With its higgledy-piggledy streets, spires, and bridges, and an architectural back catalogue of Gothic, Renaissance, baroque, and Art Nouveau buildings, Prague is one of Europe’s most beautiful and romantic cities. It’s the home of Franz Kafka and the legendary Golem. But the Czech Republic’s capital hasn’t been sitting still: alongside all the history, you’ll find new ideas and an evolving food and wine scene.
You’ll no doubt find your way to well-known landmarks like the Astronomical Clock, Wenceslas Square, and the Charles Bridge, which is covered in good-luck padlocks, but here are some other ideas for things to do in Prague as compiled by CNTraveller UK.
1. Explore one of the hipster districts
Following a well-worn urban narrative, Prague has several leftfield neighbourhoods that more mainstream visitors will be blissfully unaware of, one of which is this former industrial quarter located in a river bend across from the old town. Praha 7 has been reborn over the years with street food stalls, farmers’ markets, gallery spaces, creative offices, and pop-up fashion stores clustered around Prague Market, a vision of Art Nouveau design.
Former factories and warehouses that were set to be demolished have been transformed into atmospheric, raw-brick venues such as Vnitroblock—a former steam mill that now houses a cinema, cafés, and a repurposed US school bus—and the DOX Center for contemporary arts, easily identified by the huge wooden airship moored outside, named Gulliver, which has a reading room inside. Take a self-guided tour of the district, spotting the various Art Nouveau and Cubist landmarks, from the docks and the Prague Bakery and Soda Water Company, painted red and white in battleship camouflage, to the 1891 Industrial Palace.
2. Take a deep dive into Prague’s beer culture
Czechia has a well-deserved reputation for its excellent beer, specifically pilsner, which flows all over the city, from pedal-powered beer buses that pass you in the street to spas where you can sit in tubs of the stuff, glass in hand. But, rather than viewing beer as something to be swilled, it’s important to recognize pilsner as a defining part of Czech culture, with its own set of customs and rituals as the French do with wine. The pub, or hospada, is the social center where regular drinkers, known as stamgast, congregate, flipping out an empty beer coaster when they need a refill (putting the coaster on top of your glass indicates you’ve had enough)—cries of “Na zdravi!” greet them.
If you order a snyt, you’ll get a glass with two-thirds creamy foam; if you order a mlko, you’ll get nearly all foam—almost a pudding beer. Beer and history are inextricably linked in Prague, nowhere more so than at the rococo Strahov Monastery Brewery atop Petrin Hill, which has been producing beer since the 12th century and offers tours, and U Fleku, a Hogwarts-style brewery/bar housed in a series of medieval vaulted halls.
DVA Kohouti in the Karlin district is a modern drinking establishment with craft ales and classic brews listed on a cinema-style billboard above dungaree-clad bartenders. Those looking to continue their hops pilgrimage should travel outside of Prague to Ceske Budejovice and the Budweiser Budvar brewery, where they can take an in-depth tour of the brewery’s beer-making traditions before finishing in the tasting room with the opportunity to pour their own foaming pint.
3. Hop on (and off) the tram for a scenic tour
Ding, ding, ding! In 2021, Prague’s deputy mayor introduced the Tram 42 route, a hop-on-hop-off service that scoots around some of the city’s favorite streets and landmarks, as a greener alternative to hop-on-hop-off buses and to help reduce traffic. The service uses vintage trams, so it’s a little like stepping on board the Orient-Express—there’s one dating from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a 1929 tram that retired in 1974, and the Fifties-era T1 tram, inspired by American streetcars (musical fans may wish to recreate the trolley-car scene from Meet Me in St Louis).
Tram 42 runs every 40 minutes on weekends from Dlabacov to Dlabacov, passing Prague Castle and the Belvedere summer palace, down Mala Strana and past the National Theatre, across Wenceslas Square, and along the waterfront. It costs only 250Kr (approximately £10) for the day, and you can pay with contactless or even crypto – the tourist information centres dotted throughout the city are the place to go for the most up-to-date timings and tickets.
4. Climb a tower and take the view
Because Prague is such a beautiful city, its architects have thoughtfully constructed several towers over the centuries to provide good vantage points – useful for spotting approaching enemies and making important announcements. They’re also useful for a quick workout because they involve several steps. The Old Town Bridge Tower (Gothic, with great views over the Castle district), the Powder Gate Tower (186 spiral stairsteps), and the Novomlynská Water Tower are among the city’s 120 towers (not counting church towers) (only six storeys high but you get an exhibition about famous fires in the city).
Petrin Lookout Tower, on the other hand, bears a striking resemblance to a famous Parisian eye-full and is more of a day trip, requiring a (fun) funicular ride up Petrin Hill and a climb of 299 slightly wobbly wooden steps to the top. It is much smaller than the Eiffel Tower, but due to the hill, the tower has the same elevation. While you’re up here (take the 22 tram), you should visit the mirror maze and the Stefanik Observatory – those with a poetic bent should pay their respects to 19th-century bard Karel Hynek Macha, who was buried nearby.
5. Lay siege to the castle
It’s one of the most popular things to do in Prague, but if you’re visiting for the first time, a visit to Prague Castle – a looming presence above the Vltava River – is a must. The Castle district is a sprawling UNESCO World Heritage site that mixes Gothic, Baroque, and Renaissance architecture. You can walk around the grounds for free, but buying a ticket gets you into the St Vitus Cathedral, a wondrous twin-towered achievement that began in 1644 and was only completed in 1929.
The tomb of St Wenceslas is here, as are the crown jewels, numerous gurning gargoyles, and kaleidoscopic stained-glass windows, one of which was created by 19th-century Art Nouveau artist Alfons Mucha. The Defenestration window, through which various unlucky people were thrown in the Middle Ages – the Defenestration of 1618 famously led to the truly awful Thirty Years War – and Golden Lane, a 16th-century street of miniature, brightly painted houses named after the alchemists who attempted to turn base metal into gold and create the elusive Philosopher’s Stone, the elixir of life, are also highlights.
6. Travel back to the 1970s at the new Retro Museum
If you yearn for a time when yellow-and-orange wallpaper swirled all over the place, with carpets to match, and everyone ate off Formica and plasticware, you should take a look at Prague’s new Retro Museum. It is located on the top floor of the Kotva department store, which is a classic of brutalist architecture, and offers a time-warp glimpse of Czechoslovakia during the 1970s and 1980s, the socialist period between the Prague Spring of 1969 and the Velvet Revolution two decades later, when the Communist government was dissolved.
Replica apartment rooms filled with period furniture, toys, clothes, and food packets, as well as a mock-up classroom, depict everyday life, and there are exhibitions on camping, fashion, TV advertising, and sport. In some ways, it evokes Ostalgie, the nostalgia some people feel for Communist East Germany’s consumerism, as depicted in the film Goodbye Lenin; in others, it demonstrates the sinister omnipresence of state censorship and surveillance. Pack your Dukla Prague travel essentials and a dog-eared copy of Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being and stroll right in.
7. Hit up some modern art
Back in the 1970s, every British student worth their salt would have a poster by Czech graphic artist Alfons Mucha on their wall, with swirling romantic illustrations evoking the Art Nouveau era. You could call it bohemian. Explore the freewheeling idea of alternative living in Bohemia: History of an Idea 1950-2000, which travels from post-war Paris and New York to swinging London, Tehran, and Beijing, with artists including Bill Brandt, John Deakin, Nan Goldin, Alice Neel, and Joan Semmel, until 16 October 2023, at the new Kunsthalle Praha.
The museum, which opened in 2022 in a former electric station in the heart of Prague, is worth seeing just for the café terrace, which has stunning views of Petrin Hill and Prague Castle. Trafo Gallery is set in a former slaughterhouse (art is a much better occupation, in our opinion), while Kampa Museum, founded in 2003 by Meda Mladeks, occupies a series of 14th-century mills on the River Vltava and houses a wonderful collection of primarily Czech artists, including abstract pioneer Frantisek Kupka.
8. Go bar-hopping along the embankment
For years, it appeared that central Prague was unchanging, a perennial fairytale land of Gothic, rococo, and Renaissance architecture; however, the city has recently revealed some notable additions. For many years, the Vtlava quayside between Naplavka and Rasinovo was used for storage and as a parking lot. Then architect Petr Janda and his Brainwork studio had an epiphany: they would restore the circular vaults set in the embankment (once used to store ice) and turn them into a new cultural hub, inviting cafés, galleries, and bars.
The result is the Prague Eyes, a row of tunnel-like spaces each fronted by a monocle-like glass window that weighs over two tonnes and pivots open to allow entry. At night, it’s one of the city’s busiest areas, with restaurant boats moored on the Vltava riverfront on one side and club sounds emanating from the bars that have taken over the concrete-lined vaults on the other.
9. Graze on street food at Prague’s new outdoor market
Fill your boots with dumplings and pork knuckles at one of Prague’s many traditional restaurants, but for a taste of the city’s contemporary street food culture, head to the off-the-beaten-path Andel district and the Manifesto Market on the west bank of the Vltava. It’s a clever structure constructed from pastel-blue scaffolding, designed to be easily modified, and various reclaimed materials such as aluminium sheets, lighting, and furniture from previous pop-up markets, similar to London’s POP Brixton.
Pick up a Proud craft ale at the bar and peruse the menus, which include Ukrainian varenyky dumplings at Barva, empanadas at Dame Dos, and Korean bibimbap at Babyryze, but our favorite is Taiko for its tonkotsu and ramen. It’s a good place to go if you’re vegan or vegetarian, and the small paddling pool in the center makes it a good stop for families.
10. Check out Prague’s design scene
The Biedermeier era of the 19th century saw the birth of beautifully understated pieces made from locally sourced wood, while 20th-century designers embraced the geometric abstractions of cubism and trans modernism. However, Czech design, particularly glassware and ceramics, has taken off in recent years, with names to watch including Rony Plesl, who will exhibit at the Venice Biennale in 2022, and Maxim Velcovsky, whose playful creations include porcelain vases cast from snow.
More affordable designs can be found at shops and galleries throughout town, such as Deelive, near the National Theatre, and Cubista, in the House of the Black Madonna, which sells originals and copies of Art Deco and Cubist designs (while you’re here, check out the Museum of Czech Cubism below). Modernista, on the other hand, is a ‘best of’ collection of Czech design from the past century, ranging from factory wooden building blocks and Artel’s ‘devil box’ toys to keep sweets in to modernist furniture like the UP’s Recliner H70 in streamlined bentwood and the Janak cubist chair.