Prague

Prague’s Old Centre Is Intact Because the Bombs That Destroyed Warsaw and Dresden Largely Spared It

What you walk through in Prague’s Stare Mesto is the genuine medieval article: cobbled alleys, Gothic vaulting, Renaissance arcades, Art Nouveau facades – not a rebuilt approximation. The Vltava curves through the middle. The thicket of spires on the skyline is the Prague that Mozart conducted in, Kafka wrote in, and Emperor Rudolf II filled with alchemists and curiosity cabinets. The city received 6 million tourists in the first nine months of 2025 alone, and the crowds show. But those crowds are still concentrated in a narrow belt from the Old Town Square to Charles Bridge to the Castle. Walk six blocks in almost any direction and you are in a different city.

The currency is the Czech koruna (CZK), not the euro. Use bank ATMs; never the garish Euronet machines with tourist-hostile rates. Czech beer is genuinely the cheapest and best of any European capital, and Czechs consume more per capita than any other nation on earth.

Essential Sights

Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world. St Vitus Cathedral inside (begun 1344, completed 1929, with stained glass windows by Alfons Mucha), the Old Royal Palace, Golden Lane with its tiny workshop houses – Kafka rented No. 22 for a period in 1916 and 1917 – and views across the whole city. Go early or late. The Castle crowds are on a reliable schedule; beat them both ways.

Charles Bridge was built between 1357 and 1402. Cross it at dawn for an empty crossing with the Castle catching the first light. At noon in summer it is wall-to-wall; that version is still beautiful but it is a different experience.

The Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Hall was installed in 1410 and is the oldest working astronomical clock of its kind. The hourly procession of apostles is more modest than visitors expect. The clock tower is the better reason to queue – it gives a strong view over the square and the rooflines.

The Jewish Quarter (Josefov): six synagogues, a medieval cemetery with 12,000 layered tombstones, and the Pinkas Synagogue whose walls list the names of 77,297 Czech and Moravian Jews murdered in the Shoah.

Neighbourhoods Worth Finding

Vinohrady, a 10-minute metro ride from the centre, is where locals actually eat and drink well at prices below the tourist zone. The neighbourhood streets around Namesti Miru are lined with elegant Belle Epoque tenements, and the wine bars here pour excellent Moravian wine at a fraction of Old Town prices. It is not a hardship excursion; it is the better version of an evening in Prague.

Zizkov has the Zizkov TV Tower with David Cerny’s giant babies crawling on it, genuinely dense old pubs, and the Jewish Cemetery. Holesovice has the best modern art museum (Veletrzni palac) and a food market.

Food and Drink

Svickova, marinated beef sirloin with root-vegetable cream sauce and bread dumplings, is the quintessential Czech dish. Tank beer (tankova) – unpasteurised, creamy, fresh from a pressurised tank rather than kegs – is what to drink when a pub advertises it. Monday through Friday, look for the poledni menu (lunch menu) between 11am and 2pm: a set meal with soup and a main course for around CZK 130 to 180. The same dish on the evening menu costs twice as much.

Do not eat within direct sightline of Old Town Square or Charles Bridge. The same meal costs half as much one street over.

May, June, September, and October are the best months.