How to Get from Prague to Kutná Hora
Kutná Hora is the easiest UNESCO day trip from Prague: seventy kilometres east, an hour by road, and small enough to see properly between breakfast and dinner. The train is cheap and frequent — but the geography of the town is what decides which way you should actually go.
The catch nobody mentions
Two things about Kutná Hora surprise people who arrive by train.
The first: the main station is about three kilometres from the old town. Trains from Prague arrive at Kutná Hora hlavní nádraží, which sits out by Sedlec, not in the centre. There is a little local shuttle train onward to Kutná Hora město, and buses, but you are changing.
The second: the two things you came to see are four kilometres apart. The Sedlec Ossuary — the chapel decorated with the bones of some forty thousand people — is next to the main station. St Barbara’s Cathedral, the reason the town is on the UNESCO list, is at the far end of the old town. Walking between them takes the better part of an hour, and there is not much to look at in between.
None of that is a reason to avoid the train. It is a reason to know about it before you plan the day around a 55-minute timetable.
The options compared
| Option | Time | Roughly | What it is really like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Train | ~55 min + transfers | €5–8 | Frequent, direct, cheap, from Praha hlavní nádraží. Then a shuttle or a walk at the far end, and another journey between the ossuary and the cathedral. Budget two hours of moving around once you are there. |
| Coach | ~1 h 30 | €5–8 | Slower than the train and less frequent. It does at least drop you closer to the centre than the main station does. |
| Driving yourself | ~1 h | fuel + parking | Easy on the D1 and then route 38. Parking near St Barbara’s is paid but usually fine outside summer weekends. |
| Private transfer | ~1 h | 100 € per car | Door to door, and the driver moves you between the ossuary and the cathedral rather than leaving you to walk it. Priced per car. |
Which one should you take
Alone, unhurried, comfortable with connections? The train. It is genuinely cheap, and the walk through Sedlec to the centre is pleasant enough in good weather.
Two to four people? Compare properly. Four train tickets plus the local shuttle plus the time lost between the two sights is close to the cost of a car that waits for you, and the car gives you the afternoon back.
Short on time? Kutná Hora is the one UNESCO town near Prague you can do in half a day — but only if the transport does not eat it. An hour out, three hours there, an hour back.
Our transfer: hotel pick-up in Prague, an hour to Kutná Hora, and the driver stays with you between the ossuary and the cathedral — 100 € for the whole car, one way. For a day trip with the driver waiting, ask when you book.
What you are going to see
The Sedlec Ossuary. A small chapel arranged from the bones of around forty thousand people, most of them plague and war dead, assembled into a chandelier, coats of arms and pyramids in the 1870s. Photography inside has been banned since 2020 — the rule is enforced, and it is worth knowing before you plan your day around a photograph.
St Barbara’s Cathedral. Built by the silver miners for themselves rather than for a bishop, which is why the frescoes show men working the seams. The flying buttresses and tent roofs are unlike anything else in Bohemia.
The Italian Court and the silver mine. Kutná Hora was the royal mint; the medieval silver from these hills paid for a good deal of central European history. The guided mine tour puts you in a white coat and a very narrow tunnel.
Practical notes
Buy a combined ticket. The ossuary, the cathedral and the Sedlec cathedral of the Assumption sell a joint ticket that costs less than the three separately.
Go early or late in the day. Coach tours arrive mid-morning and the ossuary is small; by eleven it can be shoulder to shoulder.
It is a working town, not a museum. Restaurants outside the main square are ordinary Czech prices, and better for it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to get from Prague to Kutná Hora?
About an hour by road for seventy kilometres. The direct train takes around 55 minutes, but the station is three kilometres from the old town.
Is there a direct train from Prague to Kutná Hora?
Yes, from Praha hlavní nádraží to Kutná Hora hlavní nádraží. From there a local shuttle train or a bus takes you on to the centre.
How much is a transfer from Prague to Kutná Hora?
100 € for the whole car, one way, fixed when you book — per car, not per person.
Can you photograph the Sedlec Ossuary?
No. Photography inside has been prohibited since 2020.
How far apart are the ossuary and St Barbara’s Cathedral?
About four kilometres — roughly an hour on foot, or a few minutes by car.
Is Kutná Hora worth a day trip from Prague?
Yes, and it is the easiest one on the list: an hour each way and three genuinely first-rate sights in a small town.
Book a transfer
Send us the date, the pick-up time and address, the number of passengers and suitcases, and where you are going. If you are flying in, send the flight number and the driver will meet you in arrivals with a name board.
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