Things to do in Prague: 11 sights, hours and prices
Prague's great sights cluster on either side of Charles Bridge, and many of the best, such as the bridge itself, the Castle courtyards and the Vyšehrad ramparts, cost nothing. For the rest, prices are in Czech crowns (CZK).
The Prague Visitor Pass bundles public transport, including the airport bus, the funicular and the river ferries, with free entry to the Castle circuit, the Old Town Hall, the Clementinum, the Jewish Town, the Municipal House and other sights. The 48-hour pass costs CZK 2,700 for adults, so add up the tickets on this page for what you actually plan to see before buying it: it pays off only on a packed schedule.
1Charles Bridge
Photo: Ivan Dražić / Pexels, Pexels License
The stone bridge that Charles IV founded in 1357 is Prague's oldest surviving river crossing and the link between the Old Town and Malá Strana. Thirty Baroque statues line its parapets, and each end is guarded by a Gothic tower.
Time
30 min to 1 h
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
Before eight in the morning, or after dark
Getting there
Metro A Staroměstská, or tram to Karlovy lázně
Tip: Between ten and six the bridge is a slow-moving crowd of tour groups, buskers and portrait painters. Come at first light, when it is close to empty and the Castle rises at the far end, or late in the evening. The best view of the bridge itself is from the riverbank on Kampa or from the Old Town Bridge Tower, which you can climb.
Open at all hours, free, pedestrians only. Keep phones and wallets in front pockets, as pickpockets work the crowds.
The seat of Czech rulers since the 9th century and of the president today, Prague Castle is less a single building than a walled town of palaces, churches and courtyards along a ridge. At its heart stands St Vitus Cathedral, begun in 1344 and finished only in 1929. Its Gothic choir and stained glass, including a window by Alfons Mucha, are the high point of a visit.
The ticketed circuit takes in the cathedral, the Old Royal Palace with its vaulted Vladislav Hall, the Romanesque Basilica of St George and Golden Lane, a row of tiny houses built into the castle wall.
Time
3 to 4 h for the circuit
Setting
Both
Best time
At opening time on a weekday
Getting there
Tram 22 to Pražský hrad, or metro A Malostranská and a walk up the Old Castle Steps
Tip: Arrive by tram 22 at the north gate rather than climbing from Malá Strana, and you reach the cathedral ahead of the tour groups walking up from the bridge. The courtyards are free, and the guard changes at the main gate with the biggest ceremony at noon. If time is short, the cathedral nave just inside the entrance is free to look into; the circuit ticket covers the choir. The cathedral tower is worth the extra ticket only on a clear day, when the view stretches over the whole city.
Courtyards 6 am to 10 pm, buildings 9 am to 5 pm daily; on Sundays the cathedral opens at 12 pm. Circuit ticket CZK 450, reduced CZK 300, family CZK 950, valid for two days. Cathedral tower CZK 200.
Photo: Helena Jankovičová Kováčová / Pexels, Pexels License
The tower of the Old Town Hall carries the orloj, an astronomical clock from 1410 that still shows the position of the sun and moon. On the hour, the twelve apostles file past two small windows above the dial.
Time
1 h to 1 h 30 min
Setting
Both
Best time
In the first hour after opening, at half price
Getting there
Metro A Staroměstská or Můstek
Tip: The clock's procession lasts under a minute and draws a crowd of hundreds, so watch it once and spend your time on the tower instead: the gallery looks straight down on Old Town Square and across to the twin spires of the Týn Church. The chapel, the state rooms and the Romanesque cellars can be seen only on a guided tour, booked on the spot on the day.
April to December 9 am to 8 pm, January to March 10 am to 7 pm. Adults CZK 350, ages 16 to 26 CZK 280, children 6 to 15 and over-65s CZK 230, family CZK 750; half price in the first hour. Tower lift CZK 100. Guided tour of the interiors CZK 150 or CZK 100 extra, depending on the route. The apostles appear every hour from 8 am to 11 pm.
A former Jesuit college next to Charles Bridge, now home to the National Library. The guided tour shows the Baroque Library Hall, with its painted ceiling and globes, and the Meridian Hall, then climbs the Astronomical Tower, where Prague's weather has been recorded every day since 1775.
Time
45 min to 1 h
Setting
Indoor
Best time
On the first tour of the day
Getting there
Metro A Staroměstská, five minutes on foot
Tip: You see the library hall from its doorway rather than walking through it. The real reward is the tower, with the Old Town roofs and the Castle laid out around you. Groups are small and the popular times sell out, so book online a day or two ahead.
Daily 8 am to 9 pm, by guided tour only, at most 25 people. Adults CZK 380, ages 16 to 26 CZK 300, reduced CZK 230, family CZK 810. Half price at 8 am and 8.30 am. 172 steps to the tower balcony at 52 metres.
The synagogues and cemetery of the former ghetto are now the Jewish Museum: the Pinkas Synagogue with the names of nearly 80,000 Czech and Moravian Holocaust victims written on its walls, the Old Jewish Cemetery with its crowded, tilted gravestones, and the Spanish Synagogue with its gilded Moorish interior. Next to them stands the Old-New Synagogue, still used for worship and the oldest active synagogue in Europe.
Time
2 to 3 h
Setting
Both
Best time
A weekday morning
Getting there
Metro A Staroměstská, five minutes on foot
Tip: The ticket is valid for three opening days, so you can split the visit and come back to the Spanish Synagogue on another day. The cemetery is the most moving part and the most crowded; it is quietest at opening time. Start in the Pinkas Synagogue, whose walls set the tone for the rest.
Sunday to Friday from 9 am; closes at 7 pm from May to August, at 6 pm in April and from September to mid-October, at 4.30 pm in winter. Adults CZK 600, students CZK 400, children 7 to 15 CZK 200, under 6 free. Closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays.
A Premonstratensian abbey on the hill above the Castle, founded in 1143. Its library has two Baroque halls, the Theological and the Philosophical, lined floor to ceiling with bookcases under painted ceilings.
Time
40 min to 1 h 30 min
Setting
Indoor
Best time
At opening, or late afternoon
Getting there
Tram 22 to Pohořelec, five minutes on foot
Tip: On the standard visit you look into the two halls from the door, and the corridor between them has a cabinet of curiosities. To step inside the halls, book a guided tour well ahead.
Library and gallery 9 am to 5 pm. Library CZK 220, reduced CZK 110; with the gallery and abbey CZK 390. Entry into the halls only on a guided tour booked in advance.
Built in 1912 next to the Gothic Powder Tower, the Municipal House is Prague's showpiece of Art Nouveau, decorated inside and out by Alfons Mucha and other Czech artists of the day. Smetana Hall, the concert hall inside, is home to the Prague Symphony Orchestra.
Time
1 h on the tour
Setting
Indoor
Best time
Late afternoon, or for an evening concert
Getting there
Metro B Náměstí Republiky
Tip: The café on the ground floor is open to all without a ticket and gives a good idea of the interior. The guided tour is worth it for the Mayor's Hall decorated by Mucha and the other rooms upstairs, which you cannot see otherwise. A concert in Smetana Hall shows the building at its best.
Box office 10 am to 7 pm. Guided tour about an hour, CZK 320, reduced CZK 270.
More a boulevard than a square, it slopes up for 750 metres to the National Museum and the equestrian statue of St Wenceslas. It was the stage for the Velvet Revolution in 1989, and the scene of the protest by Jan Palach in 1969.
Time
20 to 45 min
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
In the evening, when the facades are lit
Getting there
Metro A or B Můstek, or metro A or C Muzeum
Tip: Look up at the Art Nouveau and functionalist facades, and duck into the arcades such as Lucerna. Do not eat or change money on the square itself, where prices are aimed at passers-by.
Frank Gehry and Vlado Milunić designed this office building, completed in 1996, with one tower of glass leaning into another of concrete, nicknamed Ginger and Fred. It stands on the embankment among 19th-century houses.
Time
15 to 30 min
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
Late afternoon, on the way to Vyšehrad
Getting there
Metro B Karlovo náměstí, then a short walk to the river
Tip: The best view is from the Jirásek Bridge or the opposite corner. It fits neatly into a walk along the river towards Vyšehrad.
Kampa is a quiet island of lawns and plane trees beside Malá Strana, separated from it by the narrow Čertovka channel and its mill wheels. A few minutes away, the Lennon Wall has carried graffiti since the 1980s, when it became a place of protest against the regime.
Time
45 min to 1 h 30 min
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
In the morning, before the groups
Getting there
Tram to Hellichova, or walk from Charles Bridge
Tip: Kampa is the best place to rest between the Castle and the Old Town, with a view of Charles Bridge from the riverbank. The Lennon Wall changes all the time, so what you see is never quite the same twice.
Photo: Helena Jankovičová Kováčová / Pexels, Pexels License
A fortress on a rock above the Vltava, south of the centre and much quieter than the Castle. Inside the walls stand the neo-Gothic Basilica of St Peter and St Paul and a cemetery where many of the Czech nation's greats are buried, among them Dvořák, Smetana and Mucha.
Time
1 to 2 h
Setting
Both
Best time
Late afternoon to sunset
Getting there
Metro C Vyšehrad, ten minutes on foot
Tip: Walk round the ramparts on the river side: the view takes in the whole sweep of the Vltava up to the Castle. The grounds are free, and it is one of the best places in Prague for a picnic in good weather.
The grounds are open all year; the exhibitions and other sights 10 am to 6 pm.
