Kutná Hora is under an hour from Prague by train, which makes it the easiest full day out from the city and one of the few that genuinely fills a day. It holds two very different things: the bone decorated ossuary at Sedlec, and a medieval silver town with one of the finest Gothic churches in central Europe. The journey is short enough that the day is about the place rather than the travel.
It suits anyone with a spare day in Prague, including people travelling with teenagers, who tend to prefer the ossuary to another baroque interior.
Is it worth a day trip?
Yes, and more than most people expect. Many visitors come only for the ossuary, spend forty minutes there and go straight back, which misses the point of the town. Kutná Hora was the silver mine that funded the Bohemian crown, and the upper town is built on that money.
The one genuine warning is geography. The main railway station sits in Sedlec and the historic centre is a couple of kilometres further on, so the day splits into two halves with a short hop between them. Plan for that rather than discovering it on the platform.
If you only have half a day, do Sedlec and go back. With a full day, the upper town is the better half of the two, so do not let the morning run long. Nobody needs to stay overnight: the last trains to Prague run late into the evening.
Getting there
Czech Railways runs trains from Praha hlavní nádraží to Kutná Hora hlavní nádraží roughly hourly, taking about fifty minutes on the direct services and a little over an hour on those requiring a change at Kolín. Tickets come from cd.cz or the Czech Railways app, and seat reservations are worth having at weekends and in summer.
From Kutná Hora hlavní nádraží, the ossuary is a walk of ten to fifteen minutes. To reach the old town afterwards, a small local shuttle train runs on to Kutná Hora město station, and city buses cover the same ground. Both take only a few minutes.
The day, hour by hour
09:30 Sedlec Ossuary. A small chapel beneath a cemetery church, its interior arranged from the bones of tens of thousands of people, including a chandelier said to use every bone in the human body. Entry is by timed slot and slots sell out in summer and at weekends, so book ahead on the official Sedlec site. Photography rules have changed in recent years, so read the notice at the door.
10:30 Cathedral of the Assumption. A few minutes away, the former Cistercian abbey church of the Assumption of Our Lady and St John the Baptist, usually included with the ossuary ticket. It is the opposite experience in every way: vast, white, and rebuilt in the early eighteenth century in the Baroque Gothic style of Giovanni Santini Aichel.
11:30 Church of St James. Take the shuttle or bus into the old town and start at the church with the tall single tower, built by the mining town in the fourteenth century when it could afford anything it wanted. A second tower was planned and never raised, because the ground beneath was undermined by silver workings. Interior access is limited and irregular, so treat it as a landmark and check locally if you want to go in.
12:30 The Italian Court. The royal mint, where the Prague groschen was struck by craftsmen brought in from Florence, which is where the name comes from. It can only be seen on a guided tour of roughly forty minutes, taking in the minting workshops, the royal audience hall and the chapel. Book ahead in season or ask at the door first thing.
14:00 St Barbara's Church. The building the town is really about: a Gothic cathedral funded by miners and dedicated to their patron saint, with three tent shaped roofs and a forest of flying buttresses. Inside, the frescoes show mining and minting rather than saints. The walk up along Barborská, past the Jesuit college and its line of statues above the valley, is the best five minutes of the day.
15:30 Czech Museum of Silver. In the Hrádek, a small fortified mansion just below St Barbara's, with a route that takes you into a medieval mine shaft in a white coat, helmet and lamp. Places on the mine tour are limited and usually booked in advance, and the underground route is seasonal, so check before you count on it.
16:30 The Stone Fountain. A twelve sided late Gothic water tank on Rejskovo náměstí, built at the end of the fifteenth century to serve a town with no natural water supply of its own. It is a short walk from the museum and a good place to end, with a few cafés around it, and a few minutes from Kutná Hora město station for the connection back.
What to book ahead
The ossuary timed slot, and the silver mine tour if you want to go underground. The Italian Court tour is worth reserving in summer. Nothing else needs planning in advance.
Open this day trip in Tralendr
The plan is already built, in order, with every stop on a map. Open the Kutná Hora day trip from Prague in Tralendr and it loads without an account. Trim it to a half day, swap the mine for a longer lunch, or send the link to whoever you are travelling with.
For building a day like this yourself, see how to plan a day trip and how to plan a day trip with an assistant, or all our day trips.