Sunrise on the empty Charles Bridge in Prague

A city that charges for the view, and gives away the walk

Prague runs on rules a visitor meets on day one — a ticket sold by the minute, a currency that is not the euro, and a clock that draws a crowd on the hour. We write what is checkable, name the office that decides it, and date every figure.

Photograph by Valerii Tkachenko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

1,275,406Residents

496.2 km²City area

1410Clock first recorded

korunaNot the euro

90 minHow a ticket is sold

CzechOfficial language

Population and area: Czech Statistical Office / City of Prague. The clock’s oldest component was first recorded on 9 October 1410. Checked 4 September 2026.

Prague in briefPraha · Bohemia

Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic and a city of about 1.3 million people, built on both banks of the Vltava in the middle of Bohemia. The historic core — the Old Town, the Lesser Town, the New Town and the Castle district together — has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1992, and it is small enough to cross on foot in under an hour.

A settlement grew here around a ford and a castle in the ninth century. Its great period was the fourteenth, when Charles IV made Prague the seat of the Holy Roman Empire, founded the university in 1348 and began the stone bridge that still carries his name in 1357. The Habsburgs took over in 1526 and ruled until 1918. Prague was not bombed flat in the Second World War, which is the single reason the medieval street plan and the baroque facades on top of it are still standing. Communist rule ended with the Velvet Revolution in 1989.

It is known for the castle and the cathedral inside it, for the astronomical clock of 1410 — the oldest one still working anywhere — for Bohemian glass and for beer, which Czechs drink more of per head than any other nation. Kafka was born here, Mucha painted here, and Dvořák and Smetana are both buried at Vyšehrad.

Country: The Czech Republic. Prague sits in Bohemia, the western of the country’s two historic halves.
Language: Czech. English is widely spoken in the centre and in anything aimed at visitors; much less so two tram stops out.
Currency: The Czech koruna (CZK) — not the euro. Some places quote in euros at a poor rate; pay in koruna and decline dynamic currency conversion.
Time zone: Central European Time, UTC+1 — and UTC+2 from late March to late October.
Population: About 1.3 million in the city; roughly 2.7 million in the wider metropolitan area.
Arriving: Václav Havel Airport (PRG) is about 17 km west of the centre and has no rail link — it is buses and the Airport Express coach. Getting here →
Stations: Praha hlavní nádraží is the main station and is a short walk or one metro stop from the Old Town; Holešovice handles some international trains.
When to come: April to June and September to October. Many museums close on Monday. Plans by trip length →

UNESCO inscribed the historic centre in 1992. Charles University was founded in 1348 and the bridge begun in 1357. Checked 5 September 2026. Nothing here carries a price or a fare — those live on the pages that keep them current.

Where things live

Eleven sections, arranged the way the city is — by which side of the river you are standing on.

This bank — how it works

Getting AroundMetro, trams, the 90-minute ticket, and an airport with no train.Planning & PracticalitiesHours, holidays, the crowd calendar, and the koruna.Food & DrinkThe hospoda, the paper tab, and what is charged for.Beer & PubsDegrees not strength, tank beer, and what a glass should cost.NeighbourhoodsStaré Město, Malá Strana, Vinohrady, Žižkov.Getting Here & OnwardVienna, Dresden, Berlin and Munich — fares and times.

That bank — what to see

Landmarks & SightsThe castle, the bridge, the clock — what costs, what is free.Museums & GalleriesWhat each collection holds, and what a ticket covers.Parks & OutdoorsPetřín, Letná, and the climb that buys the view.Day TripsKutná Hora, Karlštejn, Český Krumlov.Itineraries & Day PlansOne, two, three, five days and a week.

Charles Bridge at sunrise, empty of people — The bridge at sunrise, before the crowd — the single most useful piece of timing in Prague. Photograph by Valerii Tkachenko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Sixteen sights, and what each one costs

The streets, the bridges and the squares are free. What you pay for is going inside, and going up. Each one opens at its entry in Landmarks & Sights.

Prague CastleGrounds free · circuits ticketed

The exterior of St Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle

St Vitus CathedralFree at the door · ticket to go further

Charles Bridge over the Vltava seen from the Petřín tower

Charles BridgeFree · empty at dawn

Prague's Old Town Square seen from the Old Town Hall tower

Old Town SquareFree · the tower is ticketed

The face of the Prague astronomical clock

The Astronomical ClockFree · on the hour

The Church of Our Lady before Týn above the Old Town Square

Týn ChurchFree · limited hours

Wenceslas Square with the National Museum at its head

Wenceslas SquareFree · a boulevard, not a square

The Powder Tower, a surviving gate of the old city walls

The Powder TowerTicketed to climb

Municipal HouseCafé free · interiors by tour

The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague's Josefov

Josefov, the Jewish QuarterOne ticket · shut Saturdays

The National TheatreFree outside · cheap seats inside

The Dancing House on the Vltava embankment

The Dancing HouseFree · rooftop bar open

VyšehradFree · the view without the crowd

The Philosophical Hall of the Strahov Monastery library

Strahov Monastery LibraryTicketed · seen from the doorway

The Lennon WallFree · repainted constantly

Petřín Lookout TowerFunicular on a transport ticket

Sight photographs by Kent Wang, Jan Zubíček, A.Savin, Jorge Royan, Txllxt TxllxT, Szczecinolog, John Samuel, VitVit, giggel, Adam Zivner and Suisant7, via Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY, CC BY-SA and FAL licences. Each sight’s own page carries its full credit and licence.

All sixteen, with what each ticket covers and when the crowd arrives →

Plans by how long you have

Written plans rather than lists, each built around what is shut on the day you are here. The longer ones add a day out of the city, then a second country.

1 dayOne Day in Prague — The centre on foot 2 daysTwo Days in Prague — Adds the other bank 3 daysThree Days in Prague — Adds the interiors 5 daysFive Days in Prague — Adds a day out 7 days or moreA Week in Prague — Adds a nearby city

Start here

First Time in Prague The airport with no train, the ticket sold by time, and the koruna. Prague, Practically Tickets, money, opening hours and the crowd calendar.

Prague Guide What to see, what it costs, and what is free. Beer & Pubs Degrees, tank beer, the paper tab, and the real price.

One correction, plainly

The astronomical clock is almost always sold as the oldest working clock in the world. The defensible version: its oldest component was first recorded on 9 October 1410, and most of what you look at is later — the calendar dial is nineteenth-century, the apostles were added in the 1860s, and it was rebuilt after fire damage in 1945. Still remarkable. Just not untouched.