Prague fits in a weekend. The hours are the hard part.
Which of the river boats is worth fifty minutes. What the castle ticket actually gets you through. Whether Cesky Krumlov or Kutna Hora deserves the one free day you have. Every tour in Czechia, reviewed.
Four bookings that build a first weekend in Prague.
What each one costs, how long it runs, and why it earns the slot.
01Morning oneCastle Tour with Local Guide and Entry TicketThe castle complex is the size of a small town and the coach groups reach it mid morning. A guided circuit with the entry ticket included gets you through St Vitus first.
02The orientation3-Hour Walking Tour of Old Town & Prague CastleThree hours on foot from the Old Town Square up to the castle gates. It is the only way the geography of this city ever makes sense.
03The night outMedieval Dinner with Unlimited DrinksA vaulted medieval hall, five courses and unlimited drinks. More travellers book this than anything else in Prague that does not float.
04The day you leaveVIP Best Reviews: Bohemian & Saxon Switzerland from PragueSandstone gorges and the Bastei bridge, two hours north into the border country. The one good argument for giving up a Prague day.
Prague is a walking city with a hill at one end.
The centre is about a mile across and paved in cobbles the whole way. Four kinds of walk cover it, and the difference between them is mostly which century you want to be in.
The castle hillHradcany, St Vitus, and the walk back down through Mala Strana.
The Old TownThe square, the clock, and lanes that still lose the people who live here.
JosefovSix synagogues and the old cemetery, in half a morning.
After darkLantern walks through the cellars and the alchemists quarter.
All 39 walks in Prague →
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 3-Hour Walking Tour of Old Town & Prague Castle
The most booked days out in Czechia.
Every review on the site →Start here if you have never been. The top one is a fifty minute boat ride that costs less than lunch.
1
50-Minute Sightseeing Evening Cruise
See Prague’s Charles Bridge, castle, and riverfront lights on a 50-minute evening cruise with indoor seating and an open deck.
From · $21
Read our review →
2
Medieval Dinner with Unlimited Drinks
from $75
3
Skip-the-line Castle Ticket and Optional AudioGuide
from $35
4
Castle Tour with Local Guide and Entry Ticket
from $61
5
Prague Castle 2.5-Hour Tour Including Admission Ticket
from $57
6
Oldtown, Medieval Underground & Dungeon History Tour
from $30
7
Vltava River Night Cruise with Buffet
from $81
8
Panoramic Vltava River Cruise
from $16
Prague was built to be looked at from the water.
The bridges, the castle and the whole Old Town skyline only line up from mid river, which is why the cheapest boat on this site out-reviews every guided tour in the country. Fifty minutes at dusk, lunch under a glass roof, or a night cruise with a buffet.
Czechia drinks more beer per head than anywhere on earth.
Pilsner was invented in Plzen in 1842 and the country never really moved on. Cellar tastings under the Old Town, the brewery two hours west, mini brewery crawls through Zizkov, and an oak tub of the stuff you sit in rather than drink.
Everywhere else in Czechia is a day trip from Prague.
The country is small and the trains are good. Karlstejn is forty minutes out, Kutna Hora an hour, and the sandstone gorges on the German border under two.
Karlstejn
Kutna Hora
Terezin
Bohemian Switzerland
Karlovy Vary
Cesky KrumlovWhat a day out in Prague actually costs.
Every reviewed tour, grouped by what you pay. The cheap end is bigger than people expect.
Tower climbs, the short cruises, museum entry and the walking tours that fill a morning.
Full days: the castle with a guide, the gorges on the German border, dinner on the water.
Private guides, small group day trips and the once a trip splurges.
Charles Bridge belongs to you at seven and to everyone else by ten.
The old centre is small and the day groups land mid morning. In winter the light has gone by four. Both problems have the same answer: take the early slot or the late one, because the city is better at both ends anyway.
Three things Czechia has that nowhere else does.
Castles and old squares run right across Central Europe. A clock that has kept going since 1410, a bath full of beer and a theatre made of ultraviolet light do not.
The Astronomical Clock
The Orloj was fitted to the Old Town Hall tower in 1410 and it is still the oldest one anywhere that has never stopped for good. The dial does not so much tell the time as report on it: Old Bohemian hours around the rim, sun and moon tracking the zodiac, and the apostles filing past a trapdoor on the hour while a skeleton pulls the rope. The crowd underneath is part of it whether you want it or not.
- 1Old Town, Astronomical Clock and Underground Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 875 reviews
- 2Old Town, Astronomical Clock & Underground Tour with PragueWay★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 463 reviews
- 3Prague 3-Hour Tour with Astronomical Clock Admission★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 453 reviews
The Beer Spa
Somebody worked out that the hops and yeast going into Czech lager also do something for skin, and now half the cellars in the centre have oak tubs in them. You sit in warm dark beer for half an hour with a tap beside the bath and pour your own. It sounds like a stag night and is mostly booked by couples.
- 1Bernard Beer Spa with Beer and Massage Option★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 4,164 reviews
- 2Pilsner Urquell Experience & Beer Tasting★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 3,480 reviews
- 3Pilsner Urquell Brewery Tour with Beer Tasting★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,419 reviews
Black Light Theatre
Prague invented this in the late fifties: a stage lit only in ultraviolet, performers dressed head to toe in black, and objects that appear to move on their own. Nobody says a word in it, which is exactly why it has survived sixty years of audiences who do not speak Czech.
- 1WOW Show Black Light Theater★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 3,990 reviews
- 21.5-Hour Black Light Theater Srnec Performance★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 1,589 reviews
- 3Skip the Line: WOW Show Black Light Theater in Prague Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 3.5 · 251 reviews
Four things in Czechia you cannot leave until the morning.
Nearly everything in Prague can be sorted the night before over a beer. These four keep their own calendar, and it takes no interest in when you land.
- 01Jewish Quarter Walking Tour with Admission TicketsThe synagogues and the old cemetery close on Saturdays and on Jewish holidays. Turn up on the wrong day and Josefov is a walk past locked doors.
- 02Kutná Hora, St.Barbara’s Church, Sedlec OssuarySedlec sells dated, timed entry and the chapel underneath holds very few people at a time. The trips out of Prague are built around the slot they hold.
- 03Entry Ticket Classical Concert at the Mirror ChapelA concert is one performance in a room that seats a few hundred. There is no second showing on the night you happen to be free.
- 04VIP Best Reviews: Bohemian & Saxon Switzerland from PragueThe gorges on the German border are a full day with one departure, early. Miss the bus and the next one is tomorrow.
Fresh out of Prague and everywhere the day trips reach.
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Shared Departure Transfer: Prague Hotel to Prague Airport
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One Prague Tour: Old Town Road with local Food & Beer ️
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From Vienna: Prague Small-Group Guided Day Tour
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Private city discovery tour – A Historical Treasure Hunt
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