Prague, Czech Republic City Guide

In June 2017, my husband and I embarked on a three-week long backpacking trip of western Europe. In my first post of this series, I go through all the details about preparing for this trip from  itinerary, budget, packing, riding the train, lodging, and other common questions I’m asked. Now, I’ll take you through a detailed “City Guide” of every city we visited, and my top recommendations of where to eat and drink, where to stay, and what to see. Read on to learn about trdelník, Pilsner Urquell and sight-seeing in Prague, Czech Republic!

Before I dive into the details about what we saw and did in Prague, a little background on the travel style Curtis and I enjoy. Our favorite way to travel is to get immersed in local culture. We like to eat unique foods and people-watch. On the flip side, we don’t like to do much in the way of touring — I can’t stand waiting in line or crowded attractions. We also like to be outdoors, so one of our favorite things to do is just stroll along the city and see the sights. Our travel style is low-key, affordable, and cultural. So you’ll find a lot of these types of travel recommendations in our city guides. If that’s the type of travel you like, too, read on!

Where to Sight-See in Prague, Czech Republic

I’ve never been to a city that feels a magical as Prague. The Old Town (Staré Město) is straight out of a fairy-tale. If it’s your first time in Prague, these are some places you must see in Staré Město:

• St. Wenceslaus Square
• Orloj – the Prague Astronomical Clock
• Old Town Square
• The Jewish Quarter

From Staré Město, make your way to Malá Strana, which is just across the Vltava River by way of the famous Charles Bridge. Karlův most (Charles Bridge) is an ancient landmark in itself, with baroque-era statutes depicting saints, knights, and Bohemian leaders. It’s packed with people crossing from Staré Město to Malá Strana and vendors have set up shop on the bridge because of the high traffic. It also has some beautiful views of the city.

Once you make it to Malá Strana, you’ll enjoy exploring the beautiful, winding streets and small shops. We saw a few film sets there. You’ll also want to visit:

• The John Lennon Wall
• The Piss Sculpture by David Cerny (I’m serious! It’s famous!)
• the gardens of a Baroque palace, such as the Wallenstein Palace
• and, of course, the incomparable Prague Castle

The sight-seeing in Prague is stunning. Be sure to stop along the hike up to Prague Castle and take in the spectacular views. After all the walking we were more than ready to treat ourselves to coffee and a strudel at Café Savoy before leaving Malá Strana for the day.

Where to Eat and Drink

Ditch the diet when you’re in Prague — classic Czech foods are hearty, filling, and best paired with a .5 liter of beer! First up, treat yourself to a trdelník.

You can find trdelník on any street in the Old Town. It is a hollow cake wrapped around a rod and put into a flame — that’s what gives it the hollow, cone shape. The dough is light-weight and airy and usually topped with sugar and walnuts. Czechs will tell you the trdelník isn’t really a “Czech” traditional dish — it has a much longer tradition in Hungary and parts of Slovakia — but it’s so prevalent in Old Town Prague that you’d be remiss not to try it.

You must also try the national beer of the Czech Republic, the Pilsner Urquell. We love Pilsner so much we even paid a trip to the Pilsner Urquell brewery later on in this trip.

Pilsner Urquell is the world’s first golden pilsner and its hopped with Czech Saaz hops. You’ll find Pilsner Urquell everywhere, but look for pubs that advertise pivo z tanku. Tanked beer, as opposed to bottled or keg beer, is fresh from the brewery within a matter of hours. It hasn’t even been pasteurized — it’s that fresh. Tank beer only lasts a few weeks, so the Pilsner Urquell Tankovna you can get in Prague is going to be some of the freshest beer you’ve ever had.

You also must have a hearty Czech meal in an old pub. One of the places we went for traditional Czech food was Pivovar Victor, but you’ll find loads of these old-time pubs. Look for these classic Czech dishes:

• Vepřové, knedliky, zelí – which is roast pork, dumplings, and sauerkraut
• Hovězí guláš  – which is beef goulash
• Smažený sýr – which is fried cheese (usually an appetizer)
• Pečený králík – which is roast rabbit, usually served with dumplings or vegetables

Where to Stay

We stayed in an AirBnb in the Žižkov neighborhood of Prague 3. This neighborhood seems to have a big student population — I’m told the rent is cheap and it has more bars than any other neighborhood in Prague.

Wherever you stay, Prague has good public transit so you can easily catch the tram from Old Town to Žižkov (and do a little sight-seeing while you ride). Warning, Žižkov is extremely hilly so tired backpackers be ready to hike up some massive hills.

On our first night in Žižkov, we walked up to Parukářka Park, where we found tons of pubs and live, outdoor music.

We had dinner at U Kurelů, which is a neighborhood pub (lots of young people, very low-key) that’s been serving Czech beer for over 110 years! Their food is a funky mix of different cultural fusion– bbq, Bánh mì, Czech sausages– but it’s all delicious! This is the type of place I would hang out if it were on my street.

We also had a very delicious breakfast at the incredibly hip Café Pavlač on our last morning in Žižkov.

And on our way out of town via Národní třída metro station, we couldn’t pass up a stop at the 42-layer, mirrored, spinning sculpture of Franz Kafka’s head.

I hope you enjoyed this guide to the great food, beer, and sight-seeing of Prague, Czech Republic! For more general tips about backpacking western Europe, head back over to the travel section of my blog. For more City Guides, including what we did in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, and Austria — press on! -Emily