What to see in Prague

Route 1. Wandering around the city center

Charles Bridge

The legendary Charles Bridge connects two districts — Old Town and Lesser Town (Malá Strana).

How to reach it

If you live on the left bank of the Vltava river, take trams 1, 8, 18, 20, or 22 to Malostranská stop. If you are on its right bank, take trams 17 or 18 to Staroměstská stop. Then, you just need to relax and follow the crowd.

All these artists, musicians, and souvenir vendors may easily distract you from the main purpose. But we have come here to enjoy sculptures: there are 30 of them on the bridge.

By the way, it will be interesting for numerology lovers to find out why the first stone for the bridge was laid exactly at 5:31 a.m on July 9, 1357. And not a second later! Guessed why?

gives the answer:

Czech legend has it that construction began on Charles Bridge at 5:31 am on 9 July 1357 with the first stone being laid by Charles IV himself. This exact time was very important to the Holy Roman Emperor because he was a strong believer of numerology and felt that this specific time, which formed a palindrome (1357 9, 7 5:31), was a numerical bridge, and would imbue Charles Bridge with additional strength.

Now, let’s move on. What else can you see in Prague?

Old Town Square

Go down Charles Street to Small Square with a beautiful old well in its center:

From it, go down the same street to Old Town Square. What can we find here?

• The Astronomical Clock

It strikes every 60 minutes.

Neha, the author of the thenomadickitchen.wordpress blog, explains what all these people are gazing at:

The beautiful blue and gold 15th century clock is flanked by 4 figures which include — a skeleton (death), a man staring at a mirror (vanity), a Turk playing music (lust), and a Jew holding a bag of gold (greed)! All of these characters are set in motion at the hour — the skeleton tugs on a string that ‘rings the bell’, the rest of the guys shake their heads, the two little windows at the top of the tower open for statues of the 12 apostles to show their faces — two at a time — and finally, a golden rooster pops out and bellows a rather croaky-sounding crow. 30 seconds later the show’s over and the cheering crowds of tourists disperse.

• The Church of Our Lady before Tyn

Yes, it is that building you have seen on postcards and pictures from Prague so many times.

It is open from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 15:00 to 17:00 on any day except for Monday. You can enter the church for free or for the donation of 25 CZK. It all depends on your conscience and budget.

And now, here is an unexpected story for dentists and their patients.😀 There is one legend about this church: naive medieval Praguers believed that stepping on a tombstone inside it was a sure way to get rid of toothache. That is why many tombstones at Tyn Church are not at their best now. We hope that you will not check this questionable belief for yourself.

Wenceslas Square

From Old Town Square, walk to Wenceslas Square. Maps promise that you will reach the destination in 12 minutes.

The longest square in Prague stretches 750 meters long.

In the center of it, enjoy the equestrian statue of Saint Wenceslas, and behind his back — the National Museum. In the square itself, there are lots of fashion boutiques, restaurants, and hotels.

Enter the Lucerna passage — there, you will find that very famous statue by provocative sculptor David Cerny. This is St Wenceslas sitting on an upside-down horse.

recommends being careful when walking around Wenceslas Square:

Keep an eye on your belongings because the square is a hotspot for pickpockets.

Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott, the authors of the uncorneredmarket blog, also give their advice:

If you must exchange money, avoid using the currency exchange places along Wenceslas Square or Old Town as they are known to charge high commission fees or exchange rates.

Prague Dancing House

A 20-minute walk from Wenceslas Square, on the way to the Vltava waterfront, you will find the Prague Dancing House. “Ginger and Fred”, “the Glass”, and “the Drunk House” — city residents have given different funny nicknames to this building.

Vaclav Havel, the Czech president, came up with the idea to build the Prague Dancing House. It was going to become home to art galleries and a library, but finally, it became only an office building. Of course, Praguers were first indignant at such an extravagant building, but then they calmed down, got used to it, and now carry tourists to take a look at this famous landmark of the Czech Republic.

Route 2. Going to Prague Castle and Petrin Hill

Hradcany Square

All tourists go straight to Prague Castle, but we will take the tram 22 to Pohorelec stop in order to take a look at Hradcany Square. To reach it, go from the stop down Loretanska Street.

Besides a few magnificent pastel-colored palaces, one can find a plague column in this square.

Prague Castle

Hradcany Square will lead us to a gate. Congratulations! You are in front of Prague Castle.

tells at what time you should come here:

The Changing of the Guard takes place at 12:00 daily in front of the castle, and it usually is accompanied with a parade and music. It then takes place every hour where they are trained to change places to keep guarding the castle.

Prague Castle is the largest castle complex in Europe. On the scheme, it looks like this:

Prague Castle has a very user-friendly website with an English version. Visit it before a trip. There, you will find:

• 5 options to get to the complex;
• opening hours of ALL objects on two pages;
• details about 10 major sights at Prague Castle.

Within the complex, one can take three different routes:

Remember that all tickets are valid for two days (the day of the purchase and the following day). Ben, the author of the benmurphy blog, tells how this helped him:

On Sunday, 1 July 2018, when I first visited it, St. Vitus Cathedral was closed all day, but happily the ticket is a two-day pass, so I came back the following day for the cathedral.

This can also be useful if you take Circuit A and fail to explore all the sights in one day.

And this is famous Golden Lane:

Laura Lytwyn, the author of the thecreativeadventurer blog, explored the street thoroughly. Here are the most interesting houses for those who is interested in what to see in Prague:

Be sure to stop by house #22, the blue house, which was once home to Czech born, German-language novelist Franz Kafka. Although the interior of this house is one of the most disappointing since it’s now nothing more than a cheesy souvenir shop. House #12 was owned by film historian and collector Josef Kazda. This was my favourite house on the lane. Inside are hundreds of posters from old Czech films and piles of film canisters littering the floor. House #14 once belonged to the psychic Madame de Thebes who lived here in in the 20th century. She predicted the downfall of the Third Reich. House #15 contains an exhibition dedicated to the goldsmith’s workshop.

One can visit the street for free after 17:00, but all houses will be closed at this time.

Prague Castle address: Prague, 119 08, Prague 1
Opening hours: the Prague Castle complex is open from 06:00 to 22:00, while its sights — from 09:00 to 16:00 during the winter season and from 09:00 to 17:00 during the summer season.

From Prague Castle, take the same tram 22 to Petrin Hill. There are 50 meters from the stop to the funicular station. If you are good at sports, climb the 300 meters height on foot. Here, sneakers will definitely come in handy.😉

Petrin Hill became an inspiration for some literary works. Megan, the author of the iminprague.wordpress blog, tells in which books you can find it:

I was doing some research on Petrin HIll and found that it was actually featured in Franz Kafka’s early short stories “Description of a Struggle.” In his story he refers to the hill as Laurenziburg which is the German name. The landmark can also be found in a book titled “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” written by a famous living Czech writer, Milan Kundera. Apparently, Petřín Hill makes for a very nice backdrop to Czech literature.

And we, as always, are unbearably pragmatic. We will list interesting places, opening hours, and prices for tickets in the complex on Petrin Hill.

Here, you should:

• take a selfie from the 60-meter tall Petrin Lookout Tower. Its opening hours: from 10:00 to 22:00 in summer, from 10:00 to 20:00 in autumn and spring, and from 10:00 to 18:00 in winter. The price for an adult ticket is 120 CZK.
• get lost and then found in the Mirror Maze. The opening hours are the same as those of the Petrin Lookout Tower. The ticket cost is 70 CZK for an adult.
• feast your eyes on stars at the Stefanik Observatory. For the opening hours, see the official website. The cost of a ticket is 65 CZK (without a program).
• take a look at Cathedral of St Lawrence.
• take a stroll through Petrin gardens and parks. There are eight of them: Seminary Garden, Strahov Garden, Schonborn Garden, Lobkowicz Garden, Kinsky Garden, Park at the Petrin Lookout Tower, Rose Park, and Nebozizek Garden.

Route 3. Exploring art installations in Prague

The main art installations in the city are created by Czech sculptor David Cerny.
We have already written about the upside-down horse — now, let’s see his other rebellious works.

The hooligan debut of David Cerny took place in 1991 when he repainted one of Soviet tanks in a Prague square pink. Of course, the military vehicle got its previous color back, and the artist got remembered.

Indeed, it is difficult to forget David Cerny. His babies and peeing men leave no one indifferent.

Crawling Babies can be found on Kampa Island, at U Sovových mlýnů 2. They are said to symbolize a protest against abortions.

The same babies but made of fiberglass instead of bronze crawl on the Zizkov Television Tower. By the way, Praguers initially did not like it, as well, but only until the moment when David Cerny placed ten innocent babies there.

You can spy on the Peeing Men on Kampa Island, at Cihelná 2b, in the yard of the Franz Kafka Museum.

tell that this installation is not as simple as it seems:

This kinetic sculpture of two urinating men in front of the Kafka Museum is perhaps Cerny’s most photographed work. Cast in bronze with each standing about 2 meters tall (6.5 ft), their pelvises gyrate and their penises bob up and down while releasing a stream of water into a shallow pool shaped like the Czech Republic. What looks like random peeing is actually the sculptures “writing” Czech literary quotes into the water! If that weren’t strange enough, the messages aren’t always predetermined. The sculptures will break protocol and write whatever text message you send to the number (+420 724 370 770) displayed on a plaque near the installation. Kooky!

Man Hanging Out can be found on Husova Street. This is Sigmund Freud hovered above the city in that position:

The Statue of Franz Kafka is an artwork by Jaroslav Rona. It is located at Dušní 12.

The Embryo is a gift from David Cerny for Na Zabradli Theater for their 50th anniversary. It is better to find yourself at Anenské náměstí 5 late in the evening: the pink glow of the embryo in the dark is said to be really impressive.

The Head of Franz Kafka sculpture can be found near Quadrio shopping mall, above Národní třída metro station. You can take a look at 42 chaotically rotating discs both at day- and nighttime.

Of course, these are not all provocative art installations in Prague.

Instead of searching for hooligan monuments on Prague streets, you can go to a center for contemporary art Meet Factory located at Ke Sklárně 3213/15. This art space designed and founded by David Černý. The entrance is free of charge. The center is open from 13:00 to 20:00.

Another gallery that goes beyond classical art can be found at Holečkova 49. It is called Futura.

JB, the author of the willflyforfood blog, got really scared in this place:

There’s no door or display that signifies you’re at the gallery other than the F banner that hangs high above your head. At the entrance with this F banner is a buzzer labeled Futura Gallery. You’ll need to ring it to be buzzed into the building. Walking through the corridor of what looks like a residential building takes you into a three-storey art gallery that’s one of the strangest I’ve ever been to. Even the space itself is like a work of art. Other than the one person sitting inside the gallery’s office, there was no one overseeing any of the works. There’s no admission fee either so you’re free to explore the space on your own. The ground and upper levels are industrial-looking and bare, but they seem normal enough.

It’s the basement that gets a little weird. To get to the basement, you had to go through these brick corridors that opened up to small rooms with avante-garde installations and art pieces hanging on the walls. There wasn’t much explanation, if any. I just remember being confused by the space and a bit apprehensive to continue because there was no one else around. The space had an eerie Silence of the Lambs feel to it. I was scared to turn the corner and find a man telling me to put the lotion in the basket. What made the experience more nerve-wracking was the sign that warned you to proceed with caution. I’m sure it was referring to the space itself not being 100% safe and accident-proof, but it played tricks on your mind and made you wonder what was waiting for you down there.

But do not hurry to leave this place. In the courtyard, you will find another provocative exhibit. It is called Brown-Nosers.

The gallery is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 18:00.

If you want to make your trip even more interesting, book an excursion around Prague with a professional guide.

Five more seconds

Prague has only one drawback: you can never get enough of it! And that means you will have plenty of reasons to return here.