In Prague you can admire the best preserved medieval architecture in Europe that includes the
largest castle in the world, world famous medieval astronomical clock and one of the most beautiful
and iconic medieval bridges on the planet. Prague is also famous for its historic breweries
and as a tour guide I can’t wait to show you the best things to do in Prague, Czechia. In medieval
Europe Prague was one of the most important royal cities and due to its many towers it was called
the City of a Hundred Spires. Nowadays medieval towers share the skyline with modern ones and
one of them is the lookout tower on the top of Petrin Hill. This is one of the best places to
start exploring Prague as the hill rises above the city. The Steel tower that tops the hill was
clearly inspired by the Eiffel Tower. It has 299 steps and an elevator, both leading to the viewing
platforms from where you can see the entire city. Below the tower is a park with a Mirror Maze,
St Lawrence Church and the Observatory. The easiest way to get to the hill is to take
a funicular that runs through the defensive wall from the 1300s known as the Hunger Wall.
The Wall was commissioned by Emperor Charles IV in the difficult times in
order to provide employment for the citizens. A Short walk away is one of the most important
monasteries in Czechia. It was founded in the 1100s but today's
Baroque appearance is from the late 1600s. Despite being an active monastery with about
70 monks, this beautiful abbey served as the backdrop for Hollywood blockbusters
including Bond film, Casino Royale. The highlight of the monastery visit is
its beautiful library made up of two wonderful halls linked by a passageway. The Theological
Hall contains thousands of editions of the Bible, while the Philosophy Hall is dominated by a grand
fresco depicting the Spiritual Development of Mankind, and walnut bookcases reaching
up to the ceiling. Unfortunately you can only peek inside the halls from the doorway. You
should also visit the Gallery that houses the most valuable monastery collection in central Europe.
Huge monastery complex on the hill dominates the city and is another great viewpoint.
In the city centre is a spacious rectangular square often used as another great starting
point as it allows you to reach most of Prague's main sights on foot. Square resembles a boulevard
and is named after Saint Wenceslas, patron saint of Bohemia. Saint’s statue at the top
of the square is the most popular meeting point for citizens as all three metro lines
and many tram lines cross the square. Over the centuries the square hosted important historical
events of Czech national history. One of them were mass demonstrations
during the Velvet Revolution in 1989 that peacefully ended communist Czechoslovakia.
Square was founded as a Horse Market in the 1300s during expansion of the city. The upper
part has neo-renaissance architecture topped with the National Museum, dominating the square. Lower
part is the most vibrant area of central Prague. During the day it is a popular shopping area and
during the night it changes into the main entertainment area with nightclubs and bars.
About 5 minute walk away stands one of the most impressive Gothic buildings of Prague,
Powder Tower. It wasn’t built for protection purposes but rather as an impressive entrance
to the Old town. Tower was used for the coronation ceremony as through this gate
the coronation processions of Czech kings entered the city.
The tower replaced original town gates in the late 1400s as one of 13 city gates that were
part of the massive defensive city walls. The Tower got its name in the 18th century,
when it was used as a gun-powder storage place. Nowadays, it’s part of the Royal Route that leads
to Prague Castle. With its 65 m or 213 ft of height the tower has an observation gallery
that can be reached by the spiral staircase made of 186 stone steps. Along the way you
can stop on two floors to observe a small exhibition about the tower and its history.
Right next to the Powder Tower, on the site of the former royal residence, stands the
Art Nouveau gem called Municipal House. One of the largest and best preserved Art
Nouveau buildings has a beautiful interior full of artistic features. It houses one of the most
beautiful Art Nouveau restaurants in Europe. There are various halls and rooms decorated by
leading Czech artists and sculptors of the time incorporating various Czech national symbols. The
building is considered the cultural epicenter of Prague and has also served as a place for
important government meetings where the Czech Declaration of Independence was signed. But the
central part of the building is the most famous and largest concert hall in Prague, Smetana Hall.
Lovers of Art Nouveau should attend a guided tour as the interior is only accessible with a guide.
You can admire more Art Nouveau architecture if you take a walk along the most exclusive
Czech shopping boulevard, Parizska Street. Fashionable and the most expensive street
in Prague is home of luxury boutiques and most prominent fashion brands. The street
runs through the heart of the old town and traverses Jewish Town of Prague ending with
Art Nouveau bridge crossing the Vltava river. Street takes its name after Paris, as it was
inspired after the famous Champs-Elysées. In the southern part of Prague, above the
Vltava River, rises a rocky hill with a mighty fort known for its legends and myths. Founded
during the 10th century it became the seat of the first Czech king. One of the legends
talks about a hidden treasure guarded by the Bohemian lion with twelve cubs.
The present appearance of Vyšehrad with powerful brick ramparts, bastions and gates is from the
1800s when the Habsburg Empire used it as a training center for the Austrian Army.
Walking around the fort offers stunning views of Prague and is a great place if you want to
escape the crowded old town. One of the remains of four palace structures is a Gothic Cellar
where you can find a small museum dedicated to the history of Vyšehrad. Spacious fortress has become
a park where you can discover many architectural treasures like the oldest structure of Prague in
the shape of the Romanesque Rotunda of St Martin and the neo-Gothic Church of St. Peter and Paul.
Church dates back more than 950 years, but its stunning interior with art nouveau frescoes
painted by numerous Czech artists was finally finished in 1903. Behind the church is the
most famous cemetery in the country where many famous Czechs found their final resting place.
Franz Kafka was one of the major figures of 20th-century literature.
He was born in the old town in 1883, right next to St. Nicholas' Church. On the spot where his
birth house used to stand is a plaque and the square has been renamed to Franz Kafka Square.
Kafka spent most of his life in Prague and you can find many places dedicated to him. Kafka
came from a Jewish family and spent most of his life in, or close to the Jewish Quarter.
There stands a surreal sculpture based upon one of his short stories. But one of the most
interesting sculptures is a modern kinetic sculpture of the writer's head. It is made up
of 42 rotating panels. They rotate in the first 15 minutes of every hour in various patterns.
Constant shifting and changing of Kafka’s face reflects the surrealist nature of his work.
For a while Kafka lived at his sister’s house on a famous Golden Lane street, inside Prague Castle
where he wrote a novel ‘The Castle’. The cottage is now a souvenir shop. But the best place to
learn about Kafka and how he was influenced by Prague is an interesting Kafka Museum. Kafka died
near Vienna in 1924 and was brought back to Prague where he was buried in the New Jewish Cemetery.
Prague had the largest Jewish ghetto in Europe and its Jewish Quarter is listed as a UNESCO World
Heritage site. It includes one of the oldest Jewish museums in Europe made from the most
significant monuments like the Jewish Ceremonial Hall, the Old Jewish Cemetery, the Gallery and
four out of six synagogues. One of them is the Spanish Synagogue with one of the most impressive
interiors. Its Moorish interior features ornate decorations in colorful and gold-plated designs.
In addition to hosting regular religious services, its excellent acoustics is used
to host classical music performances. There is also an exhibition about the past 200
years of the Jewish people in the area. Here is also one of the oldest active
synagogues in Europe confusingly called the Old-New Synagogue well worth the visit.
Czechs drink the most beer per capita in the world and beer is deeply rooted in their culture. Prague
has many great historic breweries, but U Fleků is one of the most popular ones.
It has been continuously brewing beer since 1499. Just imagine, that is more than 520 years.
The brewery restaurant has about 1100 seats in eight halls, each with its own
design and one of them even has a stage. But the most impressive hall is the Knights‘ Hall
with beautifully decorated walls which bear a life-sized portrait of U Fleků’s first brewer.
Besides the beer halls here is also one of the largest beer gardens in Prague.The brewery is
famous for its beer, a dark lager known as Flekovský ležák. Beer has a lighter,
sweet aroma and a dark, deep, almost black color. It goes extremely well with Old-Bohemian
dishes served here and is available only in this brewery. There are also accordion
musicians making their way around the various halls, which adds to the beer hall atmosphere.
For almost one thousand years Old Town square has been the heart of Prague. No wonder it hosted many
important historical events marked by various reminders. The central one is a monument of Jan
Hus, the most important Czech reformer from the 1300s. Hus was a critic of corrupt practices of
the Catholic Church and became the leader of the Bohemian Reformation. The Catholic Church declared
him a heretic and burned him at the stake. On the pavement right next to the Old Town
Hall tower are 27 white crosses. They are a reminder of the execution of 27 Czech lords
in the 1600s that happened here. The rebellion Protestant lords lost the war against the Catholic
Habsburg monarchy and after their execution Prague became part of the Habsburg Empire.
Over the centuries, beautiful historical buildings surrounded the square. They offer
an amazing lesson of different historical styles. Among them is one of Prague’s most recognisable
buildings, the Gothic Church of Our Lady before Tyn. Church rises behind the row of
houses lining the square as they predate the cathedral. In the 14th century a small church
was replaced by the current one. But to make the new cathedral bigger it was built all the way to
the back wall of the existing houses. Church has two Gothic bell towers adorned by thin spires that
dramatically rise over the houses. Common feature of medieval Gothic architecture was to make one
bell tower thicker than the other to represent feminine and masculine side of the world.
On the other side of the square is another beautiful Gothic tower from the 14th century.
Tower has a viewing gallery and offers great views. It belongs to the Old Town Hall,
the seat of the administration since the 1300s. Town Hall can be visited and includes a tourist
information centre. The visit includes the chapel, historical halls and the visit of the tower.
But the Town hall is most famous for its beautiful and the oldest still fully
functional astronomical clock from the 1400s. Every full hour between 9 am and 11 pm, when the
clock strikes the hour, crowds gather to admire the show. All three parts of the clock are made
with an amazing degree of perfection. Astronomical dial shows the position of the sun and moon. The
calendar dial with medallions shows months. But the most interesting is the Walk of the Apostles.
When the figure of Death rings a bell a cock crows that time is up for the Turk, who shakes
his head in disbelief. The Miser eyes his bag of gold and Vanity admires himself in a mirror.
South Koreans were so fascinated by this show that they’ve built a working replica in Seoul.
From the clock, narrow medieval cobbled streets take you to one of the most beautiful,
popular and recognisable bridges in the world. For more than 660 years
this stone bridge links the two sides of Prague, separated by the Vltava River.
The story of the bridge starts with King Charles the IV, the most powerful
man of his time. From the Prague Castle he ruled over Europe as a Holy Roman Emperor.
Charles laid a foundation stone at precisely 5:31 am on July 9th in 1357, so the date could
be written in a perfect sequence of ascending and descending odd numbers. King believed this
sequence would strengthen the bridge and it looks like his superstition worked.
Impressive Gothic towers guard bridge entrance on both ends. Besides its military purpose,
the Old Town Bridge Tower was also designed as a triumphal arch through which the Kings of Bohemia
would march on their coronation procession from the Old Town up to Prague Castle. You can climb
its 138 steps to reach the viewing gallery to enjoy a bird's-eye view over the bridge.
On the other end rises The Lesser Town Bridge Tower connected by a walkway to the smaller
Judith's Tower. Bridge is decorated by a line of statues
and the most popular one depicts the famous Czech saint John of Nepomuk,
rubbed by visitors as a source of good luck.
Nepomuk was a priest and confessor in the Prague castle. According to a legend the king wanted
to know about the queen's sins. As Saint John refused to give away the confessional secret,
King tortured him and threw him in chains from Charles Bridge. John became a protector from
floods and drowning and his statue can be seen on many bridges around Europe.
On the hill above the river is the largest castle complex in the world. Part of the complex is also
the largest and most important church in the country. This impressive Gothic Cathedral was used
for coronations of Czech kings. Building started in the 1300s but the church was finished nearly
600 years later in 1929. Interior is full of beautiful art like the 14th century mosaic of the
Last Judgement and beautiful art nouveau stained glass. There is also an impressive golden pulpit,
high altar that resembles the shape of the cathedral, and the altar of St. Vitus used
for coronation. There is also a tomb of John of Nepomuk covered in silver and a chapel of
Saint Wenceslas containing his relics. The Cathedral also houses Czech Crown
Jewels locked by seven locks that require seven different keys held by seven most
important people in the country. They must all come together to unlock the treasure.
Ancient Castle complex was founded around the year 880. It contains multiple buildings around
three great courtyards, enclosed within the castle walls. Most of the huge castle complex is open to
the public and is home of several museums. With more than 1100 years of history this
was the seat of the Kings of Bohemia, the seat of Holy Roman emperors and
is now the residence of the Czech President. The Castle contains every architectural style
of the last millennium. Visitors can enter the castle complex for free but to enter any of the
buildings, you will need a self-guided ticket valid for two consecutive days.
One of the oldest buildings is the Old Royal Palace used as the original royal residence.
It was rebuilt in the 14th century to become a Gothic palace with a vaulted
interior intended for state purposes. An Interesting part of the Castle Complex
is also a Golden Lane, small street comprising 11 historic houses. They were occupied by
alchemists and goldsmiths who gave the street its name. Street was created when a new outer
wall was added to the existing castle complex. But one of the most popular events in the castle
is the Changing Guard ceremony. This handover occurs every hour, but the official ceremony
at noon also includes an exchange of flags and a trumpet call. Castle hill also offers great
views of the city and the easiest way to get to the castle is by tram numbers 22 and 23.
As Prague offers so much more, be sure to check my favourite tours and experiences in the description
below. Also check my video of one of the most popular Prague day-trips, the picturesque town
of Cesky Krumlov. My name is Rok, thanks for the thumbs up and for watching, and see you next time!