A pedestrian protection device for a vehicle is provided at a vehicle-body front portion which comprises an engine room, a cowl box provided at an upper portion of a dash panel and extending in a vehicle width direction, and an engine hood pivotally supported at the vehicle body via a first hinge provided at a rear end portion so as to cover over the engine room. An engine-hood guide mechanism guides the engine hood upwardly and rearwardly so as to cover at least part of the cowl box when a collision of a pedestrian against a front bumper face is detected or predicted, and lowers the engine hood downwardly when a load acting on the engine hood exceeds a specified load.