Today I am sharing my Prague travel guide! I visited Prague along with Bratislava for one week in early October and it was truly a dream trip. I know there are so many cities across Europe that are travel destinations, but I highly recommend adding Prague to your travel bucket list. Prague is a popular tourist destination because of its beauty and is one of the few large cities in central Europe that had relatively small damage during WWII. Prague is typically crowded from tourists, and despite still being in a pandemic and even moreso, being 2 countries over from the war in Ukraine, the city was very busy during our visit. If you are planning to travel to the city in the future, I hope you find my Prague travel guide useful!
Hotel
If you are traveling to Prague, I highly recommend staying in or near the Old Town Square. This is the area where all of the tourist attractions are and where we spent most of our time. We stayed in The Julius Prague which was a less than 10 minute walk to Old Town Square. The Julius Prague is a brand new, 5 star hotel built this past summer. The room we stayed in was pristine, spacious, and modern. We booked the one-bedroom suite for a very reasonable rate which had a kitchen fully equipped with plates, glassware, silverware, etc., along with appliances. There is a living room area with a TV, couch, chair, and small dining set, and then a separate bedroom that can be closed off with doors. A spacious room like this is great to have when you have a long stay. The hotel also has great amenities like a bar and full-service restaurant. If you are visiting Prague I would 100% recommend staying in The Julius Prague.
Things to Do
For background, the real reason we came to Prague was because of the NHL Global Series. If you follow my blog, you may know that my husband and I are die-hard fans of the San Jose Sharks. In April, we completed our bucket list of seeing the Sharks play in all 32 NHL arenas, and at the same time the NHL announced they were bringing back the Global Series, where teams play in international cities. The Sharks were chosen to play in Prague so without hesitation, we booked our trip. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see them abroad, and especially in Prague because it has been a dream travel destination for me for the last 15 years. As someone who is almost entirely Slovak, I have always been very interested in the culture of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, so the stars really aligned for this trip.
The Sharks played two games in Prague against the Nashville Predators and we attended both games. I have seen almost 60 Sharks games in person in every NHL arena and also in noteworthy games, such as a Stadium Series games and every home game of their 2016 Stanley Cup Final run, but I will say that the games in Prague were ones I will never forget. Both games were completely sold out and were a mix of visiting Americans, Prague locals, and others from surrounding European countries. The energy at the games was amazing and overall it was a very unique experience that I will always cherish the memory of.
Now on to the traditional sights of Prague. Like I said earlier, the Old Town Square is the main hub of sights and attractions within the city. The square itself is incredibly scenic, and also historic as it was established in the 12th century. Within the square, you will find the Old Town Hall that features the Astronomical Clock on the outside. The clock is one of the most infamous spots in Prague because on the hour every hour, it rings and has a display of the 12 Apostles moving around. The clock attracts a huge crowd each hour, and honestly I found it to be the most overrated sight in the whole city. I don’t quite understand the hype of this clock but I suppose it is worth seeing once. You can also visit the inside of the Town Hall for a few dollars which you can tour but most importantly, you can go to the top where there is a lookout over the square. This lookout gives you a great view of the most beautiful buildings within the square, such as the Church of Our Lady before Týn which is a beautiful, grand Gothic style church that towers over the square. You also will have a great view of St. Nicholas Cathedral, the National Gallery Prague (Kinský Palace), along with statues such as the Jan Hus Memorial and Marian Column. All of the buildings within the square are colorful and beautiful, making it one of the best spots in the city.
The Old Town Square covers a lot of area and features small cobblestone streets that are filled with souvenir shops, restaurants, bakeries, and pubs. There are plenty of little spots to explore as you walk to the other popular spots within the city. One of these spots is Wenceslas Square, which is the center of business within Prague. Here you will find restaurants and many mainstream stores for shopping. At the end of the boulevard you will see the National Museum and its stunning architecture, and the Wenceslas Monument. At the start of this long boulevard you also will find plenty of food stands featuring traditional Czech foods.
Probably the most popular spot in Prague for tourists is the Charles Bridge. The Charles Bridge is a medieval stone arch bridge over the Vltava River that was built in the 15th century. The bridge is about 1,700 ft long and is for pedestrian use only. Along the bridge you will find 30 different statues in Baroque style that depict saints and patron saints that are very detailed and ornate and quite beautiful. At each end of the bridge, you will find a tower that features a lookout for a small admission fee. On the Old Town side of the bridge, you will find the Old Town Bridge Tower and on the Staré Mesto side of the bridge, you will find the Lesser Town Bridge Tower. Both towers offer great views of the bridge, the river, and even Prague Castle.
Prague has multiple lookout points throughout the city in various medieval towers. All of these towers have a small admission, but my tip is to purchase tickets ahead of your trip. This makes your visit much easier and quicker because you can just show your ticket on your phone when you arrive. Another tower we visited was the Powder Gate Tower which was constructed in 1475. The tower has lots of history as it was used as fortification to the Old Town, and its gateway was used in processions of Czech kings. To get to the top, you have to walk up a circular staircase of 186 steps, so get ready for a workout. Another popular tower in Prague is the Petrin Tower. This tower is much newer than the other towers within the city and is a mini replica of the Eiffel Tower. My recommendation is to Uber to the tower, because we walked from the Prague Castle to the Petrin Tower and it was exhausting. While a nice scenic walk, the hill up to the tower is very steep and long. Once you arrive, the view from the top of the tower shows all of Prague and is really beautiful, especially in the fall.
Another quintessential sight to see in Prague is the Prague Castle. The Prague Castle is up on a hill and is really more of a complex rather than an actual castle. If you are expecting to see a medieval castle, you may be disappointed, so I want to set proper expectations. The castle started being built in 870 and has undergone multiple renovations since then. The complex consists of St. Vitus Cathedral, Basilica of St George, Old Royal Palace, and Golden Lane. You can buy a ticket to visit each of these, and you also can tour the overall grounds and gardens. Prague Castle has plenty of cafes and even a few shops on the grounds, such as a Christmas ornament shop that sells authentic Czech hand-blown glass ornaments, and is even the home of the president of the Czech Republic. If you are visiting the castle, definitely allow multiple hours for the visit to be able to cover everything.
Where to Eat and Drink
Prague and the Czech Republic has a very meat-heavy cuisine. You won’t find many vegetable dishes or salads in traditional Czech restaurants, but instead you will find dishes like sausages, pork neck, duck, goulash, and schnitzel. Unfortunately, my husband and I are rather picky eaters so we didn’t partake in too much traditional Czech cuisine. The great thing is if you are a picky eater, there are plenty of styles of cuisine you can find in the city. There are fast food spots that you will find in the US, along with plenty of restaurants serving burgers, sandwiches, salads, and Italian restaurants serving pizza and pasta.
For Italian, we ate at Taverna Toscana in Old Town. Like many restaurants in Prague, there is indoor seating as well as vast outdoor seating. We sat outside whenever we could, as the weather was nice and it’s just an enjoyable experience to be outside surrounded by old, beautiful buildings. This restaurant had great Italian food that was brought to us quickly and perfectly accompanied by Czech beer. We also ate at Meat & Greet Burgerhouse, which was right next to our hotel. Meat & Greet is a standard burger spot with an array of different burgers to choose from along with french fries. This restaurant was another great choice, my only critique would be their ketchup. As a Pittsburgh native I prefer Heinz, and their homemade ketchup is definitely far from that. In terms of baked goods and treats, you will find trdelník stands all over the city. Trdelník is a rolled sugar pastry that you can find at every corner and from what I’ve read, a very touristy item and not necessarily authentic Czech cuisine. They smelled delicious but I did not try one. Instead, I stopped at a bakery in Old Town called Kolacherie. Kolacherie has great coffee and chai tea lattes and a nice selection of Czech pastries. If you visit Prague, I highly recommend stopping in here for a treat and a beverage. One other bakery worth visiting is Perníkový Panáček, which is on the other side of the river in the Malá Strana neighborhood. Perníkový Panáček is a gingerbread shop filled with different types of gingerbread cookies and treats. There are a lot of different options to choose from and it is reasonably priced.
The top thing Prague is known for is beer. In every single restaurant or bar you go to, you will find a selection of Czech beers which taste great. One evening we went to U Kunštátů, a craft beer bar in one of the oldest buildings in the city. The basement of the bar is from the 12th century, so it is another place to take in all of the history. U Kunštátů only serves Czech beers of all types of varieties. They are known for their beer flights featuring 6 different beers to try. You can choose the beers yourself, or the more popular option is to tell the bartender or server what styles of beers you like and they choose them for you. They also serve snacks that pair well with beer.
Another bar we visited was Anonymous Bar. Anonymous Bar is a cocktail bar with a V for Vendetta theme. The bar has a menu of interesting and unique cocktails that have a gimmick to each of them. Some cocktails come with a light show, a polaroid photo, and other different things. The bartenders also wear the infamous Anonymous masks while making and serving their drinks. This bar was a really cool experience that was a lot of fun, and if I were ever in Prague again I would definitely go back.
Overall, the few days I spent in Prague was such an enriching and amazing experience. The city is beautiful and is one of those cities that is straight out of a fairytale. While we were able to do a lot in the days we were there, there are so many different neighborhoods that we could have spent a few more days there. If you are booking a trip to Europe, please consider Prague for its beauty and history. I hope you found my Prague travel guide useful, and I will be back next week with my Bratislava travel guide. Until then!
