Czechia · Prague
Plan your Prague trip
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
01Your itinerary
02Where to stay
Malá Strana
Best for first-timers who want to wake up inside the postcardCobbled Baroque lanes climbing toward the Castle, on the quieter west bank of the river. Postcard-pretty and central to the bridge and Castle sights, at a price that reflects it.
A converted Baroque townhouse hotel near Kampa Island
Kampa's riverside park is Malá Strana's quiet pocket — steps from Charles Bridge but insulated from its worst crowds.
€€€Hotel Sax
Nerudova itself is a steep, souvenir-heavy tourist gauntlet; a room just off it gets you the location without the foot traffic.
€€Staré Město (Old Town)
Best for maximum convenience, minimum local flavourThe medieval core itself — Old Town Square, the Astronomical Clock, and Prague's densest concentration of both genuine history and tourist-trap restaurants on your doorstep.
Hotel Metamorphis
Stay a street or two back from the square itself; the buildings directly on it trade quiet nights for the view.
€€€Vinohrady
Best for repeat visitors and anyone who wants to eat well without tourist markupsWide, leafy Art Nouveau streets a short tram ride southeast of the centre, with Prague's best café and wine bar density and a genuinely local, cosmopolitan feel.
An apartment near Náměstí Míru
The square's Saturday-friendly cafés and the neo-Gothic church make this the most liveable base in the city, ten minutes by tram from Old Town.
€€A design hotel near Riegrovy sady
Riegrovy sady's seasonal beer garden and skyline views over the Castle are a five-minute walk away.
€€€Karlín
Best for longer stays and travellers who want a working city, not a museumA rebuilt industrial quarter northeast of the river with Prague's best modern coffee and restaurant scene, popular with young professionals and expats. Fewer monuments, more genuine neighbourhood life.
A converted loft apartment near Karlínské náměstí
Karlín trades postcard views for space, quiet, and some of the best flat whites in Prague within a two-minute walk.
€€Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.
03Tickets & tours
Charles Bridge
The 14th-century stone bridge lined with Baroque saint statues, connecting Old Town to the Castle side across the Vltava.
Tip Cross before 8am or after 10pm. The difference between a bridge to yourself and a shuffling crowd of thousands is about ninety minutes either side of sunrise.
Prague Castle
The largest ancient castle complex in the world by area, according to Guinness, and still the seat of the Czech president. St.
Tip Buy the 'Circuit B' ticket rather than the full pass unless you are a serious history buff — it covers the cathedral, Old Royal Palace and St.
Astronomical Clock, Old Town Square
A working medieval astronomical clock from 1410 that still puts on an hourly show of parading apostle figurines.
Tip Watch the hourly chime from a café balcony overlooking the square rather than jammed into the crowd at ground level — several rooftop bars nearby sell exactly this view.
Vyšehrad
A hilltop fortress and cemetery south of the centre, older in legend than the Castle itself, with sweeping river views and a fraction of the…
Tip Come for sunset. The views over the river bend toward the Castle rival anything in the centre, without a single tour group in the frame.
Petřín Hill and lookout tower
A green hill above Malá Strana with orchards, a mirror maze, rose gardens, and a scaled-down 1891 copy of the Eiffel Tower with genuinely good views…
Tip Take the funicular up (covered by a standard transport ticket) and walk down through the orchards — it is a completely different, much quieter city from up there.
Jewish Museum and Old Jewish Cemetery, Josefov
Six historic synagogues and one of Europe's oldest surviving Jewish cemeteries, its headstones stacked and tilted from centuries of burials layered…
Tip Buy the combined ticket in advance online; the queue for same-day tickets at the Pinkas Synagogue entrance can run over an hour in season.
Žižkov Television Tower
A 216-metre brutalist transmission tower crawling with ten enormous black bronze baby sculptures by artist David Černý — unmissable on the skyline…
Tip Book the observation deck for around sunset; it is one of the few Prague viewpoints where the Castle appears small in the distance rather than looming overhead.
Náplavka riverside market
The Rašínovo nábřeží embankment turns into a lively farmers' market every Saturday morning, with food trucks, local produce, live music and Prague…
Tip Combine it with a walk or rental paddleboat on the Vltava afterward — boat rental kiosks line the same stretch of embankment.
Day trips from Prague
Kutná Hora
An hour by train, and worth every minute — the Sedlec Ossuary, a small chapel decorated with the bones of some 40,000 people, sits alongside the vast…
Day tripČeský Krumlov
A fairy-tale medieval town wrapped in a horseshoe bend of the Vltava, about two and a half hours south by bus or train.
Day tripKarlovy Vary
The grand old spa town, roughly two hours west, all pastel colonnades and thermal springs where visitors have taken the waters (or the local herbal…
Day tripEverything to do in Prague
Skip-the-line tickets, guided tours and day trips, all in one place on Booking.com.
04Getting there & around
Getting around
Prague's historic centre is compact enough to walk almost entirely, and you should — the city rewards wandering more than almost anywhere in Europe, and half the appeal is stumbling on a courtyard or a passage you had no idea was there.
Flights
Compare fares into Prague and pick dates that suit the days you planned.
Airport transfers
Book a private or shared ride from the airport so the first evening starts at your door, not at a ticket queue.
Car hire from Prague
Only worth it for day trips beyond the city — in town, the plan above works on foot and public transport.
Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.