Prague's new pedestrian bridge from Holešovice to Karlín will open this week

Prague's long-awaited pedestrian bridge connecting Holešovice, Štvanice, and Karlín will officially open to the public on Friday, July 28. To celebrate the grand opening, some of the city's popular summer hangouts across all three areas will host a special event that encourages visitors to make the inaugural journey.

The Štvanická footbridge, named after the island that it crosses, is affectionately referred to as HolKa after the two Prague neighborhoods that it connects. It's been in the works since at least 1999 and was almost built in the early 2000s until the 2002 Prague floods washed away those plans.

Work on the pedestrian bridge finally began at the beginning of 2022, following an architectural competition five years earlier. The bridge will provide minutes-long pedestrian access to two Prague districts that have previously been separated by lengthy public transport journeys.

While initially expected to open at the end of 2022, that date was pushed back to the spring and then summer of 2023. Last month, the bridge passed some extensive structural tests from construction company Skanska ahead of it's opening.

"The construction had to cope with the more demanding geological subsoil in the Vltava, and the originally intended work was then expanded to include the final park modifications on Štvanice island so that there was no need to interfere with the [existing] roads, sidewalks, and paved areas," Skanska spokesperson Ondřej Šuch told Refresher. "We will gladly hand over the Štvanická footbridge to Prague by the end of July," he added.

Prague 7 Mayor Jan Čižinský has confirmed on Twiter that the pedestrian bridge will officially open from Friday, July 28 at noon. And summer hangouts on both sides of the river, and in-between, are organizing a celebration to get in on the fun.

Prague summer beer gardens Vrrrátnice, located at Prague Market in Holešovice, Baden Baden on Štvanice Island, and Přístav 18600 in Karlín have announced a joint event to celebrate the opening of the Štvanická footbridge on Friday.

A full lineup of events has not been revealed, but the venues promise cool activities at each location along with music from the band Jaleo Project at both ends of the new footbridge.

Each beer garden is also offering 100 free beers to the first guests that travel across the bridge and visit each of the locations. To claim a free beer, collect a stamp at two of the venues, and then present them to the third. Just be among the first 100 people to do so at each location on Friday.