Mel’s Guide to Prague (Praha)

Important Words in Czech

• Dobrý den! (Good Morning or Hello, I used it during the whole day)
• Děkuji! (Thank You – I actually did not use that myself, as I could simply not remember this word if my life depended on it)
• Prosím (Please)

There is more useful words of course – as I only spent two days there and the language is really hard for me to learn and remember, I stuck with those, to show the basic level of appreciation and decency. A language that everyone in any country will understand, though, is always: SMILE and show with your mimic and gestures that you mean well 🙂

Currency and Prices

Unless most other European countries, the Czech Republic has their own currency called Czech koruna (CZK) or Czech crowns.

One CZK translates to roughly 0,042€ or $0,044 or £0,037 (depending on the current currency rate). That means 1€ would be 24czk (that is how I roughly calculated anything). For more accuracy and details, always check the current rates. They have 100, 200, 500, 2000, 5000 crown notes and 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 crown coins to pay with.

Usually you can use credit cards in most places, but it is always recommended to have some cash on hand for the case when card payment is not possible. Personally, I exchanged 100€ to ≈2200 CZK and took that with me. This was more than enough for two days in Prague.

What to Do in the City

The first thing I recommend to do in any city that you go to, is to just walk around without a destination or To Do’s (of course during daytime and only if you feel safe to do so – which I did in all the places I went to). Start from the place you are staying at and simply walk in the direction that looks best to you. For me that showed itself in a shop that looked interesting, a pretty building catching my eye from around the corner, or simply the direction of the sun, or down hill towards water.

Go to the Riverside of River Vltava

That is what I did in Prague. As the Hostel was on a hill and the sun was slowly about to go down, I followed the street (not knowing that this is also where the city center lays). Which brought me directly to the river of Prague: Vltava (which is also the longest river of the Czech Republic). All of this is part of the newer part of the city, called Nové Město.

Cross the River to see Castles and Petřín Lookout Tower

Across the river and one of the 17 bridges of Prague, emerges Czech Eiffel Tower: Petřín Lookout Tower. It ranks high above the city on a hill in a park, that is named after the tower – Petřín Gardens.

To be honest, I found all of this by accident and by just following my instincts. At the foot of the hill, I decided that I want to get up there to have a view. By that time I have neither heard about nor seen the tower itself yet. So I hiked up the hill, occasionally turning around to admire the view, that got better and better with every step. This was one of the moments that made me extremely happy and confident that I’m gonna get up all that hill (it was quite a lot to walk, but so worth it). Later I found out that you can also take a funicular to get to the top of the hill easily.

Once I arrived on top, I saw the tower and (like probably the rest of the world) was reminded to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I took some pictures there, being the good tourist that I am, and then decided I have enough social energy left in me to buy a ticket (for 150 CZK which is roughly 6€ – 60 CZK/2,50€ extra if you want to use the elevator) to get up to the top. So that is what I did, and the following pictures are the Tower itself and the view I had from the top of Petřín Tower. It was definitely worth all the physical activity of climbing up the hill and the stairs inside.

Fairytale Castles and Palaces in Hradčany

Something I did not really have my focus on, as I did not prepare for this trip in the slightest (regarding checking for ‘Must See-Spots’), is the intense amount of beautiful castles that exist in Prague alone. There is a whole area called Hradčany, surrounding the Prague castle. It was full of palaces and pretty Renaissance and Baroque buildings. There was also a separate tour available that focused on the castles and bridges solely.

If I had more time and once I return to Prague, I will for sure visit more of this as well. These buildings looked mesmerising from outside. When I was there, it was the first heated week in Czech Republic in 2022 and it was super warm. So I just passed by some of these castles outside, in search for shadow and a fountain to refill my water bottle. Even though I was seriously dehydrated and low on general energy at that point, I still appreciated the beauty of these buildings. Now I can recommend you to go and check them out.

Visit the Old Town of Prague (Staré Mesto)

The main part of Prague for anything touristy is the Old Town (Staré Mesto) and its Old Town Square (Taroměstské Náměstí). Here you find a lot of the typical shops, restaurants, cafés and important buildings.

There is the Astronomy Clock Tower with its Parade, that is taking place every full hour during the day on the main square in front of the Prague Orloj. You won’t miss it, judging by the sheer amount of people standing there, filming it with their phones. In the end, the main action is, that a few figures on the clock are moving around. For todays standard, that may seem quite unspectacular, but it’s nice to witness it once – it’s part of the experience. What fascinated me most about this clock was the fact that it was built in the 15th century with so much detail on how the time, seasons, moon and stars are working together. Our guide explained it very well to us during the free walking tour that I did and it was mind-blowing to me.

The main square houses all kinds of historic buildings: a church that belonged to almost every religion during the ages, different architectural styles from different eras combined – like Gothic and Baroque among others – and the overall diversity of Prague and Czech Republic in general. One of the main forces behind this is the memory of the suffering due to Communism. After those times, a lot of Czech people became Atheists, as they lost faith in a higher power, living under poorest conditions. This tragic history makes it what it is today.

Charles Bridge and Other Bridges

Of course you cannot get around seeing and crossing at least one of the 17 beautiful bridges that Prague has to offer. The most popular one in this case is definitely Charles Bridge (Karlův Most). The historical reason for its importance is the fact, that it was the main connection between Prague Castle and the city center. It is over 600 years old.

It is for sure a must see and I respect it as a beautiful, historical sightseeing spot. In my opinion, though, it is still a bridge in the end and unless you are really fascinated by those, I would tell you to not spend too much time there, as it is also pretty crowded and not the most relaxing place. In this area you get offered boat rides or any other kind of tourist activities all the time, which is fair enough, but annoyed me at some point. That’s why I mainly crossed the river on other bridges (which were beautiful, too, and did the job). Another aspect to add here is, that you won’t have Charles Bridge on your pictures if you are standing on it – for that you need to go to another spot.

Metronom and Letná Park

One of the sightseeing hotspots of Prague is for sure the Metronom on the opposite side of the Old Town. It is located in the city district Letná and simultaneously in its park (Letná Park). All of it is on a hill, which guarantees you beautiful panoramic views over Old Town Square. The Metronom was built in 1991, as part of an art exhibition and is now an impressive spot to see.

The park itself is worth a visit, as it is quite big and stretches along the hill next to river Vltava. This means that at almost all times you have a wonderful view of the river and more. In the Western part of the park there is also a huge beer garden (Letenské Sady) where you can get drinks, food and find free public toilets. If you want to have it a bit more quiet and empty to relax, you can simply go a bit further inside and take a nap on the grass.

Souvenir Shopping

For that, I got a recommendation from my tour guide (I’m gonna talk more about the Free Walking Tour I did in the next part), which is to get the most typical thing: Anything Krtek. Krtek is the name for the Little Mole, a children show character, which is very popular (not only in Czech Republic – I actually watched this show on German TV when I was growing up). Needless to say, this was something I loved anyways and even before hearing about it being the most authentic souvenir, I already planned on getting me some Krtek fridge magnet for my collection (even though I do not have a magnetic fridge – yet).

Apart from that, our guide recommended to get the typical drink for Prague (or Czech Republic in general), which is not (only) the hugely advertised Absinthe or Becherovka Vodka, but more a plum liquor called Slivovice. In the end it’s a matter of taste. For me it was the Krtek magnet and this little Ballerina bird (actually from a french brand) I found in a random children’s shop. I saw it in their window on my second day, could not forget about it and went back the last day to include it in my Travel Squad. From that day on, “Dobrý Den” (what I called it) has accompanied me to all places and always reminded me to myself.

Sunset Hunting

There is many places and viewpoints where you can go to see wonderful sunsets. At most of them you won’t be the only one, but I found it a really nice experience to sit together in a park full of strangers and watching the sunset. Surrounded by people but still by yourself. Some of them have drinks with them and music. Which I am sure, if you approach them, you can easily join the party.

As it was my last day and also last opportunity to see the city by night time, I almost ran to the closest park from the Hostel, called Riegrovy Sady (which turned out to be a pretty popular spot to watch the sunset), sat down in the grass and just soaked it all in. Even though I was super tired from walking all day, I would not want to miss this experience.

Experience the Nightlife

As my main focus on this trip was not partying, I did not really see anything of the famous Prague nightlife. What I noticed in the Hostel activities and pub crawls is, that they for sure have a lot of places to go to and have a great time. I do not have an opinion about it, as I never went, but I only heard good things about it so far.

For me, discovering the nightlife showed (again), in walking around, treating myself to some sweet and/ or savoury treats and seeing the main spots by night, lighted up, surrounded by some stars, taking pictures. Another great experience was me getting back to the Hostel at night by some serious E-Scooter action on cobblestones.