When I planned my Euro Trip in November, 2019 I had allocated 3 days to Prague, 2 to Bratislava and 3 to Budapest. 1 of these was reserved for a day trip to Kutna Hora (Famous for the Bone Church or as its normally know Ossuary Sedlec). Kutna Hora is approximately 80 kms from Prague and can be reached via bus/car or train.
For a solo traveller like me, train made the most sense. The next best option was to join a group tour. However, as I wanted to explore Kutna Hora at my own pace, I finalised the train.
Day trip to Kutna Hora from Prague – by Train
I had booked my tickets online from the Czech Republic Train website (Cesky Drahy). You can book tickets here – Ceske Drahy Official Czech Railway Website
You need to change trains at Kutna Hora Hl. N. station. Once you get down, you will find another train for Kutna Hora Mesto parked at one of the platforms. The train is to Kutna Hora is scheduled as per the times of the major trains stopping at Kutna Hora Hl. N.
The 2nd train ride is just 10 mins, and it takes overall 1 hour and 10 mins from Prague to Kutna Hora Mesto.
Day trip to Kutna Hora – Sightseeing
First planned stop was St. Mary’s Church at Nameti. I decided to walk as it was around 2.5 kms from the train station. The plan was to cover all the attractions upto Hradek – Czech Museum of Silver and then have a lunch at one of the shops in the old town area.
After that I wanted to visit St. Barbara’s Cathedral and head down to Sedlec Ossuary.
St. Mary’s Church on Nameti
This is the first church near Kutna Hora town hall that you will come across while walking from the train station. It’s believed that the construction of the church was financed by the ores that fell to the ground during the trading activities in the medieval ages.
More info about the church – St. Mary’s Church on Nameti
Stone House (Stone Haus)
It’s a UNESCO heritage monument and an excellent example of the Gothic architecture. Since 1902 the Stone Haus, has served as a museum and contains one of the richest archives in the country. The entrance ticket cost was 40 CZK, I think.
Day trip to Kutna Hora – Stone House in the background Day trip to Kutna Hora – Stone house
Italian Court
It’s actually a palace and was the seat of the Central Mint of Prague. When I visited, the museum inside the palace was under renovation. So got no chance to click any photos.
The House of 3 kings
Day trip to Kutna Hora – House of 3 kings, kings painted on the facade
Stone fountain & the plague column
It originated between 1713 and 1715 as a commemoration of the contemporary plague which killed more than a thousand people. The column is also known as Column of the Virgin Mary Immaculate.
The intensive mining activity of the Middle Ages disrupted the underground water sources in Kutná Hora, which resulted in the town being short of drinking water. This problem was solved by the construction of the stone fountain.
More details – Stone Fountain & Plague Column
Hradek – Czech Museum of Silver
The museum is one of the oldest and, with a collection of approximately 185,000 items, also among the richest museums in the Czech Republic. It also had a medieval silver mine, which you can visit as a part of the tour – The Way of Silver. You are given an idea of how the medieval technology of mining, processing raw silver and minting coinage worked. The tour includes a replica of medieval mine with technical equipments, original mining machine powered by horses, original medieval mine and so called Miners’ Settlement.
Cost – 140 CZK + 25CZK (Optional for Protective cotton mantle)
More details – Hradek, Czech Museum of Silver
Lunch time
After Hradek tour, I came down to have lunch at one of the pizza places in the town hall. I had a full pizza 🍕 (half + half – 2 half pizzas). I recall one of them was pork pepperoni and the other one was seafood I think. To wash everything down I had some hot chocolate. The entire meal costed approx. 5 EUR. By the way I forgot to mention this earlier, when I visited St. James Church was closed
Lunch – Pork Pepperoni Doors of St. James Church Day trip to Kutna Hora – Town of Kutna Hora
St. Barbara’s Church
The Cathedral of St Barbara, a jewel of the Late Gothic period and one of the four cathedral-type buildings in Bohemia. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List together with the Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady and St John the Baptist and the historical centre of Kutná Hora.
- Ticket Cost – 120 CZK
- Better option is to take the combo ticket of 220 CZK which includes entry to St. Barbara Church, Church of Assumption & Sedlec Ossuary (Bone Church)
Church gardens/lawn Day trip to Kutna Hora – St. Barbara’s Church Day trip to Kutna Hora – Exhibit outside Jesuit College Day trip to Kutna Hora – Jesuit College Day trip to Kutna Hora – Jesuit College & St. Barbara’s Church
More details – Cathedral of St. Barbara
Day trip to Kutna Hora – Heading to Sedlec
From St. Barbara’s church I began my descent towards Sedlec Ossuary (Bone Church). It was downhill walk of around 2-3 kms. The weather was much pleasant now and the sun was out. I had a good time walking this distance than when I was climbing up as it was drizzling slightly. I came across this restaurant named Kometa, it had an ad for a beer that had 15% alcohol (no kidding).
Day trip to Kutna Hora – Restaurant on the way Day trip to Kutna Hora – The European colour palette..
Sedlec Ossuary
Probably the most well known landmark in Kutna Hora. Also known as the Bone Church. First things first, this placed also used to be a cemetery and the whole architecture is pretty gothic, graphic and kind of out of a horror movie. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
Ticket cost – Included as a part of the combo ticket I purchased at St. Barbara’s Church.
Sedlec Ossuary from outside Internal views… Day trip to Kutna Hora – Graphic or Gothic?
More details – Sedlec Ossuary.
Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and St John the Baptist in Sedlec
Right next to the Ossuary is the Cathedral of Assumption and my last stop for the day. Entrance again was included as a part of the combo ticket. By this time, I was kind of tired & my phone was running out of battery I think. So clicked only a few photos.
Heading back to Kutna Hora Mesto
I was done visiting the Cathedral by 4:00 PM I think, also the clouds were building up and the sun was setting. Since my phone battery was almost dead there was no point in waiting for the perfect sunset shot. So I stared my walk back to the Kutna Hora Mesto Station. I think I was at the station by 4:30 PM.
As my train wasn’t till 5:45PM, I decided to go to the station master’s office to see if I could take an earlier train. Turned out, the station master was the same cute lady that had checked our tickets in the morning (from Kutna Hora Hl. N. to Kutna Hora Mesto). She was kind enough to allow me to take an earlier train, but told me that I’ll need to talk to the station master at Kutna Hora Hl. N. for the next train to Prague.
I repeated the same procedure at Kutna Hora Hl. N. and again the station master allowed me to take an earlier train. Luckily there was a train parked on the platform at that moment and it was scheduled to leave in 10 mins. Me along with 1 more girl were the only 2 people when the train left Kutna Hora.
Back in Prague – Swim, Sauna & Dinner
I reached Prague by 6:15 PM and headed straight to the hostel. The hostel had both an indoor pool and sauna. Decided to chill in the pool for sometime. There to my surprise I found Shirley. I had met her at a pub in Munich and we became good friends after partying together all night. It was a great coincident that we had both booked the same hostel in Prague.
For all my 3 nights in the hostel, I was the only one in my 6 bed dorm. So we had dinner, explored the neighbourhood and chatted almost all night.