Prague, Czech Republic 6 Day Itinerary

Prague has been called the most beautiful city in Europe so many times the description has lost most of its meaning. What is harder to communicate is this: the city is surprisingly cheap by Western European standards, genuinely walkable, and still rewards the traveler who ignores the Charles Bridge selfie spots long enough to go deeper. Six days is enough to get past the surface.

Arriving: Airport to City

Václav Havel Airport sits 17 km from the city center, roughly 30 to 40 minutes by car in normal traffic. The cheapest option is trolleybus 59 connecting to the metro, costing around 32 CZK (just over one euro); the journey takes close to an hour. The Airport Express bus costs about EUR 4 per person and is faster but less frequent. A legitimate taxi or pre-booked private transfer costs 600 to 800 CZK (EUR 25 to EUR 35) and takes 30 minutes.

The airport taxi situation deserves plain language: scammers operate at Václav Havel arrivals, sometimes wearing yellow “Info” vests and posing as information staff. They steer travelers to unlicensed vehicles that charge three times the going rate. Do not take any car arranged by someone who approaches you inside the terminal. Book a private transfer before you travel, or use Bolt or Uber from the official taxi rank outside arrivals. Uber staff at the airport wear red vests.

Where to Stay

Stay in Prague 1 (the 1st district, covering Old Town and Josefov) or Prague 2 (Vinohrady, just southeast of Wenceslas Square) to avoid spending your time on trams. Hotel Kings Court in Old Town offers good access at a manageable price; if budget is tight, Vinohrady has well-priced boutique hotels and apartment rentals on quieter residential streets. Avoid the first hotels that appear on comparison sites with photos of Charles Bridge at night; they are priced for people who did not compare.

Day 1: Old Town and the Jewish Quarter

Charles Bridge is best walked before 8am, when the tour groups are still at breakfast and the light comes low over the river. That is the honest version; at any other time the bridge is too crowded to be enjoyed slowly. Cross it, stand on one of the piers, and then move on without guilt.

Old Town Square is the city’s stage set, and it functions as one. The Astronomical Clock draws a crowd every hour on the hour, and the show is genuinely brief. Give it one viewing, then walk north into the Jewish Quarter (Josefov). The Old-New Synagogue, Pinkas Synagogue (whose walls bear the names of 77,297 Czech Jewish victims of the Holocaust), and the Spanish Synagogue are all within a short walk. The Jewish Museum ticket covers multiple sites; buy it online to skip the queue. Budget half a day here.

Lunch at Naše Maso, the butcher shop in Old Town that serves some of the best fast lunch in the city: dry-aged burgers, cold cuts, and a standing counter with no tourist markup. Dinner at Lokál Dlouhááá on Dlouhá Street for proper Czech food: tank-fresh Pilsner Urquell unfiltered, svíčková (beef sirloin with cream sauce), and fried cheese if you need to see what the national comfort food looks like.

Day 2: Prague Castle and Petrin Hill

Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle complex in the world by area. The relevant caveat is that much of that area is courtyard and administrative building; what most visitors want is St. Vitus Cathedral, St. George’s Basilica, and Golden Lane. Start at the castle gates no later than 9am to beat the mid-morning tour bus arrivals. Combined entry for the main circuit runs around 250 CZK for adults.

After the castle, walk down through Malá Strana (Lesser Town) rather than returning the way you came. The neighborhood has cafés and side streets that feel genuinely Czech rather than touristy. Lunch at Café Savoy on Vítězná Street: the interior has a neo-Renaissance painted ceiling that is among the best in the city, and the kitchen does a proper lunch menu that justifies a long table.

Afternoon on Petrin Hill, either on foot up the stepped path from Malá Strana or via the funicular from Újezd. The tower at the top is a small Eiffel Tower replica with views across the city. The Mirror Maze is a short detour and costs under 100 CZK; it is better than it sounds, especially for people traveling with children.

Day 3: Art, Design, and the Letna Neighborhood

Take the metro to Florenc and walk into Karlín, Prague’s fastest-changing neighborhood. Eska, part bakery and part restaurant in an industrial loft conversion, does the best sourdough in the city and a short lunch menu worth the detour. This is where younger Prague residents eat; the tourist circuit has not reached it.

In the afternoon, head to Letná, the long park above the north bank of the Vltava. The Metronome at the end of the park stands where a giant Stalin statue once stood (demolished 1962, the largest Stalin monument ever built at the time). The park benches overlooking the city are one of the best free afternoon stops in Prague. Walk west to the Letná beer garden, which has some of the best city views available from a plastic chair.

The National Gallery’s modern and contemporary collection at Veletržní palác in Holešovice is worth an afternoon if you care about Czech modernism: Kupka, Mucha, and a significant collection of French Impressionists acquired before the Second World War. If the schedule suits, an evening performance at the Estates Theatre (where Mozart personally conducted the premiere of Don Giovanni in 1787) is a different category of travel experience entirely. Book in advance.

Day 4: Boat Tour, John Lennon Wall, and Náplavka

A one-hour boat tour on the Vltava gives you the waterfront architecture from water level, which reorganizes your sense of the city layout. Tours depart from several piers near the Old Town waterfront and cost around 300 to 400 CZK per person.

The John Lennon Wall in Malá Strana is a permanent work in progress: repainted by visitors constantly since the 1980s when it became a quiet resistance symbol under communist rule. It is small and perpetually crowded with people taking photographs, but worth five minutes. More interesting is the context of the neighborhood around it.

Walk south to Náplavka, the riverside embankment below Rašínovo nábreží, which has a farmers’ market on Saturdays and street food vendors most evenings in summer. Kantýna restaurant, a former bank converted into a butcher-style canteen where you order meat by weight and eat at communal standing tables, is a genuinely good dinner for the price. Order the dry-aged steak and skip the tourist-facing tasting menus.

Day 5: Day Trip to Kutná Hora

Trains from Praha hlavní nádraží (Prague Main Station) to Kutná Hora run regularly; the journey is about an hour and costs under 200 CZK return. Buy a combined ticket at sedlec.info before you go; the Sedlec Ossuary requires advance online booking and does not sell tickets at the door in peak season. Adult admission is 220 CZK (around EUR 9), and the combined ticket including St. Barbara’s Cathedral runs 360 CZK.

The Sedlec Ossuary, the “bone church,” was decorated in the 1870s with the bones of approximately 40,000 people. Photography inside is not permitted. The space is small; thirty minutes is adequate. What you will not forget is the chandelier, which contains at least one of every bone in the human body. St. Barbara’s Cathedral, a 15-minute walk through the town, is a late Gothic church that rivals anything in Prague for interior ambition.

Lunch in Kutná Hora’s market square, then return to Prague in the late afternoon. Skip the Italian Court unless you have unlimited time; the ossuary and cathedral are the two things that justify the trip.

Day 6: Vinohrady, Wenceslas Square, and Departure

Prague’s Vinohrady district, east of Wenceslas Square, is the neighborhood that residents recommend to visitors who ask where they actually live. The streets are wider, the architecture is Art Nouveau on a residential scale, and the cafés and wine bars around Náměstí Míru are the kind of places where a long coffee is expected rather than tolerated.

Wenceslas Square is worth one honest walk: it is a boulevard rather than a square and has been the site of most of the significant events of Czech 20th-century history, from the 1918 declaration of independence to the 1989 Velvet Revolution. The equestrian statue of St. Wenceslas at the upper end of the square is the meeting point every Praguer knows.

Lunch at La Degustation Bohême Bourgeoise if budget allows (the tasting menu is around EUR 100 per person and represents Czech food at its most ambitious), or back to Lokál or Naše Maso for a final practical meal. For last souvenirs, skip the Old Town shops and look instead in Vinohrady or Holešovice for design shops selling work by Czech designers at local prices.

Things to Know

Prague’s public transport network covers the city well with metro, tram, and bus. A 24-hour ticket costs 120 CZK (about EUR 5) and covers all three systems. The tram is usually faster than a taxi in central Prague during the day. Validate your ticket at the yellow machines before boarding; inspectors are regular and fines are significant.

Czech currency is the Koruna (CZK), not the euro. Prague is not in the eurozone. A handful of tourist-facing businesses quote prices in euros at unfavorable rates; pay in CZK wherever possible. ATMs at the airport should be avoided; use bank ATMs in the city, not the independent exchange machines which typically carry a steep markup.

Summer in Prague runs warm (20 to 28 degrees Celsius in July) but not oppressive. Rain is possible at any point. The main tourist sites are at peak crowding from mid-June through August; shoulder season visits in May or September give the same weather with noticeably fewer people. Book popular restaurants and the Sedlec Ossuary well before you travel.

The best practical tip for a first visit: do less. Prague’s Old Town is compact and the streets between sites are as interesting as the sites themselves. The traveler who tries to see everything in six days sees none of it properly.