Prague, Czechia

Fairytale spires, the best beer in the world for the price of water, and a December that looks like a snow globe.

cityculturebeerhistorybackpacker

Best time to visit

Month	High	Low	Rain	Season
Jan	3°	-3°	39 mm
Feb	5°	-2°	36 mm
Mar	9°	0°	42 mm
Apr	15°	4°	40 mm	prime
May	19°	9°	71 mm	prime
Jun	23°	13°	77 mm	prime
Jul	25°	15°	81 mm
Aug	25°	15°	80 mm
Sep	20°	11°	59 mm	prime
Oct	14°	7°	44 mm	prime
Nov	8°	2°	41 mm
Dec	4°	-1°	41 mm	prime

30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.

Serves travellers at Backpacker→Premium level. Typically around $100 a day on the ground.

Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.

Cards are accepted almost everywhere. Keep coins for public toilets and old pubs. Tipping is rounding up or a few per cent.
money · editorial
The currency is the koruna, not the euro, and anywhere quoting euros gives a poor rate. Exchange booths on the tourist streets are the worst way to change money.
know before · editorial
Midsummer and the Christmas market weeks put a permanent queue on Charles Bridge. January and February are grey, cold and empty, which is the trade.
when not to go · editorial
Staré Město and Malá Strana for the postcard and the crowds. Vinohrady for tree-lined streets and restaurants. Žižkov for scruffier nightlife. Karlín for a rebuilt riverside and quick metro.
where to stay · editorial
Trams, metro and walking. The old centre is compact and cobbled, and cars are largely kept out of it.
getting around · editorial
Václav Havel airport, with no rail link: it is a bus or a taxi of about half an hour into town. Trains from Berlin, Dresden and Vienna arrive at the main station in the centre.
getting there · editorial

Charles Bridge
Thirty baroque statues and 516 metres of stone from 1357.
Astronomical Clock
From 1410, still running. The procession of the apostles is on the hour.
Prague Castle
The largest castle complex in the world. The cathedral inside is the reason to go.
The John Lennon Wall
Repainted every week since 1980. What you see today will not exist in a month.
Vyšehrad
The other fortress, high above the river, with no crowds and the national cemetery.
Petřín Tower
A sixty-metre Eiffel Tower on a hill, built in 1891.

Eat svíčková with a Pilsner, no rush
A pilsner poured slowly
Three fingers of dense foam. Pouring it quickly here counts as a fault.
Svíčková
Sirloin in root-vegetable cream with cranberry. The Sunday plate.
Goulash with knedlíky
The knedlíky are there for the sauce. Leave no sauce on the plate.

Hear a concert in a small church rather than the theatre
The Charles Bridge at five in the morning
Empty, with mist rising off the Vltava. It is a different bridge.
A concert in a small church
It happens every night, in ten places, for almost nothing.

Walk up Petřín through the orchard
Half an hour of climbing between apple trees, with the city appearing in pieces.