge from Smíchovské nábřeží (Smíchov embankment).

Particulars: It's not a tourist destination in any normal sense - it's a working club facility and it feels like one. But if you're interested in how Prague's water sports culture developed, it's a genuinely interesting spot: functional boathouses, boats actually in and out of the water, the same stretch of river where it all started. That's a pretty rare thing to find in a city centre.

Slavic Island / Slovanský ostrov (Žofín)

Czech name: Slovanský ostrov | Common name: Žofín | Historical name: Žofiin ostrov (Sophie's Island)

Slovanský ostrov - or Žofín as everybody actually calls it - is probably Prague's most culturally loaded island. It sits directly in front of the New Town embankment (Masarykovo nábřeží), between Jiráskův Bridge and Palacký Bridge, and it's home to the Žofín Palace (Žofínský palác) - a neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance venue that's been a fixture of Prague's musical and civic life since 1836.

Originally it was named after Archduchess Sophie of Austria (Žofie), mother of Emperor Franz Joseph I. The palace was built in 1836 and dramatically expanded in the 1880s - and it hosted some of the defining moments of the 19th-century Czech national revival: concerts by Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák, public balls, politically charged civic gatherings. The name Slovanský ostrov (Slavic Island) was adopted as a pretty deliberate statement of Czech cultural identity against the Habsburg naming. Today the Žofín Palace is still running as an events and congress venue and the island itself is a public park with some genuinely good views of the river and the bridges.

Area: approx. 2 ha
District: Praha 1 / Praha 2, Nové Město
Address: Slovanský ostrov 226, 110 00 Praha 1
Nearest metro: Karlovo náměstí (line B) - 8 min walk; Národní třída (line B) - 10 min walk
On foot: Footbridge from Masarykovo nábřeží (right / east bank).

Particulars: The Žofín Palace's ornate river-facing façade is one of the more distinctive things you see from the water in the central reach - the neo-Gothic detailing and the tree canopy behind it are pretty hard to miss on any southbound cruise between the central bridges.

Children's Island / Dětský ostrov

Czech name: Dětský ostrov | Translation: Children's Island

Dětský ostrov is a compact recreational island in Smíchov, just south of the railway bridge (Železniční most) between the Smíchov and Jinonice embankments. The name's pretty much self-explanatory - it's a public park built for families, with playgrounds, sports surfaces and open lawn.

The island's been a recreational spot of some kind through most of the 20th century, but what's there now dates mostly from a renovation in the early 2010s - part of a broader Prague push to improve riverside green space. The Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR Praha) actually used it as a model case for family-oriented park design, which gives you a sense of how it turned out. Today it's one of the busiest family spots along the inner Vltava, especially in summer. From the water it's easy to miss - low profile, dense tree canopy - but from the bank you can spot the playground structures above the embankment wall pretty easily.

Area: approx. 2.5 ha
District: Praha 5, Smíchov
Address: Dětský ostrov, 150 00 Praha 5
Nearest metro: Anděl (line B) - approx. 15 min walk
On foot: Footbridge from Hořejší nábřeží on the Smíchov (left) bank.

Particulars: It's one of the few Prague islands that was actually designed with children and families in mind. Entry's free, it's open year-round - though it gets genuinely busy in summer when the Smíchov embankment fills up with walkers and cyclists and everyone seems to end up here.

Shooter's Island / Střelecký ostrov

Czech name: Střelecký ostrov | Alternative names: Riflemen's Island, Marksmen's Island

Střelecký ostrov is one of Prague's most central islands and one of the most historically layered - sitting between Legií Bridge (Most Legií) and Jiráskův Bridge, directly south of the National Theatre (Národní divadlo). The northern tip has an unobstructed view of the Old Town skyline framed by the river - one of those classic Prague panoramas that every boat tour passes right through.

The name střelecký (of the riflemen / marksmen) comes from the Prague shooting guild (střelecký cech) that used the island as a practice range from the 15th century on. When the 19th-century embankment redevelopment came through, it got turned into a public park - and in the 1840s it hosted Prague's first public bathing establishment (plavecký ústav), which was basically the first time the Vltava had been brought into organised recreational life. The island's also got documented connections to the Sokol physical culture movement and Czech national revival gatherings. Today it's a tree-lined park, free to enter, with a seasonal beer garden that does decent business in summer.

Area: approx. 3 ha
District: Praha 1, Nové Město
Address: Střelecký ostrov, 110 00 Praha 1
Nearest metro: Národní třída (line B) - 8 min walk
On foot: Footbridge from Smetanovo nábřeží (right / east bank), near the Legií Bridge approach; or from Újezd on the Malá Strana side (left bank).

Particulars: You get onto Střelecký ostrov via Most Legií - which actually passes right through the island, so you just turn off the bridge midpoint and walk down. It's probably the easiest island to reach in the whole city centre. And the view from the northern end toward Charles Bridge and the Old Town towers is genuinely one of the best unobstructed river perspectives you can get anywhere in central Prague - worth the five-minute detour.

Petržilkovský Island / Petržilkovský ostrov

Czech name: Petržilkovský ostrov | Note on the name: Petržilka means parsley in Czech, though the island name is almost certainly toponymic rather than botanical - most likely derived from a historic property owner or local place designation.

Petržilkovský ostrov is one of Prague's least-visited and least-documented islands - it sits in the southern part of the city in the Zlíchov area of the left bank, where the Vltava starts to broaden and slow down as it moves away from the inner city. Development pressure's historically been pretty low out here, and it shows.

It's got a natural, informal character - and unlike the central islands, which have centuries of documented history attached to them, Petržilkovský ostrov sits mostly outside Prague's main civic story. It was never really developed, never housed any major institution and never became a sporting or cultural venue of any note. Which has actually worked in its favour - it's kept its natural character. People use it informally for walking, fishing and general recreation, and it forms part of the southern Prague riverside corridor monitored by the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic as part of Vltava habitat management.

Area: approx. 3 ha
District: Praha 5 / Praha 4, Zlíchov
Address: Petržilkovský ostrov, Praha 5
Nearest metro: Smíchovské nádraží (line B) - approx. 25 min walk; or bus connection to Zlíchov
On foot / by bike: Best approached by bicycle along the Vltava cycling path (Vltavská cyklostezka) south from Smíchov, or by small boat.

Particulars: It's well off the tourist route, which is sort of the point. If you want a sense of what the Prague waterway looks like south of the historic core - quieter, less managed, more like an actual river - this is probably the best place to find it. It's one of the very few spots in Prague where the natural floodplain environment is still pretty much intact.

Imperial Island / Císařský ostrov

Czech name: Císařský ostrov | Translation: Emperor's Island

Císařský ostrov is Prague's biggest island by area - and its most significant ecological site. It sits in the northern part of the city at the bend where the Vltava turns from Holešovice toward Troja, formally designated a Nature Reserve (přírodní rezervace) and part of a wider Special Area of Conservation covering the surrounding river arms.

Like Císařský luh to the south, the name gives away its history - it was imperial crown property, basically hunting grounds the Habsburg court kept outside the medieval city. In the 20th century the island's role shifted pretty decisively from recreation to conservation. Today it's one of the most important breeding sites for waterbirds in any Czech urban environment - great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo), grey herons (Ardea cinerea) and loads of duck and wader species all nest here. Access to the nature reserve core is controlled and deliberately restricted to protect nesting. The Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic manages the site.

Area: approx. 26 ha - the largest island in Prague
District: Praha 8, Libeň / Praha 7, Holešovice
Address: Císařský ostrov, 180 00 Praha 8
Nearest metro: Nádraží Holešovice (line C) - approx. 25 min walk
On foot / by bike: Footbridge from the Holešovice embankment; also reachable by bicycle from Stromovka park via the riverside path. Access to the nature reserve core is restricted - visitors should observe posted signage.

Particulars: Císařský ostrov is the counterpoint to basically everything else in this guide. Kampa's packed with history and visitors; Žofín's got a 19th-century palace; this one's been left to the birds - deliberately. At 26 hectares it's bigger than several Prague parks, and it sits right at the northern limit of the standard cruise zone - so on longer river routes it's the last landmark before the turnaround and probably the wildest-looking one on the whole northbound stretch.

Explore Prague's Islands by Water - Alle Travel

All ten islands are part of the same river landscape that every Prague boat tour passes through - from the Čertovka millrace at Kampa down to the bird colonies of Císařský ostrov. The islands are what the Vltava would look like without the stone city around it, and you really do get the best sense of them from the water rather than from the embankment.

For the full selection of river cruises, small boat hire and water tours in Prague - different operators, different sections of the Vltava, different price points - the Alle Travel Prague boat tours catalogue has everything in one place. For a full overview of all boats and steamers available for river cruises, visit the Prague Boats Fleet for River Cruises page on Alle Travel.

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