Three days covering Prague's essential circuit: the Old Town Square and Astronomical Clock before the tour groups arrive, the Jewish Quarter's six synagogues and stacked cemetery that survived the Nazis, Charles Bridge at 6am when it belongs to you and the early light, and Prague Castle — the largest castle complex in the world — with St. Vitus Cathedral and its extraordinary Alfons Mucha stained glass. Affordable Czech beer and svíčková fuel everything.
The right bank of the Vltava: start early at the Old Town Square before the tour groups arrive, spend the afternoon in Josefov — the Jewish Quarter with six synagogues and the stacked Old Cemetery — and finish with the Velvet Revolution site on Wenceslas Square.
Staroměstské náměstí is the central square of medieval Prague and one of the great urban spaces of Central Europe. The Astronomical Clock (Orloj, 1410) on the Old Town Hall tower face triggers a mechanical show at the top of every hour — the Twelve Apostles parade past upper windows, 9am to 11pm. Go up the tower for CZK 250 (€10): the best elevated view of the Old Town. The twin-spired Týn Church (14th–16th century) dominates the east end; its Gothic interior is often overlooked and impressive. The Jan Hus Monument (1915) commemorates the Czech Protestant reformer burned at Constance in 1415 — Václav Havel adopted its inscription ("Truth Prevails") as the motto of the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Free to walk the square.
Josefov is the most comprehensive Jewish heritage site in Central Europe: six synagogues, the Old Jewish Cemetery, and the Jewish Museum assembled by the Nazis as a "museum to an extinct race" — now a memorial. The Pinkas Synagogue has 80,000 names of Bohemian and Moravian Jewish Holocaust victims inscribed on its walls, arranged by community with birth and death dates where known. The Old Jewish Cemetery contains 12,000 headstones stacked 12 layers deep — over 100,000 burials from the 15th to 18th centuries. The Spanish Synagogue (1868, Moorish Revival) is the most ornate building in Josefov. Combined ticket CZK 550 (€22); book at jewishmuseum.cz.
Tram or Metro east to Vinohrady for dinner — the Art Nouveau residential neighborhood has the best independent restaurant scene in Prague. Eska on Pernerova does outstanding new Czech cuisine at CZK 500–700 per person (€20–28). For something simpler and cheaper, the beer garden at Riegrovy sady serves Pilsner at CZK 45 a half-liter with a rooftop panorama of the Old Town skyline — one of the best views in Prague at the lowest possible cost.
Cross the river. Charles Bridge before 7am when it belongs to you and the morning light. Up the hill to Prague Castle — the largest castle complex in the world by area. St. Vitus Cathedral inside the grounds has Alfons Mucha's extraordinary Art Nouveau stained glass alongside its 600-year Gothic construction. Malá Strana is the Baroque neighborhood at the castle's foot. Petřín Hill above it for the view. Start early.
Pražský hrad is the largest ancient castle complex in the world by area — 70,000 square meters spanning multiple courtyards on the hill above Malá Strana. St. Vitus Cathedral (construction began 1344, completed 1929) contains Alfons Mucha's Art Nouveau stained glass windows in the north nave (commissioned 1931) — spectacular and completely unexpected inside a Gothic cathedral. The Golden Lane (Zlatá ulička) is a row of 16th-century artisan houses built into the castle's north fortification wall; Franz Kafka rented No. 22 to write in. Full circuit ticket CZK 350 (€14) adult; buy online to skip queues. Allow 2–3 hours.
Café Savoy on Vítězná is in a restored Neo-Renaissance hall with original painted ceilings — one of the most beautiful café rooms in Prague. Czech lunch classics: svíčková, guláš, Wiener Schnitzel. Budget CZK 350–500 per person (€14–20). The streets around Maltézské náměstí nearby are some of the best-preserved Baroque streetscapes in Malá Strana and worth a slow walk after eating.
Petřín is a forested hill rising above the left bank, accessible by funicular railway from Újezd (CZK 40, standard transit ticket) or on foot through Malá Strana. At the summit: the Petřín Lookout Tower (60-meter iron structure from 1891, deliberately modeled on the Eiffel Tower at one-fifth scale; CZK 150 to climb) gives a full sweep of Bohemia on clear days. Also on the hill: the Mirror Maze and the Štefánik Observatory. The park and gardens are free.
Stay in Malá Strana for the evening. U Malého Glena on Karmelitská is a wine bar and live jazz venue in a vaulted cellar — honest Czech-international menu, good wine list, music most evenings from 9pm. For straightforward Czech pub food, Hospůdka U Kocoura on Nerudova does goulash and svíčková at the kind of prices that remind you why Prague is still worth coming back to.
A final morning in the Art Nouveau residential neighborhood east of the center, with a stop at the most singular building in Prague before the airport run. Vinohrady is where Prague's educated middle class has always lived — wide boulevards, fin-de-siècle apartment facades, and the best independent restaurants in the city.
Vinohrady has the best independent café scene in Prague. Café Pavlač on Mánesova is the neighborhood staple: excellent coffee, pastries, and a room that is entirely not trying to be a tourist destination. Budget CZK 150–250 (€6–10). The covered market at Náměstí Míru runs on weekday mornings.
Vinohrady was built between 1890 and 1914 — the best Art Nouveau urban fabric in Prague. The Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord on Náměstí Jiřího z Poděbrad (1932), designed by Slovenian architect Josip Plečnik, is one of the most remarkable sacred buildings in Central Europe: a giant glass clock face set into a brick tower, a transparent nave roof, and a design that belongs to no recognizable era. Free to enter.
From Žižkov or Vinohrady, take Metro Line A (nearest stations: Jiřího z Poděbrad or Flora) to Nádraží Veleslavín, then Bus 119 to the airport (20 min, CZK 40). Total journey about 40 minutes from central Prague. Allow 2.5–3 hours from hotel to wheels-up for international departures. PRG is a single terminal building split into two piers — check your departure pier on the airline app.
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