Arguably, Prague is one of the cheaper locations to travel in Europe at the moment! It hasn’t yet reached it’s peak of tourism which means now is the perfect time to go! If you’ve got that tab open with some flights to Prague on hold then book them! You won’t regret it, and your purse won’t either. Prague is like many other Eastern European countries, full of history, beautiful architecture, comfort food and endless things to see! However, there are tourist traps there, and you can easily be led astray on your budget!
My entire trip to Prague (flights, hotel and spending money) cost around £350 for 5 days, and this is including a trip to the Beer Spa which isn’t so cheap! Check my full post on that here.
Things to See and Do
Free walking tour around the city! I’ve been on Sandeman’s walking tours in Berlin and Prague and I’m heading on another soon in Copenhagen! The tours are around 4 hours long with a small break in the middle (usually at a cafe so you can nip to the bathroom or grab a drink) and within that time you’ve seen a huge amount of the must-see locations in the city, learned some history and interesting facts, and also got your bearings around the city! I’ve been on other walking tours before where you pay beforehand but the idea of Sandeman’s is that you pay at the end, depending on what you think it is worth and your budget! For example, I paid around €8 for the tour in Berlin and 100Kč, which is around £3.50 and more relative to the cost of things in the country!
Prague Castle and it’s a must-see on your trip! Tickets vary, and you buy a different ticket depending on which areas of the castle you want to see! We bought the ticket ‘B’, which allowed entry to St. Vitus Cathedral, Old Royal Palace, St. George’s Basilica, Golden Lane with Daliborka Tower, only missing out on an exhibition (which, on the day we went had a 2-3 hour long queue to get into anyway!) and the Rosenburg Palace. As a student, my entry was only 125Kč, and my boyfriend paid 250Kč, around £4 and £8. Check out the ticket pricing here.
Top tip: take the tram up to the castle to save your legs all the walking and walk down instead! Head to the restaurant called the Lokal Inn and stop for a beer and local cuisine!
Visit the John Lennon Wall for a quick snap of this iconic landmark, originally made to anger the Communist regime in the 1980s. Today, the wall is full of artwork and has local musicians playing in the area, and tourists from around the world writing positive notes on the wall. From here, w Charles Bridge and take in the sights of the river and street artists and head towards the Old Town Square where you can see the Astronomical Clock! Wenceslas Square is full of souvenir shops and cafes (head to da Tarquino for some incredible Italian food!) and the Royal Route is a great way to explore the city on foot!
There are so many beautiful sights and buildings to see in the city, and a walk down the river or to one of the parks is a great way to experience Prague. If you’re visiting around Christmas time, take some time to visit the Christmas Markets around the city and sip a mulled wine whilst exploring the stalls.
If museums and historical buildings are more your thing, I recommend exploring St. Vitus Cathedral and visiting the Jewish Museum. Pricier than the castle but so worth the visit. If you’ve ever been to Berlin and experienced the Holocaust Memorial in the city and walked through the blocks and how daunting they can be, this experience is based on the Jewish cemetery in the museum. There aren’t many free museums in the city, but they won’t set you back more than around £10 for the visit, which is well worth it in my opinion!
The Best City Views
For only 75Kč (£2.60), climb up the stairs in the Charles Bridge Tower and make your way to the viewpoint on top. It’s a little bit small up here so get yourself a good spot and wait for sunset to take some beautiful photos of the city moving from day to night!
On your walk down from the castle are some incredible views. Prague Castle Hill offers a stunning view of the entire city from up high, and plenty of spots to stop and take a photo on the way down! there’s also a wine bar on the walk down which would be incredible on a summer’s evening.
Dubbed as Prague’s very own Eiffel Tower is the Petrin Tower! Climb up for some amazing views of the entire city and the castle and escape the hustle and bustle of the city centre for a while.
Getting Around
Walking is by far the cheapest and easiest way to navigate yourself around the city, and despite the castle being a fair walk away from monuments such as the Old Town Square, it can definitely still be done if you’re on a budget!
We caught the tram up to the castle on a single ticket, and public transport tickets all vary depending on how long you are travelling for. A 90 minute pass (long enough to get to the airport!) only costs 32Kč (£1.10), and a 30 minute ticket is 24Kč (84p), cheaper for children and free for young children. Keep in mind if you are travelling to/from the airport then you will need a ticket for your bag on the trams and buses too, which is a half price ticket for 16Kč (56p). You can buy tickets from ticket machines in stations and airports, but you can also buy them from little corner shops located near to tram and bus stops if there are no machines. (If you’ve travelled in Italy, then it’s the same concept they have too!)
Food & Drinks
I have an entire post dedicated to the food in Prague here, but I can’t not mention the fact that beer is cheaper than water, I kid you not. Apparently a law was put forward to make other beverages cheaper than beer in restaurants, and it was rejected by parliament! So whilst you’re in Prague, be prepared to drink plenty of £1 pints of beer (or more expensive bottled water or soda if you don’t drink!)
If you want some cheap food to fill your tummy, there are plenty of hotdog stands around the city, which only cost around 32Kč (£1.10). Heading to traditional restaurants means you can be fed and watered for only around £6 a person for a hearty meal, so be wary if you’re paying UK prices when in a ‘traditional’ restaurant. A lot of the best restaurants aren’t in super-touristy locations either so be prepared to pay more if you want to eat in Old Town Square or by Charles Bridge! Another tourist trap is trdelnik, a popular wood-fired dough coated in sugar and often filled with Nutella or ice cream! I found one to try for around 60Kč, but there are some located around the city for upwards of 150Kč (£5.24!). If you want one, then of course go for it! But for Prague, this is very overpriced just for tourists to buy! I’d stick to the beer.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you’ve found this post helpful!
Have you been to Prague before? Where did you like to visit/eat?! I’d love to know!
Love always,
Amelia
XO
