Prague, Kutná Hora and a week in the dark: a 10-day dark retreat itinerary

Most people who write to us from abroad have the same puzzle on the table: a ticket to Prague, ten or twelve days off and a dark retreat somewhere in the middle. How do you fit a capital city, a UNESCO town and seven nights at a dark retreat near Prague into one trip – without stepping out of total darkness straight onto a crowded tram? Here is the plan Lenka and I suggest, day by day.

We have been running dark retreats in Lomec, a village of about 30 people some 10 km south of Kutná Hora, since 2013. More than 3,000 people have spent time in the dark in our five cabins, and plenty of them came through Prague. The whole itinerary hangs on one simple fact: a week in the dark starts on Saturday evening. Everything else bends around that.

The trip at a glance

Day	Where	What
1 (Thu)	Prague	Arrive, an evening walk, early night
2 (Fri)	Prague	Old Town, Charles Bridge, Prague Castle
3 (Sat)	Kutná Hora → Lomec	Train, a few hours in town, into the cabin in the evening
4–9 (Sun–Fri)	Lomec	In the dark
10 (Sat)	Lomec → Kutná Hora	Back in the light, a quiet afternoon
11 (Sun)	Kutná Hora	Sedlec Ossuary, Italian Court, silver mine
12 (Mon)	Prague → home	Train or flight home

Days 1–2: Prague, but not the marathon version

Day 1 (Thursday). From Václav Havel Airport you are in the centre or at the main station in roughly 30–45 minutes, either on the AE airport express bus or on a city bus plus the metro. Coming by train is even simpler: Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Warsaw all have direct trains to Prague. If you can, sleep somewhere near Praha hlavní nádraží, the main station.

Day 2 (Friday). Old Town Square, Charles Bridge early in the morning while it still belongs to the photographers and the pigeons, then Prague Castle across the Vltava. Don’t try to tick off the whole city. The first days in the dark are mostly sleep anyway, people tell us – so there’s no prize for arriving exhausted.

Day 3: an hour by train to Kutná Hora, then into the dark

Direct trains run from Praha hlavní nádraží to Kutná Hora hlavní nádraží roughly every hour during the day and take about an hour. Check the timetable on cd.cz before you go. If you drive, it’s also about an hour: the D11 towards Hradec Králové, exit at Kolín, then on to Kutná Hora. The route in detail, including the airport, is in our step-by-step guide from Prague to Kutná Hora.

Give Kutná Hora a few hours before the darkness. This was a medieval silver town, and its historic centre, together with St Barbara’s Church and the Cathedral of the Assumption in Sedlec, has been on the UNESCO list since 1995. Walk along Barborská street, where a row of statues looks out over the valley, have lunch, and keep the rest for later. The town will still be there in a week.

In the afternoon you head out to us. Lomec is about 20 minutes by car from Kutná Hora, and on request we pick you up for free in Kutná Hora, Čáslav or Bykáň. Or you can do what we like best: take a local train from Kutná Hora to Bykáň (they arrive at 15:30 and 17:30) and walk the last 6 km through Úmonín – past the chateau, through a little pine wood and along a field track. It takes about an hour, and by the time you reach our gate, Prague feels very far away.

In the evening you settle into your cabin, unpack with the light on – and then you switch it off yourself. That’s the whole ceremony.

Days 4–9: the dark retreat itself, the part that stays blank

This is where the plan goes empty, on purpose. No phone (it stays switched off), no clock, no sightseeing. Vegetarian food for the whole day is brought to the entrance hall of your cabin, so it reaches you without a single ray of light. Or you bring your own food, or fast – there’s a kettle in the cabin. Lenka and I live in the log house 50 metres away.

What happens in those days is different for everyone, but some things we hear again and again. The first days people mostly sleep. Then time melts and you stop knowing whether it’s Tuesday or Thursday. At some point the mind throws a tantrum and a little voice asks: “What am I even doing here?” Some people see colours and images in the dark. And many tell us afterwards that it was easier than they had imagined.

The light stays yours. You can switch it on or walk out at any moment – nobody locks the door. About one in ten people leave early, and that’s allowed. More on how it all works is on the dark retreat page, and a closer look at the very beginning in our article on the first night in total darkness.

Day 10: back in the light, slowly

After seven nights it’s Saturday again. The light is sharp, food tastes louder, smells come from everywhere at once. This is not the day for a train to Prague and an evening flight. Book a hotel in Kutná Hora for a night or two and give yourself an afternoon of doing very little.

Sort out with us beforehand how you’ll get back to town. On weekdays a local bus leaves from the village green, 60 metres from our gate; for weekends we’ll plan the ride to the station with you when you book.

Day 11: Kutná Hora with fresh eyes

Now the town gets its full day. The Sedlec Ossuary – the Chapel of All Saints, decorated with human bones – is quite something after a week of seeing nothing at all. Some people love that contrast; others keep it for the next trip 🙂 Then the Italian Court, the former royal mint, a tour of the old silver mine at the Czech Museum of Silver, and the Jesuit College, today the GASK gallery. Our Kutná Hora travel guide has more on what to see and at what pace.

Day 12: home

Train back to Prague, about an hour, and on from there. If you came from Vienna or Brno, look at the trains via Havlíčkův Brod: some of them stop in Kutná Hora and Čáslav, so you might not need Prague at all on the way back.

Shorter: 10 days, or three nights instead of seven

Short on time? Arrive in Prague on Friday, travel to Kutná Hora and on to us on Saturday, come out of the dark the following Saturday, sleep in Kutná Hora and go home on Sunday. Ten days, the full week in the dark, and Prague shrinks to one evening.

Three nights start on Wednesday or Saturday, a single night on Tuesday. They fit a shorter trip nicely. Just know the numbers: about 80 % of people come for the week, and about 80 % of those who try three nights tell us afterwards it was too short. Which length makes sense when you travel from abroad is in our article one night, three nights or a week?

What to book first

Book the dark first, then the trains and hotels around it. The week is tied to Saturdays (only exceptionally Wednesdays), while Prague hotels are flexible. Look at the free dates, pick your Saturday and build the rest of the trip on top of it.

See you in the dark – Tom & Lenka

P.S. If you take only one thing from this plan: don’t book your flight home for the afternoon you come out of the dark. Your eyes will thank you, and so will your stomach 🙂