The Čertovka channel and mill wheels
A narrow waterway between houses with a wooden wheel still turning — the corner that earned the place the name "Prague's Venice".
Chmee2 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chmee2 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bradley Weber — CC BY 2.0
Roughly midway on the western half there is a stone side stairway leading straight down to the island. Most people walk over it without noticing — look for the gap in the parapet.
Among Prague's best family spots: open lawns, a playground, level paths and lots of benches, with no tickets or queues. Bring a snack and make it the midday break.
Yes — the island is low and has suffered major floods, worst of all in 2002, when it went entirely under. Water-level marks are still cut into some house walls; look for them in the northern lanes.
The Lennon Wall five minutes away, the Church of Our Lady Victorious seven, and Museum Kampa on the island itself. A complete Lesser Town route in two and a half hours.
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Kampa is a small island in the Vltava, separated from the Lesser Town by a narrow channel called the Čertovka, the Devil's Stream. Praguers call it "Prague's Venice" for the houses standing with their feet in the water and the wooden mill wheels still turning. You reach it by a side stairway down from Charles Bridge itself — and that is the trick: you drop from the most crowded place in Prague into one of its quietest corners in thirty seconds. The southern half of the island is a broad riverside park with lawns, trees and benches facing the Old Town and the bridges. This is where Praguers sit in the late afternoon, and it is the best place in the city for a quiet hour with no ticket and no queue. The park also holds modern sculpture, most famously three giant crawling babies by David Černý. The northern half is a web of lanes and a small cobbled square lined with 17th- and 18th-century houses. At its edge stands Museum Kampa, a modern art collection in a restored mill building. Best times: early morning, when it is completely empty, or just before sunset, when the river turns gold.
A narrow waterway between houses with a wooden wheel still turning — the corner that earned the place the name "Prague's Venice".
Three enormous faceless infants crawling across the grass — the ground-level version of the Žižkov tower babies.
From the park bank you see Charles Bridge from below with the Old Town roofs behind — a better photograph than from the bridge itself.
A small square of old cobbles and Baroque houses, almost empty despite standing minutes from Charles Bridge.
Kampa Island, Malá Strana, Prague 1