Prague Quintet, City Tours Tim Robson Prague Quintet, City Tours Tim Robson

Prague: What To Do, See and Avoid

My Top Tips Prague Guide

When: I recently visited Prague in Early Sept 2026 and spent roughly five days there so I got to understand - as well as you can in that time limit - some of the dos and don'ts of the city. Like all good advice, I pass this onto you!

Before we start on the guide, below is the list of in-depth articles I wrote about Prague and what each covers. I charmingly call them my Prague Quintet. There’s six.

So, let’s start with the first duty of a travel blogger, a list. A list of ten random things set down with the certainty of the ignorant. Probably one will be useful. Maybe two. 

A writer outside Prague Castle Sept 2026

Image Description <Good looking writer outside Prague Castle penning a top ten guide>

Prague Top Ten Tips

1) Old Town is pretty. But it’s packed and a tourist trap with shops selling overpriced tat and restaurants serving slop by the bucket load. If you like taking pictures of people taking pictures, it’s ideal. Time your visit to early morning.

2) Depending on your tastes, the Museum of Communism, the Heydrich Martyrs Museum and the National Art Museum were all worth visiting. The Martyrs Museum is even free. If you like classical music then there are plenty of recitals by top class musicians held in awesome church settings. Check out my post on Prague arts and museums.

3) Do walk. The centre of the city’s not that big and you get to see and feel more (and walk off the beer & dumpling belly-rippling combo).

4) However, if you do go further afield, the trams and buses are really easy to use as is the PID App which allows you to buy and activate tickets on your phone. Download the App. It’s helpful and you can download it before you arrive so you can do the initial double bounce public transport journey from the airport to the city centre (see below in Practicalities).

5) The Castle. Sure. Why not? Good views over Prague. Dunno about the paid stuff as I didn’t pay. I believe a visit here is obligatory and stamped into your passport and checked at the border. Read my take on it and also a secret backdoor route to arrive feeling smug.

6) The National Monument also has very good views, this time from a hill on the opposite side of Prague to the Castle. It’s free and no tourist seems to have this on their Top Ten schedule (unless they read here, of course!). A frequent bus service runs here though you can just as easily walk. Do one way on the bus, one way walking.

7) Beer. Yes. Lots of this please. You must drink this foamy liquid. It’s like, the law or something.

8) I spent most of my time in The New Town and the Lesser Town. Quieter, better walks with views. You can discover places and curate a unique Prague all to yourself.

9) There are other bridges besides the Charles Bridge (Most Legii for example). Granted they may not be as pretty or ancient but you do get to avoid the crowds and paradoxically you also have the chance for some decent photos of… Charles Bridge! 

10) Shooters Island (Střelecký Ostrov). I came back to this central spot several times. There were even rock concerts here and in the bar on the opposite bank (it was summer). It’s very near to Old Town and Charles Bridge but again, tourists don’t go here. There’s a free elevator down from the middle of Most Legii (Legions Bridge). Use it.

Practicalities: There’s No Dumb Questions

Here I cover some of the ‘is this a dumb question’ type questions. Or, at least, the ones I would ask. So they’re not really that dumb. It’s always good to do some research before you go.

Food and Drink

Well, I did find a few salads but this is a place that you’ll probably want to adopt the ‘fuck it, I’m on holiday’ rule. Beef stews, either Czech Goulash or Svíčková na smetaně are pretty mandatory along with the obligatory bread dumplings. Served with beer of course. I also troughed plenty of local sausages but look out for items like pickled cheese. Where do I recommend? Where do I remember? Go to Cafe Na Boršově for light bites. More traditional Czech food can be found at Kozlovna U Paukerta. Both are friendly, serve good local food and near to, but not in the middle of, Old Town.

Hotel/Flights and Cost

I stayed at the MOODs Charles Bridge which is in a quiet side street about five minutes at a slow pace from the Bridge itself. So I could either a) walk easily into Old Town b) cross the Bridge and explore Lesser Town or c) walk away from Old Town towards New Town and other bridges in The Dancing House direction. The hotel was £440 for four nights, breakfast inclusive. I would recommend this hotel both for its location and for the hotel itself. The perfect spot; near but not too near.

Two doors down from the hotel is Cafe Na Boršově which is a charming cafe bar that also serves pretty decent food. Very laptop friendly. I did spend an awful lot of time here and you can read about my observations in my Bohemian Cafe Review or a slightly more louche evening partly spent there in my comedic Prague piece. 

I flew Wizz Air from London Gatwick for around £120 return with some very friendly flight times (not too early setting out there, early evening return). Too cheap to buy extra luggage allowances, I took one small rucksack and used the 10kg allowance. Any money I saved was then promptly spent on Wizz Air’s drinks’ trolley. 

English

Yes, spoken widely and fluently. This is a premium destination for tourists, remember. English is the language of commerce. It also - conveniently - happens to be my language so, hand meet glove, meet lazy bastard. I felt bad, but not that much.

Getting From the Airport

Download the PID App in your country. Link your credit card. When you arrive, choose to buy a 90 minute ticket. Get on the 59 Trolleybus right outside the terminal and then change at Nádraží Veleslavín metro station, and get on Metro Line A for a few stops. Get off at either Staroměstská or Můstek. Costs about £1.50. Especially if you’re a solo traveller or in a couple, don’t bother with taxis. Live the city guys! You’ll feel good about yourself when you take public transport. Takes about 40 minutes.

Read On!

  • All My Prague Articles can be found individually at the top of the page. However, to read them all, my Prague Quintet is where you will find them all.

  • Do I just go to Prague? Oh no! To read all my city reviews then head over to the special section of my website for all my travel writing. Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland and the US feature here.

  • Pulling a couple of examples, you want to know about the Darkness of Bruges or the Hillbillies of Monschau? Well now you can.

Read More