How to get to Villa Müller in Střešovice

The address

The full address is Nad Hradním vodojemem 642/14, 162 00 Prague 6 – Střešovice. The street name means, roughly, above the castle water reservoir. Enter it exactly as written in a map app, with the house number 14; the number 642 is the building's registry number, which Czech addresses show alongside the street number.

The villa occupies a five-sided plot between Nad Hradním vodojemem and Střešovická street. Its entrance is on Nad Hradním vodojemem, at the top of the slope. The plot falls about eleven metres to the north, and the museum notes that its highest corner, by the entrance, sits higher than Prague Castle.

You will recognise the house at once: a plain white block with small yellow-framed windows, above a low wall with a green fence, and an old column clock on the pavement nearby.

By tram

The easiest way up from the centre is by tram. The nearest stop is Ořechovka, on the tram line that climbs through Střešovice. From the stop, walk up to Nad Hradním vodojemem and along to the gate.

Prague's tram numbers and routes change from time to time, especially during track works, so we do not print line numbers here. Use a Prague public transport journey planner or a map app on the day, with Ořechovka as your destination stop, and it will give you the current lines from wherever you are staying.

A single public transport ticket covers trams, the metro and buses within the city, and you must validate a paper ticket when you board. If you have a contactless card or a transport app, check before you travel how it works on Prague trams.

Plan the return journey too. From Ořechovka, check which direction your tram is heading before you board, and allow the same time to get back to your hotel or to your next booking as you did to get up the hill.

The last few minutes on foot

However you arrive, the last part is on foot and uphill. Střešovice is built on a slope, and Nad Hradním vodojemem runs along the higher ground. Wear shoes you can climb in; you will need them again inside, where the tour goes up and down many short flights of steps.

Aim to be at the gate a few minutes before your start time. The museum says the tour begins at the scheduled time at the gate, and the group sets off together. Arriving early also gives you a moment to look at the outside of the house, which the tour itself only covers in good weather.

If you are running late, there is little the guide can do once the group is inside. Build in spare time, especially if you are coming straight from another booking.

Combining the villa with Prague Castle

Střešovice is the next district west of the Castle, which makes the villa a natural half-day partner to it. A common plan is to take the 10:30 English tour of the villa and then head down to the Castle district for lunch and the afternoon. The reverse works too: a morning at the Castle, lunch, and the 15:00 English tour.

Whichever order you choose, leave a real buffer between the two. Prague Castle is large, its security checks and courtyards take time, and your villa tour will not wait. A gap of an hour and a half between finishing one and starting the other is comfortable.

The villa's height is part of the appeal. From the roof terrace, open in good weather, the museum describes views over the Vltava valley and a glimpse of St Vitus Cathedral, so you see the Castle from a vantage point most visitors never reach.

Planning your day around the tour times

Tours start at 9:00, 10:30, 12:00, 13:30, 15:00 and 16:30, and each lasts about 75 minutes. If you are taking an English tour, that means you are inside from 10:30 until about a quarter to twelve, or from 15:00 until about a quarter past four. Add the time it takes to collect your bag from the cloakroom and walk back down to the tram.

The villa is open Wednesday to Sunday only. If your stay in Prague includes a Monday or Tuesday, keep those days for sights that are open then, and put the villa on one of the other days.

The morning English tour leaves most of the day free and puts you near Prague Castle by lunchtime. The afternoon tour suits a slower start, or a morning in the old town followed by the tram up the hill after lunch. In the darker months, the morning tour also gives you the best chance of seeing the roof terrace and its view in daylight.

Travelling with children or older visitors

Children under 15 go free with an adult, but each still needs a ticket and takes one of the eight places on the tour, so book their places with yours. The walk from the tram is uphill and the tour climbs from the basement to the roof terrace on many short flights of steps, so young children need to be happy walking and climbing for well over an hour.

For older visitors, the same steps are the thing to think about. The tour pauses in each room while the guide speaks, which gives natural rests, but there is no lift and no step-free route. A taxi to the gate removes the hill from the day, if not the stairs inside.

By taxi or ride-hailing

A taxi or ride-hailing car can drop you close to the gate, which is useful if you are short of time or would rather avoid the hill. Give the full address with house number 14. Nad Hradním vodojemem is a residential street, so ask to be dropped as close to the villa as is safe and walk the last few steps.

Do not plan on parking at the villa. It is a house museum in a residential street, and the museum does not list any visitor parking.

Ořechovka, the garden city next door

Below the villa lies Ořechovka, a garden city of the interwar years. The Museum of Prague's own neighbourhood walks describe how its plan came out of a competition won by Jaroslav Vondrák and Jan Šenkýř, and how its residents once had to follow certain rules.

Ořechovka is full of houses by well-known Czech architects of the period. Among them is a block of villas built by a cooperative of artists and writers, including houses for the painters Emil Filla and Vincenc Beneš and the sculptor Bohumil Kafka, designed by Pavel Janák. Walking its streets after your tour shows you the world the Müllers chose to build in, and how different their house was from its neighbours.

The streets are residential and quiet. Look at the houses from the pavement and respect the people who live in them.

Old Střešovice

Nad Hradním vodojemem is also where the old village of Střešovice began. The museum's walking notes explain that the original settlement, called Třešovice until the 19th century, grew along a narrow strip of houses beside a sandstone rock on the north side of the raised ground.

A short walk takes you to the square called Před Bateriemi and the Evangelical church there, a functionalist building by the architect Bohumír Kozák, and to the church of St Norbert. Together they make a gentle hour before or after the villa, far from the crowds of the Castle district.

What to bring

Bring your e-ticket, on your phone or printed, and any proof your fare needs: a student card, ID showing a young visitor's age, or photo ID showing you are 65 or over. Wear flat shoes; the floors are original wood and very high heels must be changed. Keep your bag small, because hand luggage goes into the cloakroom before the tour.

There are limited toilets in the villa, so plan a stop before you come up the hill. A camera or phone is worth having: photography is allowed throughout, without flash and without a tripod.

Accessibility on the way and inside

The approach is on sloping streets, and the villa itself is not wheelchair accessible. Its rooms are set at different levels joined by steps, and there is no lift or step-free route.

If you use a wheelchair or cannot manage stairs, the guided tour will not be possible, and we would rather tell you that before you book than at the gate. If you are unsure, write to us and we will describe the route in as much detail as we can.

Seeing the house from outside

Before or after your tour, walk around the outside. The museum describes two of the facades as large areas of smooth wall with relatively small windows, one facing the entrance street and one beside a public staircase. Each has a shallow niche at its base, one for the entrance to the villa and one for the garage, set below the level of the road.

The other two sides are broken into cubes, with a terrace by the living room, a balcony, a bay window and the odd window that crowns the building at the level of the roof terrace. The public staircase beside the villa gives the best view of how the house steps down its slope, and of the garden below it.