10 Top Things to Do in Prague

Founded around 870 CE by Prince Borivoj, Prague Castle holds the Guinness record as the largest ancient castle complex in the world, covering 70,000 square metres. The complex houses St. Vitus Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace, St. George's Basilica, and Golden Lane - a row of tiny, colourful houses built into the castle fortifications where Franz Kafka once lived at number 22. The castle remains the official residence of the Czech president, and the ceremonial changing of the guard happens at noon daily at the main gate.

The Circuit B ticket (250 CZK / EUR 10) covers St. Vitus Cathedral interior, Old Royal Palace, St. George's Basilica, and Golden Lane - the most useful combination for a first visit. The castle grounds themselves are free to enter and open from 6am, offering sweeping views over Prague's rooftops before the ticket offices open at 9am. St. Vitus Cathedral's stained-glass windows, including one by Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha, are reason enough for the ticket.

Pro Tip: Enter through the eastern gate (Na Opysi) rather than the main western entrance at Hradcanske namesti. The eastern gate has a fraction of the queue and puts you directly at St. Vitus Cathedral. Arrive by 8:30am to walk the free grounds before ticket sales begin.

Charles Bridge (Karluv most) was commissioned by King Charles IV in 1357 and served as the only crossing over the Vltava River until 1841. The 516-metre stone bridge is lined with 30 Baroque statues, the most famous being the bronze figure of St. John of Nepomuk - touch the plaque beneath it and local tradition says you will return to Prague. At each end, Gothic bridge towers frame the crossing: the Old Town Bridge Tower on the east bank is one of the finest Gothic structures in Europe, and its observation gallery (100 CZK / EUR 4) gives a straight-line view down the bridge toward the Castle.

During daylight hours in high season, the bridge carries a thick stream of tourists, portrait artists, and souvenir vendors. The atmosphere is livelier than peaceful, but the bridge remains a must-see for its engineering, its statues, and the river-and-castle panorama it offers. Crossing the bridge on foot takes about 10 minutes without stops.

Pro Tip: Cross the bridge at dawn - 5:30 to 6:30am in summer - for photographs without crowds. The morning mist over the Vltava with the Castle silhouette behind it is Prague's single best photo opportunity, and you may share the bridge with fewer than a dozen people.

Old Town Square (Staromestske namesti) has been the civic centre of Prague since the 10th century, when it served as a marketplace at the crossroads of European trade routes. The square is ringed by architectural landmarks: the Gothic Church of Our Lady before Tyn with its distinctive twin spires, the Baroque St. Nicholas Church, the Rococo Kinsky Palace, and the medieval Old Town Hall. A monument to religious reformer Jan Hus stands at the centre, unveiled in 1915 on the 500th anniversary of his execution.

The square is free to access and filled with activity throughout the day - street musicians, cafe terraces, and seasonal markets (Christmas and Easter). The surrounding streets radiate outward in a medieval pattern, each offering a slightly different character. Celetna leads east toward Powder Tower, Parizska runs north through the luxury shopping strip toward the Jewish Quarter, and narrow lanes south lead to the river.

Pro Tip: Avoid eating at restaurants directly on the square - prices are double what you will find two blocks away. Walk down any side street and quality improves while cost drops. Lokale Dlouhaaaa on Dlouha street, a 5-minute walk north, serves excellent Czech food at local prices.

The Prague Astronomical Clock (Orloj) was first installed on the Old Town Hall tower in 1410, making it the oldest astronomical clock still in operation. The clock face displays three different types of time - old Czech time, standard Central European time, and Babylonian time - alongside an astronomical dial showing the position of the sun and moon against the zodiac. Every hour from 9am to 11pm, the Procession of the Twelve Apostles appears through small windows above the clock face, drawing crowds that gather in the square below.

The show itself lasts about 45 seconds and is, honestly, a bit underwhelming by modern standards - but the clock's mechanical complexity and 600-year survival make it remarkable. Climbing the Old Town Hall tower (250 CZK / EUR 10) rewards you with the best elevated view of Old Town Square and the Tyn Church spires. The small museum inside explains the clock's mechanism in detail.

Pro Tip: Skip the noon crowd and watch the apostles at 9am or 10am instead, when the square is far less packed. Use the tower visit for your aerial photographs of Prague - the queue is shorter before 11am.

Josefov, Prague's Jewish Quarter, preserves one of Europe's most significant collections of Jewish heritage sites. The neighbourhood dates to the 10th century and was the birthplace of writer Franz Kafka. Six synagogues - including the Old-New Synagogue (Staronova), the oldest active synagogue in Europe, built around 1270 - and the Old Jewish Cemetery survive. The cemetery contains approximately 12,000 tombstones layered up to 12 deep, as expansion was impossible within the ghetto walls.

A combined ticket (200 CZK / EUR 8) covers entry to six sites: the Maisel Synagogue, Pinkas Synagogue (with names of 77,297 Czech Holocaust victims inscribed on its walls), the Spanish Synagogue, the Klausen Synagogue, the Ceremonial Hall, and the Old Jewish Cemetery. The Old-New Synagogue requires a separate ticket (200 CZK). Allow two to three hours to visit the full circuit. Josefov also contains the most upscale shopping street in Prague - Parizska - lined with luxury boutiques.

Pro Tip: Begin your Josefov visit at the Pinkas Synagogue (the first site that opens at 9am) to get ahead of the crowds. The hand-inscribed names on the interior walls are deeply moving and benefit from a quiet, contemplative visit. Note that sites are closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays.

Petrin Hill rises 327 metres on the west bank of the Vltava, covered in orchards, gardens, and forested paths. A funicular railway (valid with any Prague transit ticket) climbs from the Ujezd tram stop to the summit in four minutes. At the top, the 63.5-metre Petrin Lookout Tower - built in 1891 as a smaller replica of the Eiffel Tower - offers panoramic views in every direction. On clear days, you can see as far as Snezka, the highest peak of the Giant Mountains, 150 km to the northeast.

The tower charges 150 CZK (EUR 6) for adults. Adjacent attractions include the Mirror Maze (75 CZK) and the Stefanik Observatory (free for daytime exhibitions). Walking down from the summit through the gardens toward Strahov Monastery takes about 30 minutes and passes through some of the quietest green space in central Prague. The hill is also popular with joggers and picnickers.

Pro Tip: Take the funicular up but walk down through the hillside gardens toward Mala Strana. The path passes through rose gardens and orchards that are particularly beautiful in May. Bring a picnic - the benches along the descent have excellent Castle views.

Since John Lennon's death in 1980, this otherwise ordinary wall opposite the French Embassy in Mala Strana has been continuously repainted with Beatles lyrics, political messages, and peace symbols. During the communist era, Czech youth used the wall as an outlet for dissent and free expression at a time when both were dangerous. Authorities repeatedly whitewashed the wall, but new art always reappeared. Today it is the only place in Prague where graffiti is legal, and visitors are encouraged to add their own messages.

The wall changes constantly - what you see one month will be painted over by the next. It occupies a small square alongside a canal with a waterwheel, creating a surprisingly peaceful setting. The Grand Priory Square in front hosts occasional buskers playing Beatles songs. Visiting takes only 10 to 15 minutes, but the wall's history as a symbol of resistance adds weight to the colourful surface.

Pro Tip: Bring a permanent marker or paint pen if you want to leave a message - pens from nearby tourist shops dry out quickly and are overpriced. Visit early morning for photos without other tourists in frame, as this is one of Prague's most Instagrammed spots.

Vysehrad sits on a rocky hill above the Vltava River, roughly 3 km south of Old Town. Built around the 10th century, this fortress was once the rival seat of power to Prague Castle. Today it is far quieter than its famous counterpart and sees a fraction of the tourist traffic. The grounds are free to enter and include the Romanesque Rotunda of St. Martin (Prague's oldest surviving building, from the 11th century), the neo-Gothic Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the Vysehrad Cemetery where Czech composers Dvorak and Smetana are buried.

The fortress walls and ramparts offer some of Prague's best panoramic views - the Vltava winding through the city with the Castle and Cathedral skyline to the north. The casemates (underground passages) can be visited for 60 CZK (EUR 2.50). The surrounding park is a favourite of local families and joggers, with wide paths, benches, and green lawns.

Pro Tip: Visit Vysehrad late afternoon around 4pm to 5pm, when the sunlight hits the river and the atmosphere on the ramparts is at its best. Combine it with dinner in the Nusle neighbourhood directly east, where Czech pubs serve local food without the Old Town markup.

Wenceslas Square is less a square and more a 750-metre boulevard, stretching from the National Museum at the top to the Na Prikope shopping street at the bottom. Named after the patron saint of Bohemia, whose equestrian statue stands at the museum end, the square has been the stage for defining moments in Czech history - the declaration of Czechoslovak independence in 1918, the Prague Spring protests of 1968, and the Velvet Revolution rallies of 1989 that ended communist rule.

Today the square is a commercial strip with shops, cinemas, and restaurants. The National Museum at the upper end reopened in 2019 after an eight-year renovation - the Neo-Renaissance building itself is worth seeing even from the outside. Entry to the main building is 260 CZK (EUR 10). The square is also a useful transit hub - Mustek metro station (A and B lines) sits at the bottom, and Muzeum station (A and C lines) is at the top.

Pro Tip: Walk the square from the National Museum downhill toward Mustek, ending in the Na Prikope and Old Town area. This direction keeps the architectural landmark (the museum) as your backdrop rather than walking away from it. The Lucerna Passage, halfway down on the left, hides an Art Nouveau arcade with a cinema and David Cerny's satirical inverted horse sculpture.

The National Museum (Narodni muzeum) was founded in 1818 and occupies a commanding Neo-Renaissance building at the top of Wenceslas Square. The main building reopened in 2019 after an extensive eight-year reconstruction and houses over 14 million items across natural history, archaeology, music, and ethnography collections. The grand entrance hall and staircase, with marble columns and painted ceilings, are worth the admission price for the architecture alone.

General admission is 260 CZK (EUR 10). The mineralogy collection and the hall of prehistoric animals are particular highlights. A modern glass corridor connects the main building to the former Federal Assembly next door, which hosts temporary exhibitions (separate ticket, 50 to 170 CZK). The building's facade still bears visible bullet marks from the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion - a reminder of the square's historical weight.

Pro Tip: Visit on the first Monday of the month when admission to the permanent collection is free. The museum's third-floor terrace offers a view straight down Wenceslas Square that few visitors discover - ask staff for access if it is not signposted.