7 ways to explore Prague’s Old Town

Here's how to get a totally new perspective on the city's most ancient quarter.

Prague’s Old Town is the Prague of the imagination, which manages to be both accidental Wes Anderson and Tim Burton at the same time. Think: cobblestoned alleys that lead under black-spired churches and castle-like towers. A trumpeter that marks the hour on the Astronomical Clock at City Hall. A skyline that’s a jumble of baroque, Gothic, and art nouveau architecture.

Of course, the area—known locally as Stare Mesto—is hardly a secret, and the landmark 13th-century Charles Bridge can feel busier than Broadway at rush hour. But it’s easy to slip away down a side street and lose the crowds.

I’ve been coming here for longer than I can remember, and here are my seven suggestions for how to make the most of your time.

Let’s get this out of the way first. The medieval Charles Bridge, linking the Old Town with the Lesser Town, is Prague’s most famous sight, with a tower at each end and many, many tourists in between. My tips:

When to go: The best time to go is either at the crack of dawn—or around 1 a.m., when the Gothic statues guarding it will seem even more foreboding.

Best bridge view: Even if you don’t stay at the Four Seasons Hotel Prague, it’s worth booking a table at the summer terrace restaurant—its riverside position overlooking the Charles Bridge is one of the best places to eat (and one of the best views) in the Old town.

Prague is a city that likes its beer. Pilsner to be exact, which flows all over the place and is taken very seriously, with a whole culture of superstitions and traditions around it. Consider this your beer lover’s cheat sheet.

What to say: Long-time regulars are known as “stamgast,” who shout “na zdravi” at each other with each fresh round of beer. Make sure you look each other in the eyes when you do this.

How to order: You can order a straight-up beer, but try asking for a “snyt” and you’ll be served a beer that’s at least a third foam; a "mliko" is nearly all foam—refreshing in the summer.

Where to go: Head to a traditional Old Town beer hall. Two of the best are U Zlatého Tygra (identifiable by the picture of a golden tiger) and U Medvídků. You can learn how to pour a Czech-style beer at the new interactive Pilsner Urquell Experience, just outside the Old Town on Wenceslas Square.

A different take: If you really want to immerse yourself in the subject, sink into a wooden tub of pilsner at the Original Beer Spa—it’s supposed to work wonders for your skin.

Here are three cool ways to get a new perspective on the Old Town.

By kayak: To escape the crowds, take a kayak tour of the Vltava River with Prague On Kayak, run by two young locals with a real enthusiasm for their city.

By tram: Those hop-on-hop-off buses are fine, but for a cheap tour, board the 42 Tram route, which trundles around many of Prague’s best-known landmarks and streets—from the castle and summer palace down to the riverfront. It was introduced in 2021 and uses vintage carriages, including one dating back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

From the sky: Prague’s skyline is UNESCO protected, which means that no one can build a skyscraper right in the middle of it. But there are plenty of towers to climb and scope out the view over the rooftops. The obvious one is City Hall, 229 feet up, but also try the one at Powder Tower, with 186 steps to the top.

When I think of Prague, I think of pleasingly low-fi, handmade designs and crafts, from glass and ceramics to puppetry and wooden toys. Old-fashioned without being quaint. Or instead of buying a souvenir—make your own.

Go local: Parizska is Prague’s smartest boulevard: a tree-lined Art Nouveau avenue running through the Jewish Quarter between the Old Town Square and Cechuv Bridge. It’s home to global brands such as Dior, Hermes, and Prada. But if you want something locally made, check out the smaller streets off the main drag, which are home to places like Klara (a Czech designer with pret-a-porter fashions) and shops filled with antiques and ceramics.

Make glass: Czech glassware has been famous since the Renaissance, and at the Pragl Glass Experience Center, you can watch the professionals fire up glass in a 1,000-degree oven to roll, shape, and blow and have a go yourself, making a glass or vase and collecting your creation the next day. You can even enjoy a Sklář beer in a handmade tankard.

If EDM is your vibe, then by all means head to Wenceslas Square and the dance floors of the Duplex Club. But Prague also has a swinging jazz tradition dating back to the 1950s, with informal, Parisian-style cellars to stumble down. Several can be found in the warren of streets around the Old Town. Here are a few of the best:

Jazz Republic: This warren of underground rooms has a little bar at the back that does a mean Negroni. It’s free to get in, though there’s a “pay what you think” policy. Last time I was here I saw the Prague Jazz Ensemble in action, a funky three-piece outfit.

Jazz Club Ungelt Prague: This spot is set in 11th-century vaults with a summer garden upstairs.

Reduta Club: At this basement joint papered with posters of jazz greats, I caught Tereza Krippnerová & The Masters performing an excellent tribute to Nina Simone.

AgharRTA Jazz Centrum: This is another favorite, which also runs its own record label.

It’s easy to pigeonhole Prague as being all about historic art and architecture, but there’s a lively contemporary cultural scene, too.

Take an irreverent sculpture tour: David Cerny describes himself as an “artist of civil disobedience”—back in 1991 he painted a Soviet memorial tank pink, with a finger flipping the bird on its turret, and was briefly imprisoned for his troubles. A self-guided walking tour of his work is a good way of getting to know the city. Probably the most famous is a sculpture of Sigmund Freud on Husova Street. Called “Man Hanging Out,” it alarms some visitors—it looks like a real person dangling by one hand from a high rooftop.

Take a house tour: It’s worth coming to The House of the Black Madonna for the name alone. It’s named for a baroque statue set in one corner, but the rest of the building is thrillingly modern. Occupying the second and third floors is a museum of Cubism—nothing to do with the Rubik’s Cube but a collection of angular furniture and objects from the early 20th century design movement. If anything catches your eye, you can buy a replica at the ground-floor store.

My favorite museum in the area is actually just outside Old Town proper but close enough to touch: the Karel Zeman Museum, tucked away on the far side of the Charles Bridge.

Why it’s cool: Anyone under the age of 30 who grew up watching CGI movie effects may not realize that there are other ways of bringing magic to the big screen. Karel Zeman was a pioneer of Czech cinema in the 1950s, mixing animation and puppetry with live action in sci-fi titles such as A Journey to the Beginning of Time. Tim Burton is a fan.

What to do: You don’t need to have seen any of Zeman’s movies to appreciate this playful, interactive tribute. What’s so great is you can use the props and film sets here to take your own pictures, from riding a flying horse and flapping the wings of a giant dragonfly to descending into the depths in a steampunk submarine.