---
title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Prague, Czechia | Wimup"
description: "The 10 best things to do in Prague, ranked: the castle, Charles Bridge, the Astronomical Clock, Josefov and Strahov, with maps, beer halls and a fact sheet."
url: https://wimup.com/city/prague
type: City guide
updated: 2026-09-03
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Top 10 Things To Do in Prague

Prague, Czechia · Europe · By Wimup Editorial, 15 min read

Prague came through the twentieth century with its skyline intact, which is why the centre still reads as one continuous piece of Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau rather than a set of survivors. It is also one of Europe's most crowded cities between the bridge and the castle. This ranks what is worth the queue.

## Quick answer

Prague fits its greatest hits into one walkable arc. Cross Charles Bridge early, climb to the castle for St Vitus and the view back down, then work through Josefov and the Old Town Square in the afternoon. Give a second day to Vyšehrad, Petřín and the Strahov library, and a third to Letná, Holešovice and the galleries, with the beer halls filling in the evenings. Three full days covers the centre without rushing it.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** May · Jun · Sep
- **Ideal length:** 3 days
- **Budget per day:** €70–150
- **Language:** Czech, with English widely spoken in the centre
- **Getting around:** Walk the centre, trams and three metro lines for everything else, and a tram 22 ride up to the castle
- **Tourism board:** [Official site](https://prague.eu/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## The 10 best things to do in Prague

### 1. Start at Prague Castle

Castle · Pražský hrad, 119 08 Praha 1, Czechia

Guinness lists it as the largest ancient castle complex in the world, and it has been the seat of Czech power since the ninth century. St Vitus Cathedral is the centrepiece, six centuries in the building and finished only in 1929, with Mucha's glass in the north nave. The courtyards and gardens are free; the interiors need a circuit ticket.

- **Time:** Half a day
- **Cost:** Free to walk the courtyards and gardens, ticketed for the interiors
- **Best at:** The first hour after the buildings open, or after they close for the empty courtyards
- **Tip:** Ride tram 22 to Pohořelec and walk down through the castle instead of climbing the Old Castle Stairs

Links: [Website](https://www.hrad.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 2. Cross Charles Bridge before breakfast

Landmark · Karlův most, 110 00 Praha 1, Czechia

Charles IV laid the foundation stone in 1357, and the bridge runs about 516 metres between two Gothic towers, with thirty Baroque statues along the parapet that are all copies. By ten in the morning it is a slow-moving crowd. At six it belongs to commuters and photographers, with the castle catching the first light.

- **Time:** 30 minutes
- **Cost:** Free to cross, ticketed for the bridge towers
- **Best at:** Sunrise, or the hour before midnight
- **Tip:** Walk it east to west at dawn and west to east at dusk, so the light is on the buildings rather than in your lens

Links: [Prague City Tourism](https://prague.eu/en/objevujte/charles-bridge-karluv-most/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 3. Time the Astronomical Clock on Old Town Square

Landmark · Staroměstské náměstí 1/3, 110 00 Praha 1, Czechia

The orloj has been on the Old Town Hall since 1410, which makes it the oldest astronomical clock still running. On the hour twelve apostles pass and a skeleton pulls the bell rope. The show is short and the crowd is large, so stand back and read the dials instead: sun and moon through the zodiac, and a calendar wheel.

- **Time:** 1 hour with the tower
- **Cost:** Free to watch, ticketed for the hall and tower
- **Best at:** Any hour between 09:00 and 23:00, when the apostles show
- **Tip:** Arrive five minutes early, stand on the Týn church side, and go up the tower afterwards for the roofscape

Links: [Prague City Tourism](https://prague.eu/en/objevujte/old-town-hall-with-astronomical-clock/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 4. Walk Josefov with one Jewish Museum ticket

Museum · Maiselova 15, 110 00 Praha 1, Czechia

The Jewish Museum is not a building but a quarter. One ticket covers the Maisel, Spanish, Pinkas and Klausen synagogues, the Ceremonial Hall and the Old Jewish Cemetery, where headstones stand twelve layers deep. Pinkas carries the hand-painted names of nearly 80,000 murdered Bohemian and Moravian Jews. Give it a morning.

- **Time:** 3 hours
- **Cost:** One ticket for the museum sites, a separate one for the Old-New Synagogue
- **Best at:** Opening time on a weekday, and never on a Saturday, when the sites close
- **Tip:** Start at the Information and Reservation Centre on Maiselova and finish at Pinkas, so the cemetery leads into the names

Links: [Website](https://www.jewishmuseum.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 5. See the two halls of the Strahov Library

Library · Strahovské nádvoří 1/132, 118 00 Prague, Czechia

The Premonstratensian monastery above Malá Strana has run since 1143, and its library holds roughly 200,000 volumes across two rooms. The Theological Hall of 1671 is low and white-stuccoed; the Philosophical Hall of 1794 is two storeys of walnut under a Maulbertsch fresco. Standard admission views both from the doorway.

- **Time:** 1 hour
- **Cost:** Ticketed, with a separate charge for photography
- **Best at:** Late afternoon, when the tour groups have moved down the hill
- **Tip:** Combine it with Petřín: the path from the library along the Hunger Wall reaches the lookout tower in about ten minutes

Links: [Website](https://www.strahovskyklaster.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 6. Take the ramparts at Vyšehrad

Fortress · V Pevnosti 159/5b, 128 00 Praha 2, Czechia

The other castle, on a rock above the Vltava two tram stops south, and the one Praguers keep for themselves. Legend puts the founding of the city here; what survives is largely Baroque around a Gothic Revival basilica. The cemetery beside it is the national pantheon: Dvořák, Smetana, Mucha and Čapek. Walk the ramparts.

- **Time:** 2 hours
- **Cost:** Free to walk the grounds, ramparts and cemetery
- **Best at:** Late afternoon into sunset, facing north along the river
- **Tip:** Arrive at Vyšehrad metro station and leave down the steps to Podolí, which puts you on the river path back into town

Links: [Website](https://praha-vysehrad.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 7. Climb Petřín for the whole city at once

Viewpoint · Petřínské sady 633, 118 00 Praha 1, Czechia

The wooded hill on the Malá Strana side ends in a 58.7 metre iron lookout tower, built for the 1891 Jubilee Exhibition as a fifth-scale answer to the Eiffel Tower and standing high enough that its top matches the original's altitude. It is 299 steps to the gallery. The funicular has been out of service since autumn 2024.

- **Time:** 2 hours
- **Cost:** Free to walk the gardens, ticketed for the tower
- **Best at:** An hour before sunset, when the light turns the roofs red
- **Tip:** Walk up and take tram 22 back down from Pohořelec if your knees prefer it

Links: [Prague City Tourism](https://prague.eu/en/objevujte/petrin-tower-petrinska-rozhledna/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 8. Hear a concert in the Municipal House

Concert hall · Náměstí Republiky 5, 110 00 Praha 1, Czechia

Prague's Art Nouveau showpiece, opened in 1912 and decorated by every Czech artist who mattered, Mucha among them. Independent Czechoslovakia was proclaimed here on 28 October 1918. Smetana Hall has housed the Prague Symphony since 1942, so the cheapest way in is a ticket to whatever is on.

- **Time:** 2 hours for a concert
- **Cost:** Ticketed, with separate tickets for guided tours
- **Best at:** Evening, for a concert rather than a walk-through
- **Tip:** Book Smetana Hall seats in the stalls rather than the balcony: the dome does the acoustics no favours at the back

Links: [Website](https://www.obecnidum.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 9. Drink the view at Letná

Park · Letenské sady, 170 00 Praha 7, Czechia

The plateau above the north bank, reached by the stairs at the end of Čechův most. A metronome ticks where a 17,000 tonne granite Stalin stood from 1955 until it was blown up in 1962, and the plain behind held the demonstrations that ended communist rule in 1989. The beer garden looks down the line of the bridges.

- **Time:** 2 hours
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Evening, when the bridges light up
- **Tip:** Bring cash for the beer garden kiosks and walk down to Holešovice afterwards for dinner

Links: [Prague City Tourism](https://prague.eu/en/objevujte/letna-park-letenske-sady/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 10. Finish with the National Gallery at the Trade Fair Palace

Gallery · Dukelských hrdinů 530/47, 170 00 Praha 7, Czechia

Prague's modern art lives in a functionalist landmark of 1925 to 1928, so far ahead of its time that Le Corbusier came to see it. Seven floors carry Czech modernism from Kupka and Filla through the Cubist furniture nobody else made, alongside Van Gogh, Picasso and Gauguin. The least crowded of the major collections.

- **Time:** 3 hours
- **Cost:** Ticketed, with combined tickets for other National Gallery buildings
- **Best at:** A wet afternoon, or any weekday morning
- **Tip:** Start on the top floor and work down, which puts the nineteenth century first and the contemporary rooms last

Links: [Website](https://www.ngprague.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best beer halls in Prague

Eight rooms that explain Czech beer culture, from a brewery running since 1499 to a Nusle multi-tap.

1. **U Fleků** (Brewpub since 1499 · Nové Město): Brewing on the same site since 1499 and pouring one beer only, a dark 13 degree lager, with a brass band working the room. The oldest brewpub in the country. [Website](https://www.ufleku.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **U Zlatého tygra** (Literary institution · Staré Město): Hrabal's local, still run like one: shared tables, Pilsner Urquell, no menu worth the name and regulars in the same seats for decades. Arrive early. [Website](https://www.uzlatehotygra.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Lokál Dlouhááá** (Tank beer · Staré Město): The Ambiente answer to the socialist beer hall: a long tiled room, unfiltered Pilsner from tanks, and Czech classics cooked properly. [Website](https://lokal-dlouha.ambi.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Klášterní pivovar Strahov** (Monastic brewery · Hradčany): The monastery brewery beside the library, pouring St Norbert beers under vaulted ceilings with a terrace over the city. [Website](https://www.klasterni-pivovar.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Vinohradský pivovar** (Neighbourhood brewery · Vinohrady): A neighbourhood brewery restored in the shell of an 1893 one, full of locals rather than visitors and a fair walk from the tourist map. [Website](https://www.vinohradskypivovar.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **U Medvídků** (Attic brewery · Staré Město): A beer hall on one side and a tiny attic brewery on the other, where X-Beer 33 is one of the strongest lagers in the world. Order a small one.
7. **Pivovarský dům** (Experimental brews · Nové Město): A house brewery that treats lager as a laboratory: nettle, banana, coffee and sour cherry versions that sound worse than they taste.
8. **Zlý časy** (Multi-tap · Nusle): A Nusle multi-tap with dozens of lines and a fridge of bottles behind them, and the place Czech craft brewing gets taken seriously. Worth the tram ride out of the centre.

## Best restaurants in Prague

Ten kitchens across the range, from two Michelin stars to a butcher’s counter you eat at standing up.

1. **Field** (Michelin star · Staré Město): One Michelin star a few minutes from the Jewish quarter, cooking modern Czech tasting menus on foraged and farmed produce. [Website](https://www.fieldrestaurant.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **La Degustation Bohême Bourgeoise** (Michelin star · Staré Město): Michelin-starred since 2012, the longest run in the country, and built on nineteenth-century Czech cookbooks reworked with modern technique. Open kitchen, one long menu. [Website](https://www.ladegustation.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Eska** (Bakery and kitchen · Karlín): A bakery downstairs and a restaurant upstairs in a converted Karlín factory, doing sourdough and Czech ingredients without nostalgia. [Website](https://eska.ambi.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Kantýna** (Butcher and canteen · Nové Město): A butcher's counter and canteen in a former bank hall: point at the cut, pay by weight, find a table. No reservations and a queue at lunch. [Website](https://www.kantyna.ambi.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Naše maso** (Standing counter · Staré Město): The butcher shop that changed how Prague eats meat, with a standing counter at the back for a beef burger, a sausage or a plate of tartare made in front of you. [Website](https://nasemaso.ambi.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Café Savoy** (Grand café · Malá Strana): A Viennese-style café under an 1893 Neo-Renaissance ceiling, serving the best-known breakfast in Prague and turning into a proper restaurant after dark. Book, or wait. [Website](https://www.cafesavoy.ambi.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Café Louvre** (Café since 1902 · Nové Město): Open since 1902 on the first floor above Národní, with billiards at the back and a guest list that once ran to Kafka's circle. [Website](https://www.cafelouvre.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
8. **Čestr** (Beef and tank beer · Vinohrady): Ambiente’s beef restaurant beside the National Museum, working through Czech cattle cut by cut with tank beer to match. The steak counterpart to Kantýna, sat down.
9. **U Kroka** (Czech classics · Vyšehrad): Czech home cooking below the Vyšehrad rock, on a site that has fed the neighbourhood since 1895. Svíčková, duck and dumplings done without a hint of theatre.
10. **Kavárna Slavia** (Historic café · Nové Město): The riverside café opposite the National Theatre, dissident haunt in the communist years and still the best window seat in Prague for the castle at dusk.

## Best museums and galleries in Prague

Eight collections worth a half day, from the national collections to a contemporary centre in a Holešovice factory.

1. **National Museum** (National collections · Nové Město): The neo-Renaissance block closing Wenceslas Square, reopened in 2018 after seven years, with natural history and Czech history split across two buildings. [Website](https://www.nm.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Museum Kampa** (Modern art · Malá Strana): The Mládek collection of central European modernism in a restored mill on Kampa island, strongest on Kupka and Gutfreund. [Website](https://www.museumkampa.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **DOX Centre for Contemporary Art** (Contemporary art · Holešovice): The country’s largest independent contemporary art centre, in a converted Holešovice factory, with a 42 metre wooden airship called Gulliver docked on the roof. [Website](https://www.dox.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Mucha Museum** (Art Nouveau · Nové Město): The Art Nouveau posters that made Alfons Mucha famous in Paris, alongside the drawings for the Slav Epic, now shown at the Savarin Palace complex off Na Příkopě. [Website](https://www.mucha.eu/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **National Technical Museum** (Industry and transport · Letná): A transport hall of hanging aircraft, steam locomotives and pre-war Czech cars under one roof on the Letná plateau, plus mining, printing and astronomy floors around it. [Website](https://www.ntm.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Lobkowicz Palace** (Private collection · Hradčany): The only privately owned building inside Prague Castle, holding Bruegel's Haymaking, Canaletto's London views and Beethoven and Mozart manuscripts. [Website](https://www.lobkowicz.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Kunsthalle Praha** (Contemporary art · Malá Strana): A private contemporary art house that opened in 2022 inside the Zenger electrical transformer station below the castle, with a rooftop bar over the river. [Website](https://www.kunsthallepraha.org/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
8. **Prague City Museum** (City history · Nové Město): The city's own museum, and home of Langweil's paper model of Prague, built 1826 to 1837 and the only record of streets later cleared. [Website](https://www.muzeumprahy.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best neighborhoods in Prague

Six districts, from the Baroque lanes under the castle to the tenement blocks where the city actually eats.

1. **Malá Strana** (Baroque and central · Prague 1): The Baroque quarter between the bridge and the castle: palace gardens, embassies and lanes that empty the moment the day trippers leave.
2. **Staré Město** (Old Town · Prague 1): The medieval core inside the river bend, with the Old Town Square, Josefov and most of the city’s crowds. Stay here for the walk to everything and accept the noise.
3. **Vinohrady** (Residential and green · Prague 2): Grand nineteenth-century blocks, wide streets, Riegrovy sady and the best density of cafés outside the centre. Where visitors move on a second trip.
4. **Žižkov** (Pubs and the TV tower · Prague 3): The old working-class district up the hill, with more pubs per head than anywhere else in the city and a television tower with Černý's crawling babies on it.
5. **Karlín** (Rebuilt and eating well · Prague 8): Flooded to the rooftops in 2002 and rebuilt into the city’s food and office district, with Eska, Forum Karlín and a grid of streets running under Vítkov hill.
6. **Holešovice** (Galleries and markets · Prague 7): A river loop of former docks and factories that now holds the Trade Fair Palace, DOX, the market halls and Stromovka park. The clearest sign of where Prague is heading.

## Best parks and viewpoints in Prague

Six places to sit down, four of them with a beer garden and one with a working vineyard.

1. **Riegrovy sady** (Beer garden view · Vinohrady): A sloping park on the Vinohrady border whose beer garden looks straight at the castle across the valley. Fuller of locals than Letná.
2. **Stromovka** (Royal deer park · Holešovice): The former royal hunting park, flat, wooded and big enough to lose the city in, running from Holešovice to the exhibition grounds with ponds and cycle paths through it.
3. **Havlíčkovy sady** (Vineyard park · Vinohrady): Known to everyone as Grébovka: a nineteenth-century villa park on a south-facing slope with a working vineyard, a grotto and a pavilion that serves the wine made on site.
4. **Vítkov hill** (Ridge walk · Žižkov): The ridge above Žižkov, crowned by one of the largest equestrian statues in the world. Empty on weekdays, with the sharpest view down onto Karlín.
5. **Vrtba Garden** (Baroque terraces · Malá Strana): A terraced Baroque garden climbing the hillside behind a Malá Strana palace, on the UNESCO list and small enough to be missed entirely from the street below.
6. **Divoká Šárka** (Wild valley · Prague 6): A rocky valley on the western edge with a stream, a natural swimming pool and cliffs, reached by tram in half an hour and nothing like the rest of the city.

## Best music venues in Prague

Five rooms covering the range, from Dvořák Hall to a jazz club moored on the river.

1. **Rudolfinum** (Czech Philharmonic · Staré Město): The neo-Renaissance concert house on the river, home of the Czech Philharmonic, whose Dvořák Hall is one of the finest-sounding rooms in Europe. [Website](https://www.rudolfinum.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **National Theatre** (Opera and ballet · Nové Město): The gold-roofed house on the embankment, paid for twice by public subscription after it burned down weeks into its first season in 1881. Opera, ballet and Czech drama. [Website](https://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Jazz Dock** (Riverside jazz · Smíchov): A glass box on the Smíchov bank with the water at eye level and two sets most nights. The best-programmed jazz room in the city and small enough to sell out. [Website](https://www.jazzdock.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Lucerna Music Bar** (Club and live · Nové Město): A basement hall inside the Lucerna passage, running touring indie bands and the long-standing 80s and 90s video party that fills it at weekends. [Website](https://www.musicbar.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Palác Akropolis** (Žižkov institution · Žižkov): The Žižkov institution, a 1927 cultural palace turned music venue, with close to a thousand events a year across world music, indie and theatre. [Website](https://www.palacakropolis.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best day trips from Prague

Eight trips within reach of a day, seven of them by direct train or bus from the centre.

1. **Kutná Hora and the Sedlec Ossuary** (About 1 hour by train · East Bohemia): A silver-mining town that once rivalled Prague for wealth, with St Barbara's Church at one end and a chapel decorated in bone at the other. An hour by train. [Website](https://www.sedlecossuary.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Karlštejn Castle** (About 40 minutes by train · Central Bohemia): Charles IV's Gothic treasury castle above the Berounka valley, built to hold the imperial crown jewels. Forty minutes by train, then a walk uphill. [Website](https://www.hrad-karlstejn.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Terezín Memorial** (About 1 hour by bus · North Bohemia): The fortress town the Nazis turned into a ghetto and transit camp, with the Ghetto Museum and the national cemetery. An hour by bus, and a full day. [Website](https://www.pamatnik-terezin.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Plzeň and Pilsner Urquell** (About 1 hour by train · West Bohemia): The city that gave pale lager its name, where the brewery tour ends in the cellars with unfiltered beer drawn straight from an oak lager barrel. About an hour by train. [Website](https://www.prazdrojvisit.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Bohemian Switzerland** (About 2 hours by train · North Bohemia): Sandstone towers, gorges and the Pravčická brána rock arch on the German border. Train to Děčín in under two hours, better as an overnight. [Website](https://www.npcs.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
6. **Karlovy Vary** (About 2 hours by bus · West Bohemia): The spa town in the west, all colonnades, hot springs and the film festival every July. Around two hours by bus, and the drinking cups are sold on every corner. [Website](https://www.visitczechia.com/en-us/things-to-do/places/spa-and-wellness/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Konopiště** (About 1 hour by train · Central Bohemia): Franz Ferdinand's country seat, left much as he had it, with the trophies of a man who shot obsessively until Sarajevo. Train to Benešov. [Website](https://www.visitczechia.com/en-us/things-to-do/places/landmarks/chateaux/c-konopiste-chateau?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
8. **Český Krumlov** (About 3 hours by train · South Bohemia): A UNESCO-listed medieval town wrapped in a bend of the Vltava under the country's second largest castle. Three hours each way, so go for a night. [Website](https://www.visitczechia.com/en-us/things-to-do/places/landmarks/cities/t-cesky-krumlov-unesco?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Festivals & annual events in Prague (2026)

- **Easter markets** (Mar): Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square fill with painted eggs, willow whips and hot mead in the weeks around Easter.
- **Prague Marathon** (May): RunCzech takes the course through the Old Town and both banks of the Vltava on the first Sunday in May.
- **Prague Spring International Music Festival** (May): Founded in 1946 and opening every 12 May with Má vlast, on the anniversary of Smetana's death. Three weeks of orchestras.
- **Prague Fringe** (Jun): A week of English-language theatre, comedy and cabaret in small Malá Strana venues, run since 2002 and deliberately unjuried.
- **Prague Pride** (Aug): A week of debates, film and parties ending in a parade from Wenceslas Square to Letná. One of the largest in central Europe.
- **Signal Festival** (Oct): Four October nights of light installations projected onto landmark facades across the centre and Karlín. Free to walk.
- **Designblok** (Oct): Central Europe's biggest design festival: five days of Czech furniture, glass and jewellery in halls and studios.
- **Christmas markets** (Dec): Stalls, a tree and a stage on Old Town Square from late November into January, plus calmer ones in Vinohrady and at the castle.

## Must-try dishes in Prague, Czechia

- **Svíčková na smetaně**: Beef sirloin in a strained root and cream sauce with bread dumplings and cranberry. The national dish.
- **Guláš**: Beef stewed with onion and paprika until the sauce thickens, served with bread dumplings, not potatoes.
- **Vepřo knedlo zelo**: Roast pork, dumplings and sauerkraut, the Sunday lunch of the Czech lands. White or red cabbage by region.
- **Kulajda**: A creamy soup of dill, potato and wild mushrooms with a poached egg in it, sharpened with vinegar.
- **Smažený sýr**: A thick slab of Edam breaded and fried, with chips and tartare sauce. The standard Czech vegetarian order.
- **Bramboráky**: Potato pancakes fried with garlic and marjoram, eaten as a side or a whole plate. Sold at every market.
- **Chlebíčky**: Open sandwiches on white bread with potato salad, ham, egg and pickles, sold by the piece.
- **Trdelník**: The chimney cake sold on every Old Town corner. Hungarian in origin, and nothing to do with Czech cooking.

## Prague transport & airports

- **Václav Havel Airport Prague** (PRG): About 17 kilometres west of the centre, with no rail link. The Airport Express bus runs to the main station every half hour, and trolleybus 59 goes to Nádraží Veleslavín for metro line A. [Website](https://www.prg.aero/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Prague hlavní nádraží** (Rail): The main station is on metro line C a few minutes from Wenceslas Square, under an Art Nouveau hall. Direct trains reach Dresden and Berlin, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest. [Website](https://www.cd.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Metro, trams and buses** (PID): Three metro lines cross in the centre and trams cover everything between them. One ticket covers every mode with unlimited transfers, cheapest in the Lítačka app. Validate before boarding. [Website](https://pid.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Taxis and rides** (Taxi): Bolt, Uber and the local Liftago all operate, and an app avoids the fare disputes Prague street taxis are known for. Trams run often enough that most visitors never need one. [Prague City Tourism](https://prague.eu/en/public-transport/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Prague at a glance

- **Country:** Czechia
- **Region:** Bohemia, in the centre of the country, on the Vltava
- **Population:** About 1.4 million in the city (Czech Statistical Office, 2025)
- **Founded:** Prague Castle founded around 880, the Old Town chartered in the 13th century, the New Town laid out by Charles IV in 1348
- **Nickname:** The City of a Hundred Spires, and matka měst, the mother of cities
- **Language:** Czech, with English widely spoken in the centre
- **Currency:** Czech koruna (CZK, Kč). The euro is not legal tender
- **Time zone:** Central European Time, UTC+1, moving to UTC+2 for summer time from late March to late October
- **Calling code:** +420, with no separate city code
- **Airports:** Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG), about 17 km west of the centre, with no rail link
- **Power:** 230 V, 50 Hz, Type E sockets, so a Type C plug fits and a Type F one needs care
- **Emergency:** 112 for everything, or 155 ambulance, 158 police, 150 fire

## Interesting facts

- Charles University was founded here in 1348 and is the oldest in central Europe. Charles IV also built the bridge and the New Town.
- The word robot entered every language from Prague. Karel Čapek used it in R.U.R. in 1921 and credited his brother Josef with coining it.
- Prague has thrown officials out of windows twice with consequences: in 1419, which began the Hussite wars, and in 1618.
- The historic centre came through the Second World War almost untouched. The heaviest bombing was an Allied error in February 1945.
- The calendar dial on the Astronomical Clock is a copy. Josef Mánes painted the originals in 1866 and the city museum keeps them.

## Watch

[Prague Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/prague.md), 25:04

## Prague travel FAQ

### How many days do you need in Prague?

Three full days. One covers the castle, Charles Bridge and the Old Town, the second Josefov, Vyšehrad and Petřín, and the third the galleries and districts across the river in Holešovice and Karlín. Two days is enough for the centre alone, and a fourth buys a day trip to Kutná Hora or Plzeň.

### When is the best time to visit Prague?

May, June and September. Spring brings the Prague Spring festival and the gardens, September holds the warmth without the July and August crowds, and both avoid the peak. December is the other case worth making: the Christmas markets are genuinely good, the light is short and the cold is real.

### Can you pay in euros in Prague?

Not reliably. The currency is the koruna and the euro is not legal tender, so places that accept it set their own rate. Cards work almost everywhere. Decline dynamic currency conversion, and use bank ATMs rather than the exchange booths in the centre.

### How do you get from Prague airport to the city centre?

There is no train. The Airport Express bus runs to the main railway station every half hour, trolleybus 59 connects the terminals to Nádraží Veleslavín on metro line A, and bus 100 runs to Zličín on line B. Taxis and ride apps take roughly half an hour outside rush hour.

### Is Prague walkable?

The centre is, and the cobbles are the only real obstacle: the castle, the bridge, the Old Town and Josefov sit inside about two kilometres. Anything further is a short tram or metro ride, and tram 22 is the line worth learning because it climbs to the castle.

## Nearby guides

- [Liberec](https://wimup.com/city/liberec.md): Day trip · 10 picks
- [Karlovy Vary](https://wimup.com/city/karlovy-vary.md): Day trip · 10 picks
- [Český Krumlov](https://wimup.com/city/cesky-krumlov.md): Czechia · 10 picks
- [All of Europe →](https://wimup.com/europe): 156 cities

Part of the [Czechia guide](https://wimup.com/country/czechia.md) · [Europe](https://wimup.com/europe.md)

## Sources

- [Prague tourism board](https://prague.eu/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Start at Prague Castle (official site)](https://www.hrad.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Cross Charles Bridge before breakfast: Prague City Tourism](https://prague.eu/en/objevujte/charles-bridge-karluv-most/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Time the Astronomical Clock on Old Town Square: Prague City Tourism](https://prague.eu/en/objevujte/old-town-hall-with-astronomical-clock/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Walk Josefov with one Jewish Museum ticket (official site)](https://www.jewishmuseum.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [See the two halls of the Strahov Library (official site)](https://www.strahovskyklaster.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Take the ramparts at Vyšehrad (official site)](https://praha-vysehrad.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Climb Petřín for the whole city at once: Prague City Tourism](https://prague.eu/en/objevujte/petrin-tower-petrinska-rozhledna/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Hear a concert in the Municipal House (official site)](https://www.obecnidum.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Drink the view at Letná: Prague City Tourism](https://prague.eu/en/objevujte/letna-park-letenske-sady/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Finish with the National Gallery at the Trade Fair Palace (official site)](https://www.ngprague.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [U Fleků (official site)](https://www.ufleku.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [U Zlatého tygra (official site)](https://www.uzlatehotygra.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Lokál Dlouhááá (official site)](https://lokal-dlouha.ambi.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Klášterní pivovar Strahov (official site)](https://www.klasterni-pivovar.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Vinohradský pivovar (official site)](https://www.vinohradskypivovar.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Field (official site)](https://www.fieldrestaurant.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [La Degustation Bohême Bourgeoise (official site)](https://www.ladegustation.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Eska (official site)](https://eska.ambi.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Kantýna (official site)](https://www.kantyna.ambi.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Naše maso (official site)](https://nasemaso.ambi.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Café Savoy (official site)](https://www.cafesavoy.ambi.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Café Louvre (official site)](https://www.cafelouvre.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [National Museum (official site)](https://www.nm.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Museum Kampa (official site)](https://www.museumkampa.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [DOX Centre for Contemporary Art (official site)](https://www.dox.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Mucha Museum (official site)](https://www.mucha.eu/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [National Technical Museum (official site)](https://www.ntm.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Lobkowicz Palace (official site)](https://www.lobkowicz.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Kunsthalle Praha (official site)](https://www.kunsthallepraha.org/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Prague City Museum (official site)](https://www.muzeumprahy.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Rudolfinum (official site)](https://www.rudolfinum.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [National Theatre (official site)](https://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Jazz Dock (official site)](https://www.jazzdock.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Lucerna Music Bar (official site)](https://www.musicbar.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Palác Akropolis (official site)](https://www.palacakropolis.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Kutná Hora and the Sedlec Ossuary (official site)](https://www.sedlecossuary.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Karlštejn Castle (official site)](https://www.hrad-karlstejn.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Terezín Memorial (official site)](https://www.pamatnik-terezin.cz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Plzeň and Pilsner Urquell (official site)](https://www.prazdrojvisit.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Bohemian Switzerland (official site)](https://www.npcs.cz/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Karlovy Vary (official site)](https://www.visitczechia.com/en-us/things-to-do/places/spa-and-wellness/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Konopiště (official site)](https://www.visitczechia.com/en-us/things-to-do/places/landmarks/chateaux/c-konopiste-chateau?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Český Krumlov (official site)](https://www.visitczechia.com/en-us/things-to-do/places/landmarks/cities/t-cesky-krumlov-unesco?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Václav Havel Airport Prague (official site)](https://www.prg.aero/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Prague hlavní nádraží (official site)](https://www.cd.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Metro, trams and buses (official site)](https://pid.cz/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Taxis and rides: Prague City Tourism](https://prague.eu/en/public-transport/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.