Beer gardens with a view, tram tickets, and why the castle is best at eight in the morning.
The cheapest seat in Prague is a wall in Letná with a plastic cup of Pilsner and the whole city below you.
Arriving, and the ticket
A bus from the airport to the metro for 40 crowns, then a 72-hour public transport pass for 330, about 13 euros, which covered every tram, metro and the funicular for the whole weekend. Our hostel was in Vinohrady, a leafy district ten minutes by tram from the Old Town where a dorm bed cost 18 euros and the bars charged what locals pay.
Day one · the castle, early
Prague Castle is free to walk through: the courtyards, the changing of the guard, Golden Lane after five in the afternoon. We went at eight in the morning, before the groups, and had St Vitus’s doorway almost to ourselves. Then down through Malá Strana, across Charles Bridge while it was still walkable, and lunch at Lokál on Dlouhá: a pork schnitzel and a properly poured Pilsner for the price of a coffee and a croissant back home. The afternoon was Letná park with a beer from the garden, 55 crowns, and the view.
Day two · the river and the far bank
Náplavka on a Saturday morning is a farmers’ market on the embankment: we made breakfast out of samples, a coffee and a koláč. We took the tram up to Vyšehrad, the older fortress most people miss, free, with the cemetery where Dvořák is buried and a view down the river that the postcards use. Dinner was a small vegetarian place in Žižkov and then Riegrovy Sady beer garden until they stacked the benches.
Day three · what we skipped and what it cost
We skipped the paid Old Town Hall tower and climbed Petřín on foot instead, using the pass for the funicular back down. We skipped the Astronomical Clock crowd and watched it from a café window at the back of the square. Three nights, everything in, came to 165 euros each, and the only regret was not staying a fourth. Prague rewards walking and punishes anyone who books a tour on Wenceslas Square.
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Written by the traveller with Travlyo's help. The Prague guide ·