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Prague is pretty much split in half by the Vltava river (Moldau, as the Germans know it). The city is divided up into several districts. On the North and West of the river is Hradcany, compromising the castle and cathedral, around which are the palaces and embassies of the Mala Strana ("Lesser Quarter"), which is between the castle and the river. On the opposite side of the river are, roughly north to south, Josefov which comprises what was formerly the Jewish Ghetto; Stare Mesto, the old town; Nove Mesto, the misleadingly-named New Town, and further down the river Vysehrad. Convenient landmarks to aid navigation are in Hradcany the castle, in the Mala Strana Malostanski namesti and the Charles Bridge (Karluv most in Czech), in Stare Mesto Staromestske namesti, the old town square, and in Nove Mesto, Wenclesas Square and Namesti Republiky.
By far the best way to explore Prague is on foot; the city centre is fairly compact and so all the major tourist venues are within walking distance. In addition, Prague is such a beautiful city that even those places that are not high on the usual tourist agenda are well worth exploring; an afternoon spent pottering round the back streets and courtyards of the Mala Strana or Stare Mesto can be extremely rewarding, if slightly confusing: Note that it's fairly easy to get lost, especially if you've been imbibing plenty of the cheap beer, and a good street map is essential. Also essential is comfortable and sturdy footwear; Prague has more than its share of cobbled streets, and there are plenty of steep hills, especially in the Mala Strana.
For the lazier or, more likely, drunker traveller Prague boasts an extensive, efficient, and cheap public transport system with an underground system combining with trams and buses. Sadly this does not extend to the airport; although it's not too difficult to get into town on public transport (see below). In common with most else in Prague taxis are comparatively cheap; sadly in common with cabbies the world order certain members of Prague's taxi-driving fraternity are only too happy to rip-off tourists. There's a taxi desk in the arrivals concourse where you pay the fare upfront, and they'll even give you a 20% discount if you use the same company for the return journey but even using this system the driver still ripped us off by telling us there was a surcharge because there were 4 of us (and 3 of those being fatties) in his taxi. Needless to say we later found that he'd made this "surcharge" up on the spot. Bastard! A taxi from the airport to the city centre shouldn't cost you more than 600 crowns.
If you really to travel into the city on public transport you can catch the number 119 bus outside the airport; this will drop you off at the terminus of Metro Line A (Dejvicka). Of the train stations, most international services use Holesovice, which is on the metro system, although some international arrivals will come into Praha hlavni nadrazi, also on the metro. Domestic trains arrive at either hlavni nadrazi or Masarykovo nadrazi on Hybernska which is within easy walking distance of the metro station at Namesti Republiky. Long-distance bus and coach services arrive at the depressing Florenc station, which also has a Metro interchange.
Public transport in Prague is far cheaper and more efficient and reliable than in London (but then again, Khabul's public transport is probably better than London's).
Of the public transport, the Metro is probably quicker while the trams have nicer views (along the banks of the Vlatava) and some keep running throughout the night. As I said previously you probably won't need to use either of them very much. The Metro is handy if you want to go to Holesovice or Vysehrad, the trams can save you walking up the steepish hill to the castle (tram 22 runs up to the castle and will also give you a nice tour around the city centre first).
The ticket machines that you'll find at all tram stops and Metro stations are a bit complicated, although they now all seem to have a button you can press that will bring up instructions in English. Basically you can buy various tickets that are valid for a set period of time, or a certain number of stops, which and may or may not allow you to change lines. Through complete guesswork I managed to get a ticket that I think was valid for 2 hours and four stops (which cost 13 crowns). Once you've paid for your ticket the machine spits it out, and the time-limit and another number (which I think was the maximum number of stops) is printed on it. When you enter the Metro system there are little machines by the doors where you punch your ticket; this prints on the ticket what time you started your journey and your ticket is valid for however many hours starting from then. If you're getting on a tram you'll need to have your ticket punched in one of the orange machines that are by most of the doors - your ticket isn't valid until you've done this. Much easier is to buy tickets from your hotel; most big hotels can sell you single journey tickets, valid for up to an hour with up to 2 changes of line, which will set you back all of 12 crowns (25p or so).
There is a great temptation to avoid buying a ticket altogether, but be warned that there are plenty of plainclothes, undercover inspectors out to get you; the tickets are so cheap and the fine for travelling without one so comparatively high (over £10) that it's really not worth the risk.
To save hours of scratching your head whilst staring at ticket machines, it's probably easier to buy a travel card which allows unlimited travel on the trams, buses and the Metro. A 24 hour one will set you back less than £2.50 and you can buy them from kiosks, newsagents, tourist offices (anywhere that has a yellow sticker saying "DP" in fact).
Bearing all this in mind there should really be no reason why you'd need to take a taxi in Prague, other than getting too and from the airport, or perhaps unless you're really drunk and lost, in which case you're probably going to be ripped off. If you do have to take a taxi if you're in a sufficiently sober condition to do so try and make sure that the meter is switched on, and ask for a receipt. Oh yes, try and make sure that your driver isn't half-blind and needs to borrow your friends glasses to see where he's going. True story!
Hotels are one of the few things in Prague that will cost you about the same as they would in the UK. There's plenty of choice in the city centre ranging from international class 5 star hotels to hostels. If you're looking for somewhere really cheap you're probably limited to the suburbs, although you should be able to find somewhere close to Prague's reasonably extensive (and cheap) public transport system to get you into the city centre. A good place to start is Cedok on Na Prikope who can help with hotel reservations
In 2000 I stayed at the Hotel Merkur on Tesnov (right next to Wilsonova, just opposite Florenc bus station) which I booked over the internet through go-fly.com (now part of EasyJet). I managed to get a special promotional price of £140 for 4 nights in a double room, and this represented a real bargain: the rooms were clean and spacious (and surprisingly quiet considering the proximity of Wilsonova) with satellite TV and en suite bathrooms. Breakfast was included, and although we only managed to get out of bed early enough to try it once I can highly recommend it. Although no fried food was on offer you had a help-yourself, eat-as-much-as-you-can continental style buffet with meat, cheese, bread rolls, cakes, cereal, yoghurt, etc. The staff speak reasonable English and are all friendly and helpful. The location isn't too bad either, a 5 minute walk from Namesti Republiky. As I said I managed to get a special promotional price, but this is still a place well worth looking at.
Even better is the Hotel Belvedere where I stayed on my next visit. This is at the corner of Milady Horakove and Fr. Kirizka, north of the Vltava, behind the eastern end of Letna Park. It's located in a fairly quiet residential area and is very close to tram stops and Vltavska undergound station. Although it's a little out of the way if you walk through Letna Park (and I felt perfectly safe doing this even alone, under the influence, and at 3am) it will only take you 5 minutes to reach the Vltava (next to the entrance to the Letna road tunnel) and from there you can walk to pretty much anywhere in the Old Town in 15 minutes. The hotel itself is excellent. The rooms are fairly small but have recently been refurbished, and special mention must be made of the showers. which seemed to have the water-pressure of Niagara Falls behind them and truly reached the parts other showers could not reach. The staff were particularly friendly (although that might be due to my doltish companion confusing a 500 crown note (£10) for a 50 crown one (£1) and then giving it as a tip to the chap operating the safe), and spoke excellent English. It has as extremely pleasant (and reasonably priced) bar and sitting room in the lobby, and a very big dining room which also doubles up as a ball room. Breakfast is a help-yourself buffet (i.e. eat as much as you want!) with the usual continental meats and cheeses, bread and cereal. When I booked this place it came to £76 each for a 4 night stay, which was exceptional value for money. Provided you don't mind doing a little extra walking (and even then you could always use the metro or tram) this is an ideal place to stay.
Better still is Hotel Opera at 24 Tesnov (just opposite Hotel Merkur) a short walk from Florenc metro station and 10 minutes stagger from Namesti Republiki. Housed in a vivid pink 19th century neo-renaissance mansion it has recently been refurbished. The lobby is all polished wood and glass, there is a reasonably priced bar and a restaurant that we didn't try, and the staff are very friendly. The rooms are excellent too, coming with a safe, fridge, fairly cheap mini bar (around 60p for a can of beer), satellite TV, and a bathroom with a decent shower. Try and ask for a room on the quieter side of the hotel though (on the opposite side from the Wislonova fly-over) as as well as being quieter they have much better views. The breakfast is the bog-standard buffet although it gains kudos for also serving fried eggs and hot-dog sausages so you can make your own sausage and egg sarnies (no brown sauce though). Apparently it has a sauna and fitness room, although needless to say I went nowhere near that. .
In December 2002 we had booked to stay in the Merkur again, which we booked through Octopus Travel, however on arrival at the hotel we were told that there was a problem with their heating system and that as a result half of their rooms had no heating. This being Prague in the middle of December, this was not good. The terms of booking with Octopus Travel say that if for any reason your choice of hotel is not available then the hotel will arrange for an alternative, of equal or greater quality. The staff at the Merkur had arranged for us to stay in the Hotel Central, and paid for a taxi to take us there. This was definitely a stroke of luck; the Central, on Rybna, more than lives up to its name, less than a minutes walk from Namesti Republiki, and only a couple of minutes from the Old Town Square. It is also handily located for several good bars, including the Marquis de Sade and Chapeau. The rooms were a bit basic; there was no fridge or TV, and no separate shower in the bathroom. They were warm enough though, and the beds were very comfortable. There were comfy chairs in the lobby, as well as a decent, reasonably priced bar (bottled beer only though). The staff spoke English and were friendly and helpful. After its location the best thing about the Central was the breakfast, a help-yourself buffet with the usual selection of cereals, yoghurt, cheese and cold meats, but one or two nice extras like freshly baked bread rolls, bacon, scrambled and boiled eggs and sausages, and a variety of cakes. Breakfast starts serving at 7am and I highly recommend that you get there as soon as early as possible; as I often encounter difficulties in dragging myself out of bed first thing in the morning we came up with an ingenious way round this problem; simply stay out on the piss until 7am, have your breakfast, and then go to bed. Worked a treat for us.
Something to bear in mind if you book either the Central or the Merkur is that they are both owned by the same company and it's possible that the company might switch your bookings between the hotels. As I've already said we'd booked in the Merkur and ended up in the Central, which was a stroke of luck. But friends of mine booked into the Central and were told there was a problem with their booking and were put in the Merkur instead, which I'd be pretty pissed off about.
In 2003 we stayed in the Melantrich Garni on Melantrichova, an ideal location as its a narrow street running between the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square and the hotel was less than two minutes walk from both. The rooms were very nice, not the biggest but modern, clean and warm. There was a satellite TV in our room with CNN and Eurosport (I was hardly there, but the Scotsman told me he was unable to find any late night porn). The bathrooms had a shower but no bath, but it was an impressively powerful shower. We paid $80 US per night for a twin room, which given the hotels location I thought was very good value. Breakfast was included but for a variety of reasons that don't really need going in to I didn't make it down in time. The Scotsman did though and reported back that it was the usual spread of cereal bread, cold meat, cheeses, etc. Friendly and helpful English speaking staff are the icing on the cake, a great hotel.
The Residence Charles Bridge has probably the best location of any hotel I've ever stayed in, anywhere. It's on Mostecka, in the Mala Strana, basically a 10 second walk from the end of Charles Bridge. It's a small hotel, with only 8 rooms, housed in a very old house that has recently been fully renovated. Being such an old building all the rooms are completely individual; this website has a full description. Our room was big, clean and modern with a fridge, satellite TV, a safe, a far-too-comfortable bed, and an excellent shower. It also had an outdoor terrace round the back which only we had access too, and which might have been very pleasant had the weather not been pissing down so much. The hotel doesn't have a reception as such; check-in, check-out, and any enquiries are handled by the bureau de change housed on the hotel's ground floor. The bureau de change is not open 24 hours a day, it closes at 10pm or so, so if you're checking in after that you'll need to make special arrangements. Nor does it have a restaurant, instead you're given vouchers to take to a cafe over the road where you get a free breakfast (croissants, bread, muffins, cheese and cold meats, coffee and fruit juice, a help yourself as much as you can eat buffet). Some people (me included) will like not having to check in and out with reception every time they come and go from the hotel, but those who want someone on call 24 hours a day might be better looking somewhere else. I booked this hotel through HotelsCzech.com, and it worked out at just under £50 per night for a double room. Given its location, and the quality of the rooms, this is good value for money, and I'd definitely stay here again. It is a pretty quiet hotel though, so perhaps not the place to stay if you're on a weekend piss-up with the lads. The walls are thin too, you can hear pretty much everything that goes on in the other rooms. That might be a selling point for perverts....
Continuing my campaign to stay in a different hotel on every visit to Prague when we went back in 2007 we stayed at the William Garni on Hellichova (more or less where it joins Karmelitska). The location is very good, in the Mala Strana, just on the verge of Kampa Island, a 5 minute walk took us to Malostranske namesti and Charles Bridge. Our room was fine, not the biggest but clean and airy. Our room had a TV (the only English channel we could pick up was CNN), a safe (which you have to pay to activate so we didn't bother), and comfy beds (they must have been judging by the amount of time Chimp van Winkel spent in his....). Thankfully our room had 2 single beds which were already a manly distance apart so we didn't have to do any furniture rearranging. Access to your room is using one of those electronic swipe cards, much more convenient than keys (and contrary to one of those stupid chain emails that's going around they don't have your credit card details stored on them, so make sure you return it to the hotel when you check out rather than keeping it as the email advises). The bathroom was small, but with a decent shower (no bath tub). Breakfast is served in the dining room on the ground floor from 7 until 10, and for reasons of pure, utter idleness I failed to make it down in time once (given the choice of breakfast or an extra 10 minutes in bed, the bed wins every time, I really need some kind of incentive like a hotel that offers beer for breakfast). The hotel has lift, but it only runs from the first floor meaning that the hotel might not be suitable for the disabled, lazy, or determined salad-dodgers. We didn't really see that much of the staff as we didn't pass by reception on our way to the rooms, but they seemed helpful enough when we were checking in and out, and they spoke good English. For a deposit you can also borrow things from the reception desk like a hairdryer or an ironing board. What kind of person goes on holiday and has to borrow an ironing board? Maybe this kind of person...
One minus, when we checked out we asked the hotel reception to call us a taxi for the airport. The taxi that arrived was owned by the company that runs the hotel and charged us 700 crowns, which is at least 100 crowns more than it should have cost us. We booked through HotelsCzech.com and paid £255 for 4 nights, good value given the hotel's location.
When I went to Prague in November 2007 I stayed at the Archibald Charles Bridge. Having previously stayed in hotels on both banks of the Vltava I thought it was about time I tried staying in the middle of the river, and being on Kampa island this is about as close as I was going to get. The hotel is at Na Kampe 16, about a minute's walk from the steps that lead down from Charles Bridge to Kampa island, which means you're just far enough away to avoid the worst of the noise that comes from the bridge (bloody buskers!). And as it's housed in a bright orange building it's pretty much impossible to miss, no matter what your condition. The hotel is in an historic building which used to be a brewery (which had nothing to do with my decision to stay here, honest!) and has been thoroughly renovated after being half-submerged in the 2002 floods (they have markers inside showing the level the flood water reached; if you were staying on the first floor your knees would have got wet). Our room was amazing; we had a small hallway that came with a wardrobe and a hat stand, a big bathroom that had an excellent shower (no bath tub though) and finally a huge bedroom that as well as having 2 far too comfortable beds also had a big dinner table and a couple of chairs, a sofa, a minibar, safe (you have to pay reception to use it) and TV (the only English channel I could find was CNN). It was a huge, bright spacious room and we had a great view of Na Kampe square (we were at the front of the hotel, the rooms round the back have views of the river and Charles Bridge), definitely the nicest hotel room I've ever stayed in. Because it's such an old building none of the rooms are exactly the same, there isn't a lift, and some of the doorways are a little low (the one leading from our hallway to the bedroom in particular, but I started to get the hang of ducking after I'd smacked my head a couple of times). Breakfast is served from 7.30 to 10.30 on the ground floor. It's a help yourself buffet and as well as the usual breads, cold meats, cheese, and cereals they had bacon, sausages, and fried and scrambled eggs, not to mention cakes and doughnuts. It was so good that I actually dragged myself out of bed twice, the first time I've managed that in Prague. The hotel is above the restaurant U Karlova Mostu 15 (see below); if you eat in the restaurant (which is pretty good) and let them know you're staying in the hotel you'll get a 10% discount. I booked the hotel through OctopusTravel and paid just over £200 for 3 nights, a bit more than I normally spend but an absolute bargain given the location and quality of the place. I usually like to try staying in a different place every time I go back to Prague, but having stayed here once I'm not sure that I'd want to stay anywhere else now. The hotel website is here.
You could always consider renting a flat; there are plenty of accommodation agencies that are only too happy to help you; try AVE (at the airport and train stations) or Pragotur (opposite Florenc metro station and at the amusingly-named PIS -Prague Information Service- offices). You may also find private operators touting flats at the airport and train stations. You should be able to find something reasonably cheap and close to the city centre.
In nearly all bars in Prague you'll be paying less than a pound for a pint of quality, strong lager. Generally speaking the more "expensive" establishments (ie over £1 a pint) are in the Mala Strana, Wenceslas Square and those places close to the major tourist sites. Most nightclubs and hotel bars fall into this category. Searching around the back streets, away from the city centre and tourist haunts will bring rewards in the form of very cheap beer. The cheapest I managed to find was in a bar at the top end of Hybernska near the railway station. I'm afraid I'm unable to recall the name of this fine establishment but it operated a sliding-scale with the price of the beer depending upon the time and day; I think we paid 12 crowns (around 20p) for half a litre of Kozel.
Perhaps Prague's best known pub is U Fleku (at Kremenkova 11 in the Nove Mesto). U Fleku panders to the tourist trade, and its prices can reflect this, but the beer and atmosphere here mean that you really should try and pay at least one visit here when you come to Prague.
The only beer they serve here is a fruity, dark beer that has been brewed on site for over 500 years (err, I mean they've been brewing it for 500 years, not that it takes 500 years to brew). The beer will set you back 59 crowns (£1.50) a pint, expensive by Prague standards but worth it as it's lovely stuff. The pub is huge, I've only ever been there in winter when they've normally only got one or two rooms open but when you go for a slash you realise just how vast it is - there are a couple of big outdoor courtyards, and there are actually 9 drinking halls in all. We normally end up in the Velky sal by the main entrance, an ancient looking place with wood panelling, stained glass windows, an ornate clock, tables round each wall and a big trestle table down the middle of the room. If you haven't been in a Czech pub before remember to take your seat first and the waiter will bring the beer to you, don't go up to the bar and order yourself like you would in a British pub. The waiter will tally up what you've had on a slip of paper, and then you pay for everything when you're ready to go. As well as the waiter who brings the beer there's another waiter who goes around trying to get people to buy shots of Becherovka; as it's over-priced (£2 a shot) here I normally don't bother with it, but the waiter can be a bit of a pain in the arse and won't take no for an answer. U Fleku also does food, which I haven't tried yet (takes up too much beer-space); for such a touristy place the prices seem pretty reasonable (185 for goulash and dumplings).
The place can really kick off when the entertainment starts - especially if you're lucky enough to be here when the tuba and accordion oompah combo show up. They go round the room asking where everybody is from and then play songs from that country - needless to say if you're German you'll be happier than a pig in shit, but we got renditions of "London Bridge Is Falling Down", "It's A Long Way To Tipperary", "God Save The Queen" (you haven't lived until you've heard your national anthem played on the tuba and accordion), and finally "You Take The High Road". Our friend Attif (the ironing Honey Monster, pictured above) tried to stump them by claiming he was from Pakistan (the lying bugger is from Surrey) but after a short consultation they serenaded him with "Hava Nagila", that song you normally hear being played at Israeli weddings. Anyway, that was the main reason why after heading in here at about 7pm for "a couple of pints" we staggered out into the dark several hours later, 30 pints heavier between the three of us and with the strangest of compulsions to go off and invade Poland... U Fleku has its own website.
If you're in the mood for more home brew try Svaty Norbert, a small bar/restaurant up next to the Strahov monastery. There has been a brewery attached to the monastery since the 13th century, although the current one was only opened in 2001. They brew two types of beer here (the copper vats are actually in the bar and are linked directly to the beer bumps), a dark beer similar to the beer at U Fleku, and a more lager-like amber beer. Both are strong, both have lots of flavour, and they're both well worth the hike up to Strahov to sample. The bar also does meals but we stuck to the bar snacks; pickled cheese, Prague ham, brewery cheese and garlic toast, pickled sausage, and the "brewery plate" (a mixture of various kinds of cold pork) all soaked up the beer nicely (and not all on one visit, I hasten to add).
A couple of bars in the Stare Mesto close enough to each other that they would make a very satisfactory mini pub-crawl (in fact they're on adjacent blocks so you could do circuits) are Chateau Rouge on Mala Stuparstska and the Marquis de Sade on Templova. There used to be a third bar making for an even more satisfactory pub crawl but the Banana Bar, former haven of itinerant rocket scientists, is sadly no more. Typical isn't it, you go away from a city for 2 years and when you come back all the bars have closed...
The Chateau Rouge (housed in a former brothel - that should be worth a few hundred hits on Google) seems to change its name every year or so, has wooden floor-boards, some of the strangest window ornaments you'll find in a bar (a rotating Virgin Mary for instance), fairly cheap, decent beer, and fairly cheap, excellent cocktails (try the White Russians). One of the nights we were there, despite the loud music there were numerous drunks asleep at the tables and the bar-staff were happy to leave them in peace, which is always a sign of a good bar in my estimation. It can get a bit packed, and when the music is blaring out it can be a bit difficult to hold a conversation, although that might not necessarily be a bad thing. It also has a night club in the basement that stays open into the early hours, but which we haven't tried yet. At least they've cleaned the toilets up a bit since the first time I was there. There's a website here (about the club in general, not just the toilets).
Despite its name the Marquis de Sade just around the corner appeared to be mostly free of sexual deviance (until we walked in). Despite this disappointment it's still an excellent place; with its quiet music, laid-back atmosphere, high airy roof, and comfy sofas it's an excellent place to chill-out for a while. Added to this it has waitress service so you don't have to leave your sofa to get a drink, although I'd recommend leaving it when you have to go for a slash. The only slight downer here was that on our first visit they appeared to have run out of several drinks (normally they run out after we've been there, not when we first walk in), meaning that several cocktails were unavailable, although the drinks we did manage to get were excellent, and the friendliness of the waitress more than made up for it. Still, it hasn't happened again since. On our most recent visit we stuck to the beer (just over £1 a pint, expensive for a bar in this part of Prague), and there was also live music. He was OK, but playing nothing but covers of other people's songs in my view makes one a busker, and when buskers start selling CDs of "their" music and signing autographs it suggests they're taking themselves a little too seriously...
We tried U Pinkasu (Jungmanovo namesti 15, near the bottom of Wenceslas Square) on the recommendation of a friend who knows his beer. On our first visit we stuck to a liquid diet, and our first impressions were excellent as literally within seconds of sitting down a magnificently moustachioed barman plonked down 3 pints without us even having ordered it. U Pinkasu's claim to fame by the way is that it was the first bar to serve Pilsner Urquell on draft. We stayed there for a while and the service continued to maintain this high standard, basically no soon as we had finished a pint than another was plonked down in front of us. It would have been rude to say no... An excellent bar, I recommend it very highly, and it's popular with the locals too which is always a good sign in Prague. We went back a couple of days later to try out the food, and ended up downstairs in an ancient looking brick vaulted cellar. The food was pretty good too, although the portions could have been bigger. I had the steak which was fine but a little overcooked for my taste (but then I prefer mine very rare) while Seedy Rob had the goulash. It was also pretty good value for money too.
Coyotes (previously known as L'Aperitivo) is a big shiny cocktail bar on Male Namesti. Good points included the drinks, which were superb. I thought the White Russians were good enough until I tried their Mojitos which were sensational. Friendly service is another plus. The downside was the lack of atmosphere (despite the best efforts of the gogo dancer on the bar); we were there on a Saturday night and it was practically deserted. This place deserves to be more popular.
One place that I can highly recommend is U Vejvodu on Jilska (near the Bethlehem Chapel in the Stare Mesto). This place has a large bar with an even bigger restaurant attached; the bar is fine, a pleasant spot for a cheap beer or two (we ended up watching a football match in here - on the TV, not in real life), with late opening hours (3 am most nights). The restaurant (down stairs from the bar) is fantastic, a big hall with a balcony and a glass roof providing a pleasant, airy atmosphere. The menu is reasonably priced and seems to get bigger every time I go back (as does my gut). One of the specialties of the house, and a test of manliness for those coming to Prague with us for the first time, is the knuckle of pork, a roast leg of pork for under £3. As in an entire roast leg of pork. A family sized roast. To illustrate just how big I mean I ordered one and was only able to eat about half of it, which has never happened before. Mind you, ordering the bread dumplings as well didn't help. Other things we've tried (over the course of several visits, not all in one go) and can recommend include ribs in barbecue sauce (described as "chops" on the menu), veal, roast duck, whole roast trout, chicken stuffed with sirloin and cheese, the "butchers plate" (a dustbin-lid sized plate full of duck, pork, cabbage, and dumplings; the lavatory must have taken a hammering the next morning) and my own favourite, pork tenderloin stuffed with spinach, bacon, and walnuts. Basically, try anything, you can't really go wrong. As for puddings, we've only had room for a pudding once or twice; the apple strudel is OK but my absolute favourite was the honey cake, very moist and not too heavy. The beer is wonderful Pilsner Urquell, on draught, at around 50p a pint, and you can also get a draught dark beer, as well as a few different bottled ones. They also have wide range of local spirits, which the Scotsman worked his way through (tip: try the Citrus Fernet). It's reasonably quiet during the day but gets absolutely packed during the evening and despite its size if you haven't got a reservation you might have to wait a while for a table. If you're lucky you might get the very friendly but slightly over-enthusiastic English speaking waiter who appears to be Prague's number one Status Quo fan. If you're really lucky he might even show you his well thumbed photograph of himself with the band. A truly excellent place, probably my favourite in Prague. There's a webite here.
Nearby, and also very cheap and well worth visiting is U dvou kocek (The Two Cats) on Perlova (in Uhelny square). This restaurant also offers cheap Pilsner Urquell by the gallon, and does very cheap food, mainly Czech dishes. The beef in tomato sauce comes highly recommended at less than £2, and the Wencleslas style pork (stuffed with cabbage) is worth a try as, according to my fat friend, is the apple strudel. Two of us ate here and had several beers apiece and the total bill came to less than £10. Be warned that although this place stays open late, after dark it is right in the heart of Prague's red light district (surprising as it's next door to a police station). Also it's very popular with the locals (the bar, not the red light district) and can fill up, but then you could always stay in the bar until a table becomes free. The service can be a bit surly too, although trying out a few words of Czech might help (well, as long as you're using the Czech words for "please" and "thank you", and not "fuck off"....).
The Restaurance Na Porici at Na Porici 20 in the Stare Mesto doesn't look too impressive from the outside, but appearances can be deceptive. Inside it is clean and friendly, and has an extensive (and, more importantly) very cheap menu, with several Czech specialties alongside the usual steak and pork. I think I went for the veal, which was excellent, and my friend who had the carp recommends that. The waiter spoke only limited English but was very friendly and helpful to the point of refusing to let my friend order things that wouldn't go with his carp (sauerkraut and carp, I ask you!). A several-course meal and lots of drinks came to considerably less than £10 per head.
For somewhere a bit more up-market, how about the Malostranska Beseda which is on Malonstranske Namesti (the Lesser Town Square). Its location makes it the ideal place to gather your energy before tackling the hike up to the castle, or to recover your energy after you've made your way back down. The two times I've been in there it's been practically empty (although both times it was mid-afternoon, hardly peak hours). I like the décor of the place, an eclectic mixture of various antique bric-a-brac and old photos and pictures of Prague. The food is good too although given its prime location it's a bit above average Prague prices, but still good value for money. Note, however, that what's described on the menu as "swordfish" looks and tastes exactly like trout. Maybe it was just a midget swordfish?
Malostranska pivnice is a huge place at Cihelna 3 (near the river between Charles Bridge and Manesuv bridge); it's operated by the same people who run U Vejvodu and has a similar menu, although we didn't try the food in here (apart from the huge pretzels they stick on all the tables - they charge you for them, you know!), sticking to a liquid diet. As usual the Pilsner Urquel went down a treat, and was pretty cheap for a place in this part of town, less than 30 crowns for a half litre. Apparently the hot chocolate in here is particularly good, although needless to say it wasn't something I tried myself. I think I'll definitely be trying the food here next time I'm in Prague. Their website is here.
Another place where we didn't try the food but stayed for several drinks was the Pivnice U Glaubicu, a bit of a tourist-trap also on the Malostranske Namesti, straight up the road from the Charles Bridge. This is a traditional 700 year-old beer hall (complete with authentic, ancient cellars), recently renovated and reopened. The beer is Staropramen and is above the average Prague price, although they make up for this by serving it in litre glasses, on request. Needless to say, I requested it. We stayed here for a while, the waitresses were very friendly (despite being dressed up in "traditional" peasant costume), and it's worth taking time to have a look round the place, from the painted front salon with its wooden benches, to the barrel-vaulted brick cellars. This is one bar where you can get a history lesson every time you nip off for a slash. We had a look at the menu, which features traditional Czech dishes like deer and roast goose, and although it was fairly expensive (over £5 for a main course) the portions seemed to be huge.
Slightly up the road we also tried U Tri Zlatych Hvezd (Malostranske Namesti 8/263). It has a slightly less rustic feel than Pivnice U Glaubicu, although the building was very similar (they've got the vaulted brick cellar here too). We only stopped in here for a breather and a couple of pints, although the Scotsman went for the coffee and cake and scoffed the lot. When I went back in 2004 I tried the food, and wasn't disappointed (then again I rarely am with a plate of food in front of me...). I had the pork fried in breadcrumbs (ie schnitzels) with boiled spuds, my companion went for the risotto. As you might expect from the restaurants location, and the tourist market it's aimed at, the prices were a bit above the average for Prague, but still good value for money. It has quite a classy (and expensive) price list too; we went for a bottle of the modry portugal (that's just the grape variety, the wine itself was Czech) and it was probably the nicest bottle of Czech wine that I've tried.
A big group of us (well, 5 of us actually, but any group with me in it is by definition big) spent an evening in the Restaurant U Kostela, at Malostranske Namesti, on the same stretch of road as the two places mentioned above. It's a bit of a touristy place that claims to specialise in traditional Czech food. I started with the game soup which was very nice and followed it up with the stuffed roasted chicken which was also excellent. I think the Scotsman had carp but I can't really remember what anyone else because I was drunk. I do remember that we (or more accurately, I) knocked back a fair few beers, and we also got through a couple of bottles of excellent Czech red (Frankovka), and that the bill was still pretty reasonable.
One more on Malostranske namesti is U Mecenase at number 10, again another slightly more up-market (and expensive) place. The restaurant is housed in an old 17th century house, inside it looks like an old vaulted cellar with a rustic feel, and some odd bits of bric-a-brac (a stuffed owl on the wall! At least it wasn't on the menu). For some reason all 3 of us opted for the steak here, and a good choice it was as the steaks were excellent, fillet steak really thick cut, full of flavour and perfectly cooked. I had the steak Wellington (with bacon and wrapped in flaky pastry, with a sort of green herb sauce on top) which came with sliced roast potatoes, and it was superb, one of the finest meals I've had in Prague. The others had Hunter's steak (with a cranberry sauce) and Jewish style steak (with garlic and mushrooms). For a touch of sophistication we finished off with a cheeseboard for desert and washed everything down with a couple of really excellent bottles of Czech reserve frakovka. That was the most expensive meal we had on that trip; including the tip it came to around £50 for the 3 of us, a big chunk of which would have been the wine, but given the quality of the food nobody was complaining. One odd thing - they don't have an indoor toilet! If you have to answer the call of nature you must borrow the key and nip round the back to the outhouse; being from Lancashire this didn't phase me. You can check out their website here.
The Restaurant U Brany has an ideal location, at Nerudova 21, half way up the hill to the castle. Despite its prime location it is in no way a tourist-trap. The food was reasonably priced and rather good (I went for the wild boar steak in cranberry sauce) and the cheap beer (including a Czech-brewed stout) make it a decent place to catch your breath on the hike up to the castle. They also have fondue on the menu. This may or may not be a good thing. They even have a website.
A bit further up Nerudova towards the castle is U Zlate Podkovy, a friendly little place and very good value given its location. I went for the rump steak with "American potatoes" (i.e. potato wedges) which I really enjoyed, reasonably priced Pilsner Urquell just hit the spot too. My companion had the salmon (fried in a light better) which I had the chance to sample (they don't stint on the portions), and that was good too. A bigger group of us went back here in 2007 and so I'm now also in a postion to recommend the roast pork (which came with red and white cabbage, and bacon and bread dumplings), the Hungarian ghoulash, and for pudding the honey cake (exactly the same as in U Vejvodu - it must be bought in).
A couple of other tourist oriented places on Nerudova but both further down near Malostranske Namesti. First off all we tried U Certa (The Devil) at number 4, a very pleasant place even with the plastic statue of a not very frightening devil outside. My two friends both had soup starters (bean soup and shrimp and asparagus) while I stuck with a manly starter of beer. For the main course I had the venison with potato croquettes which was excellent, the Scotsman had flounder (which is apparently some kind of fish) while Seedy Rob had impressive looking chicken kebab. Great food and service, and good value given its location.
A bit further on up Nerudova , at number 8 to be exact, we tried Restaurace Vpodhradi, which has a similar menu and is aimed at the same market as U Certa. I went for the goulash with dumplings which was good and helped me shift a hangover. The Scotsman and Seedy Rob both had the trout (whole, fried). Again, very good food and very good value.
U Karlova Mostu is at Na Kampe 15 on Kampa Island, in a rather vividly painted orange building. You get the choice of eating in a lovely gothic brick cellar, or outside in a garden on the banks of the Vlatava (probably not the best idea in the middle of winter). There are one or two unconventional choices on the menu (like marinated ostrich), I went for the more basic turkey breast, which was a huge steak, crusted with herbs, and which came with a vegetable ratatouille and for some reason, pita bread. I also had a side order of potato wedges. My companion had one of the pasta dishes, which was bloody huge, served in what looked like some kind of glass bucket. The food was excellent, the beer was very reasonably priced, and we had a nice bottle of wine too (Czech frankovka). On my second visit there we had more of an appetite; we had a mixture of starters (beer cheese and garlic toast, onion rings, and potato balls with blue cheese and bacon sauce). For the main course 2 of us went for the beef in tomato sauce (which also came with a dollop of cream and berries), while I had the pork steak (fried and battered) with mashed spuds. We also came back here in December 2007, when we were staying at the Archibald Hotel upstairs and so qualified for a 10% discount. Because of the time we were eating the menu was a bit more limited, but the food was still as good. I had a thick, juicy steak that was served with a pepper salsa and was too busy scoffing that to pay much attention to what everyone else was having, although I believe it may have been salmon, pork tenderloin, and a salad. The prices were surprisingly cheap considering it's in a prime tourist location, service was efficient and friendly too, this is a really good place.
Next door is Restaurant Kampa 14, a similar sort of place, perhaps a bit more up-market than U Karlova Mostu but with a bit less atmopshere (maybe something do with the nicely colour coordinated walls in here, while U Karlova Mostu has bare brick). The food was very good though (after a bit of over-indulgence at U Fleku the day before we all played it safe and went for the chicken, 2 of us had the chicken breast stuffed with ham and blue cheese which was delicious, the chimp just had the fried chicken fillet), and again it was surprisingly cheap given the restaurant's location. The draft Budweiser Budvar was cheap too and was going down all too easily... The restaurant has a website, but the English translation doesn't seem to be working.
We ended up in U Zlatych Nuzek ("The Golden Scissors") at Na Kampe 6 because we were waiting for a taxi and so needed somewhere close to our hotel and we'd already tried a couple of the other restaurants on Na Kampe. As we were a bit pushed for time 3 of us only had the starters; chicken noodle soup, potato soup, and a big plate of Prague ham served with pickles and horseradish, all of which were fine. The greedy bugger who had a main course (not me, surprisingly!) had some kind of fresh water fish (we couldn't figure it out from the menu but my guess would be zander), which was very fresh and looked really good. I might have to come back here sometime to try the main courses myself sometime. Good beer (Krusovice) too.
The Restaurant Rotisserie at Mikulandska 6 (just off Narodni, a short walk from the National Theatre) doesn't look like much from the outside, but get in there and it's a different story, done-up like some sort of gothic cellar, and with really posh crockery. Luckily the food (mainly Czech dishes) live up to the surroundings, and are good value for money. I recommend the pork with blue cheese sauce. They also have an extensive (and expensive) list of Moravian wines. We just stuck to the beer. Its location, opening hours (until midnight) makes it well worth a visit.
Pension Musketyr (Mezibranska 13; go to the top of Wenceslas Square and turn right) offers traditional Czech food. The whole restaurant is underground, in a brick vaulted cellar, with lots of swords (or sabres), shields and other "medieval" weapons on the wall. I have a feeling they may not be authentic antiques. The food is excellent though; they have a wide range of soups, games, steaks, lots of other meat (including some that might not be exactly traditional Czech cooking, unless the kangaroo is native to Prague). A great place anyway.
U Cisaru on Loretanska (a couple of minutes walk from Namestie Republikie) has remarkably similar decor, a medieval theme with lots of swords, shields, and bits if armour. Sadly one thing they didn't have was a menu in English but the friendly waiter was very helpful and told us some of the things they had but the menu was very long and I'm sure there were exotic delights in there that we missed out on. Myself and Seedy Rob ended up with steaks, which were thick and juicy, with potato wedges while the Scotsman had salmon. Everything was superb. They serve good beer too, and they serve it quickly. While were here we saw several other English people also being talked through the menu by the waiter so maybe they'll get bored of doing that and bring in an English menu before long.
If you're in the mood for pizza or pasta you could do much worse than try Pizzeria Donna at Perlova 1 (about 5 minutes walk from the bottom of Wenceslas Square). They have a wide range of pizzas, pastas and salads (needless to say the salad remained unordered by me), good cheap beer, and a reasonable wine-list (including bottles of decent Czech red for £2.50 or so). Great food, cheap drink, central location, what more could you want? The service was a trifle, erm, eccentric while we were there, although that was hardly the fault of the waitress being run off her feet by beer swilling goons demanding refills every 5 minutes. Leave a big tip.
Another really excellent pizza place is on Ungelt square, Metamorphis. The pizzas have thin crispy bases and are loaded with toppings. A Welsh acquaintance who spends a lot of time in Prague, and scoffs a lot of pizzas, reckons they were the best he's had there. As well as pizza they have a pretty good range of pasta and salads on the menu. The house (Czech) red wine was also excellent. When we came to order the bill the waiter had forgotten what we'd had so we had to try and reconstruct everything, not the easiest task given our condition. I think that 15 beers between us was a conservative estimate, but we did leave a big tip to make up any deficit. The puddings are good too; I tried the fruit dumplings but my friends recommend the ice cream. Best of all they now serve Staropramen on tap - previously the only draught beer they had in here was Stella.
OK, one more pizza place but another good one. Canzone is on Josefa in the Mala Strana, about 2 minutes walk from Charles Bridge. Given its location it is understandably popular but this may have had more to do with the pizzas, which were thin, crispy and wood baked in the main part of the restaurant. Decent beer and very good value for money too, this is a very good place.
For those in search of fast food there has been a proliferation of McDonalds and KFCs around the city, presumably to cater for Western tourists and all those pretentious twats who seem to think they're Hemingway in 1920s Paris. A much better and cheaper bet however are the many 24-hour kiosks in Wenceslas Square; they offer a selection of german-style hot-dogs, burgers, chicken burgers, even fried cheese (although sadly no longer the fried-chicken quarters they used to offer), all for less than £2. My personal favourites are the hot-dogs, although I cannot vouch for the provenance of the meat (I can imagine what happens to the leftover pork from U vejvodu though). These enlightened establishments will also sell you beer throughout the night, but tend to present an irresistible attraction to Prague's winos. In the winter they sell a range of drinks to warm you up including grog (rum and hot water), rum and hot chocolate, and my own personal favourite, hot mulled wine. It certainly keeps the chill at bay. If you've got an hour or so to kill you can do an excellent crawl, stopping off at all the kiosks on one side of Wenceslas Square as you head up it, and then all the ones on the other side as you come down.
Prague also has the usual range of Irish and British pubs, and even American-style "sports bars", but to be perfectly frank if you go to Prague and end up in one of these places you're beyond redemption.
How about a couple of nightclubs? I've been known to pop in one or two when I fancy a late night in slightly more classy surroundings than a non-stop bar but it wasn't until I had some feedback asking me to recommend some that, armed with some hazy recollections, a Prague street map and 15 minutes on Google that I was able to work out where they were.
For a start there's U Zlateho Stromu which is actually a hotel on Karlova, but in the basement there is a nightclub (it's difficult to miss; as you walk down Karlova look for the billboard featuring a drawing of a woman with unfeasibly large breasts; there's also a live TV link outside the hotel showing what's going on in the nightclub). It costs 100 crowns (around £2) to get into the club, which stays open until 6am. A half litre of beer will set you back 50 crowns, and if you can't be bothered dragging yourself to the bar they even have waiter service. The entire nightclub is underground and is housed in a series of old brick-lined vaults. There are a couple of bars (decent cocktails), a dance floor and even plenty of comfy chairs and tables. A quality place with a great atmosphere, we spent a couple of nights in here, but be warned that in one of the vaults there are topless gogo dancers. Needless to say we did not approve of this, oh no! In a touch of genius they have TV screens throughout the rest of the club which have a live feed to the dancers. Disgraceful! Actually, they didn't have the TV screens in the toilets. Wonder why.... By the way, if you do feel the need to reward he dancers for their labours I believe that it is traditional to place a bank note down the side of their g-string, rather than trying to tickle her foot with it, Dave. I spend entirely too much time in this place.... There's a link here.
Even classier is Solidní Nejistota, which you'll find on Pstrossova (west of Wenceslas Square, it's actually the next road along from U Flecku). This place also has a website. They have a reasonably priced bar (a huge one, running down the middle of the club). It seemed to be popular with organised crime bigwigs, which means that you should be as safe as houses in here unless you decide to start some aggro yourself, which I'd suggest is a seriously bad idea. Judging by some of the other clientele in here I'd imagine that there must be a modelling school just around the corner which meant that we (3 fat blokes, a gorilla and a cadaverous Scotman) didn't exactly blend in, but it's a very friendly place, definitely well worth a visit.
The Arena Disco is on Melantrichova. We went there because it was in the basement of out hotel and hotel guests got in free. It's a bit of a strange place, the bar is good and they play an eclectic range of music (from Abba to what sounded like some weird Czech pop), it's a big place too, but it was pretty quiet both times we went in and had it's fair share of sad old men out on the pull. Or that could have just been us looking in the mirror. It's open until 4am though and the beer isn't too expensive (although you have to pay 5 crowns to use the toilet).
Worthy of consideration, especially outside standard opening hours (i.e. after 4 a.m. or so, not the ridiculous 11 p.m. you'd have to pack-up in the UK) are Prague's numerous non-stop bars. If you took a 24 hour bar and put it in anywhere in the UK the result would no doubt be a seedy, violent, rip-off, but in Prague they are surprisingly welcoming places, although being drunk before you walk in probably helps here. They are also surprisingly clean, cheap, and bereft of knife-wielding tattooed lunatics. Actually many of them are an excuse for people to play fruit machines throughout the night, so the bar may not be the main reason for some people frequenting them. Many also have live music to keep the punters entertained. The one I have most experience (but few memories) of was the Herna Bar (a very common name) on Na Porici, a couple of minutes walk from Namesti Republiki. We started out on the beer but soon switched to absinthe, especially as it was being bought for us by a Czech gambler in return for our predictions of English football results (at least we assumed that this was what was going on). The staff here are so friendly that they didn't people throwing up on their way to the toilets and were happy to continue serving Dave, I mean them, with drinks afterwards. The regulars were still going strong when we staggered out into the sunlight at 6 a.m. (Tip: If you're going to set your absinthe on fire, make sure the glass cools down before drinking it.)
Basics - Getting
There - Getting Around - Places To Stay
Where
To Get Drunk - What
To See And Do
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