Czech Republic 5 Day Itinerary

Czech Republic: 5-Day Itinerary

Prague gets around forty million visitors a year and still surprises people who have been told to expect a beautiful but tourist-exhausted city. What they find is that the Old Town is indeed exhausted, but the Czech Republic extends well beyond it: medieval towns, a church decorated entirely in human bones, and a castle town in the south that the crowds have not yet ruined in the same way. The itinerary below uses Prague as a base for the first two days, then escapes it.

Visas, Currency and Basics

The Czech Republic is part of the Schengen Area; citizens of most Western countries can visit for 90 days without a visa. The currency remains the Czech Koruna (CZK), not the euro; this matters because many tourist-facing businesses in Prague accept euros at unfavourable rates. ATMs dispense CZK; use them. Avoid currency exchange booths on Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square, which apply hidden fees. Restaurants near major attractions price in English-translated menus, which cost 15 to 20 percent more than Czech-only menus for identical food; step half a block off the main tourist routes and prices drop considerably.

Getting In

Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG) is 17 km west of the city centre. The Airport Express bus (AE) runs to the Main Train Station in around 35 minutes for CZK 100. Bus 119 costs CZK 40 (standard fare) and connects to the Veleslavín metro station. Rideshare apps (Bolt is the most commonly used) run around EUR 18 to EUR 22 to the centre. Taxi meters are regulated but agree the fare from the airport taxi desk rather than hailing outside arrivals.

Day 1: Prague, Old Town and Castle

Begin at Prague Castle before the crowds arrive (gates open at 6 am for the grounds; the main attractions from 9 am). The complex is enormous and much of it is exterior courtyard; what earns the time is St. Vitus Cathedral, whose nave is Gothic of the highest order, and the Golden Lane, a row of tiny sixteenth-century houses built against the castle walls. Book tickets online in advance; the combined circuit costs around CZK 450 to CZK 750 depending on which sections you choose.

Cross Charles Bridge mid-morning, when the morning tour groups are thinning. The bridge dates to the fourteenth century and the baroque statuary on the parapets is genuinely remarkable; the trick is to look at the sculptures rather than the selfie-takers. Walk into Malá Strana (Lesser Town) on the far side for coffee at one of the narrow-street cafes that are ten seconds from the bridge but empty compared to the bridge itself.

Lunch at Lokál on Dlouhá in the Old Town. This is the reference point for understanding how pub food is supposed to work in Prague: unpasteurised tank beer (Pilsner Urquell fresh from the tank, distinctly better than the bottled version), svíčková (braised beef sirloin in cream sauce with bread dumplings and cranberry), and fried cheese that does not apologise for itself. Budget CZK 350 to CZK 500 per person including a beer. Avoid restaurants with photographs on the menu on Old Town Square; they charge two to three times more for worse food.

Afternoon: Old Town Square for the Astronomical Clock (every hour on the hour, the mechanical parade lasts 45 seconds and is underwhelming in person relative to the build-up, but you may as well see it), then the Jewish Quarter (Josefov) with its cluster of synagogues and the Old Jewish Cemetery. Entry to the Jewish Museum complex is CZK 550 for adults; the Old New Synagogue costs extra (CZK 200) and is still an active house of worship.

Dinner in Vinohrady, the district southeast of Wenceslas Square, which has better restaurants and lower prices than the centre. The neighbourhood runs on residential streets and has fewer tourist traps.

Day 2: Petrin, Nusle and Evening Prague

Petrin Hill (tram to Ujezd, then funicular from CZK 40) is the morning. The observation tower at the summit is a smaller Eiffel Tower replica from 1891; the views over the city are the real point, especially on a clear morning. The Mirror Maze beside the tower (entry CZK 100) is explicitly a funfair attraction and cheerfully acknowledges it.

Eska on Pernerova Street in the Žižkov/Karlín district is the lunch destination. This is bakery and restaurant combined: house-baked sourdough, Czech breakfast preparations with soft-boiled egg and farmer’s cheese, and contemporary Czech cooking that takes the country’s larder seriously without being precious about it. The neighbourhood is worth exploring on foot; Žižkov is the bohemian district Prague guidebooks recommend but rarely describe well.

Afternoon free for Prague’s smaller museums. The Mucha Museum (CZK 300) covers the Art Nouveau poster artist Alfons Mucha and is well curated for its size. The Museum of Communism (CZK 380) is one of the better Cold War history museums in Eastern Europe, with more nuance than its name suggests.

For the evening, a river cruise on the Vltava is the option that looks like a tourist cliche and actually earns the investment: the city seen from the water at dusk, with the castle lit and the bridges illuminated, is one of those experiences where the promotional photography is accurate. Cruises run from around CZK 500 to CZK 900 per person depending on duration and meal inclusion; the shorter cruises without a fixed dinner are more flexible.

Day 3: Kutná Hora

The train from Prague’s Main Station to Kutná Hora takes around one hour (CZK 100 to CZK 150, book on the CD app or at the station). This is the day trip with the highest payoff.

The Sedlec Ossuary is 2 km from the train station (15-minute walk or a short taxi). The church is decorated with the bones of an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 people, arranged into chandeliers, coats of arms, and garlands. This is not a ghoulish tourist attraction running on shock value; the bones were gathered and arranged in the nineteenth century with genuine devotion, and the space is a functioning church. Photography is not permitted. Entry to the ossuary and Sedlec Cathedral is around CZK 220 for adults; book tickets in advance online because capacity is limited and specific time slots fill quickly. Open daily, 9 am to 6 pm April through September, shorter hours in winter.

The Cathedral of Saint Barbara (Chrám svaté Barbory) in the town centre is the second essential stop: a stunning late-Gothic cathedral with flying buttresses and frescoes depicting medieval mining scenes (Kutná Hora was a major silver-mining centre). Entry around CZK 120. Budget one hour.

Return to Prague in the afternoon or take the train directly to Český Krumlov if spending night three there.

Day 4: Český Krumlov

Český Krumlov is three hours by bus from Prague (RegioJet buses are comfortable and cost CZK 150 to CZK 250; book in advance). The bus is better than the train on this route. The town sits inside a horseshoe bend of the Vltava River and the castle above it is one of the best-preserved Baroque complexes in Central Europe.

Overnight here rather than returning to Prague the same day; the town changes when the day-trippers leave. Accommodation options range from pensions in the old town from CZK 800 per night to mid-range hotels. The Český Krumlov Card (CZK 300 for adults) covers the castle tower, castle museum, the Regional Museum, and several other sites.

The castle is the afternoon. The Baroque Theatre inside the castle is one of the most intact examples in Europe, with original stage machinery and costumes; tours run at specific times and must be booked. The castle gardens above the town are free to enter and less crowded than the castle buildings.

Dinner at one of the restaurants on the main square. The food here is not at the level of Prague, but a plate of svíčková in this setting does not need to be ambitious to be good.

Day 5: Return to Prague and Departure

An early morning bus or train returns you to Prague in time for a final few hours before the airport. The Kantýna restaurant near Wenceslas Square (a former bank repurposed as a butcher-restaurant where you order meat by weight) is the one stop worth making if you want a final proper meal rather than airport food. CZK 300 to CZK 450 per person gets you a meal that earns the return journey through the city.

The Airport Express bus from the Main Train Station reaches the airport in 35 minutes. Allow two hours before any international departure.

Practical Notes

The Czech Republic is cheaper than most Western European destinations and significantly cheaper than its Schengen neighbours. The tipping convention is 10 percent, paid in cash at the table rather than by rounding up on a card machine. The Prague metro is clean, fast, and straightforward; buy a 24-hour pass (CZK 120) on arrival rather than single journey tickets.