Lobkowicz Palace concert tickets

What the concert is

The concert lasts roughly an hour and takes place in the Baroque Concert Hall of Lobkowicz Palace, a building within the Prague Castle complex at Jiřská 3. The GetYourGuide ticket describes the players as members of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. The palace's own concerts page speaks of a trio of flute, violin and piano, and guests mention a viola player as well, so the line-up can vary from one day to the next. The music runs from the Baroque to 19th-century Czech composers, and the palace's site lists concerts daily, with the calendar showing which dates are open. Guests who have reviewed the concert praise the musicians, the pianist in particular, and the setting, and many pair it with a visit to the museum.

The hall you sit in

The palace's site describes the Baroque Concert Hall as decorated with exquisite 17th-century frescoes. Wikipedia credits the painter Fabián Václav Harovník with the ceilings of the Concert Hall and the Balcony Room, and says the major Baroque alterations to the palace were made by Václav Eusebius, 2nd Prince Lobkowicz, after the Thirty Years' War. The Lobkowicz family call it the only private, family-owned palace in the castle complex. The family opened the palace as a museum in 2007, and the concerts take place in the same building, so a ticket puts you inside a lived-in house, not a purpose-built hall. Guests who write about the room mention the ceilings first.

The programme, and why you cannot pick it

You cannot choose the pieces, because the programme varies from day to day. The palace publishes a sample, and the booking page publishes another, and they differ in places: the booking page also names Boccherini, Gluck, Ravel and Mendelssohn, while the palace's page adds Gossec, Debussy and a Dvořák romantic piece. These names appear in both, so they give a fair idea of the hour, though none is promised for your date. Expect short pieces by Baroque composers alongside Czech music of the 19th century, played by a small ensemble rather than an orchestra. The booking page calls the programme romantic classical music, with solo and ensemble pieces.

• Vivaldi, a Largo
• Philipp Hyacinth Lobkowicz, Suite in C major
• Mozart, the Turkish March
• Beethoven, a concert piece for piano
• Smetana, Vltava
• Dvořák, a Valse

Read next: Dvořák and Smetana at midday

Which option to book

The booking page offers the concert on its own and an option that adds entry to Lobkowicz Palace and an audio guide. Choose the concert alone if you already have a plan for the castle or only want the hour of music. Choose the option with entry if you have not seen the collections, because the museum takes longer than the concert: the palace site gives its tour as 1 hour 30 minutes. The calendar shows the options and start time for each date, so check the option name before you pay and keep the confirmation. A guest who bought the museum option writes that they loved the museum with the audio guide.

How to book, step by step

Nothing is bought on this site. A booking button opens the GetYourGuide calendar, where you choose the language and currency, enter the party size, pick a day and select the concert option you want. On the booking page you may cancel until 24 hours ahead and have the fare returned, and you can choose to reserve now and settle the fare later, so a seat can be held first while the rest of your Prague plans are sorted out and nothing is paid today. After booking you receive a voucher. Remember that the voucher is not the ticket: it must be exchanged at the palace, as the next section explains.

Seats and comfort

The seats are chairs set out in rows in the hall, and the room is a historic one rather than a modern auditorium. Several guests on the booking page say the chairs are not comfortable for an older visitor, and one notes that there is no air conditioning, which mattered on a very hot day. The summary of recent reviews mentions cramped seating too. None of that spoils the music for most guests, but it is worth knowing if you are tall, stiff in the back or travelling in midsummer. Wear light layers, bring water in summer and plan to sit still for an hour.

Collecting your ticket

The palace's concerts page says the voucher you receive must be exchanged for a ticket, and that QR codes or vouchers are not accepted at the door. Exchange it at the Lobkowicz Palace cash desk, not at the Prague Castle ticket office. Mixing those two up is the likeliest way to lose time before the concert, so read the meeting information in your confirmation and go straight to the palace. Arrive with a little margin, since the way in from the castle entrances can involve a bag check, and keep the confirmation open on your phone until the ticket is in your hand.

Read next: Lobkowicz Palace and concert plan

Adding the museum and the audio guide

Wikipedia gives the museum 22 galleries, with works by Canaletto, Velázquez, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Pieter Brueghel the Elder, arms and armour, decorative arts and a music collection. The palace site says the audio guide is narrated in English by two generations of the Lobkowicz family and the collections' curators, and that it is also available in 11 other languages. The booking page lists the languages it offers, so check yours there. The palace site adds that the collection includes items more than 2,000 years old, among them hand-annotated manuscripts by Mozart and Beethoven. If you plan to see the museum, put it before the concert rather than after, so you arrive in the hall already knowing whose palace it is.

Read next: Lobkowicz Palace history

What guests say

More than 1,200 travellers have reviewed the concert on the booking page, and the average is 4.6 out of 5. Reviewers come from the United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, France and Portugal, and several write in their own language. Guests praise skilled musicians, the intimate palace hall and the museum, and several single out the pianist and Smetana's Vltava. One writes that the history of the family, the wars and communist rule made the visit. The complaints are practical: hard or cramped chairs, and heat when the weather is hot. A few guests came with modest expectations and left pleased. The right frame is a chamber concert in a historic room.

Compared with a church concert

Prague sells many classical concerts, and a church one is the obvious alternative. Churches offer a nave, often an organ, and a setting that most visitors already know from the Old Town; a palace hall offers a smaller room, a chamber ensemble and a collection next door. The Lobkowicz concert is short, at about an hour, and sits inside a castle visit, so choose it if you want a palace and the castle in one outing. Choose a church concert if you want an organ and a long, echoing space. The choice is about the room more than the music, and the booking calendar shows other Prague concerts.

Who this isn't for

The booking page advises against the concert for anyone with a mobility impairment, so check the access details with the booking page before you travel. Luggage and large bags are not allowed, nor are pets or smoking, which rules out arriving straight from a station with a suitcase. If you want a full orchestra, a long evening or a modern hall with padded seats, look elsewhere, and if you want the castle's own interiors, buy those tickets from the castle separately. Nor is it a dinner: the ticket lists personal expenses as not included, so a meal is paid for separately. An hour of chamber-sized classical music in a painted Baroque room is a smaller thing, and it suits that exactly.