Guides - Pocket rough guide. Prague

Prague is very popular, which means that the streets around the main sights are jam-packed with tourists for much of the year. If you can, its best to avoid the summer months, when temperatures sometimes soar above 30C, and you have to fight your way across Charles Bridge. The best times to visit, in terms of weather, are May and September. The winter months can be very chilly in Prague, but if you dont mind the cold, the city does look good in the snow and the crowds are manageable. Christmas and New Year are perfect as there are Christmas markets right across town, and plenty of mulled wine and hot punch to keep you warm.

View of the castle from Charles Bridge

Physically, Prague may have weathered the twentieth century very well but it suffered in other ways. The city that produced the music of Dvok and Smetana, the literature of apek and Kafka and modernist architecture to rival Bauhaus, was forced to endure a brutal Nazi occupation. Prague had always been a multiethnic city, with a large Jewish and German-speaking population in the aftermath of the war, only the Czechs were left. Then for forty years, during the Communist period, the city lay hidden behind the Iron Curtain, seldom visited by Westerners. All that changed in the 1990s, and nowadays Prague is one of the most popular European city break destinations, with a highly developed tourist industry and a large expat population who, if nothing else, help to boost the citys nightlife.

Prague is divided into two unequal halves by the river, which meanders through the heart of the capital and provides the city with one of its most enduring landmarks, Charles Bridge. Built during the citys medieval golden age, this stone bridge, with its parade of Baroque statuary, still forms the chief link between the more central old town, or Star Msto, on the right bank, and Pragues hilltop castle on the left. The castle is a vast complex, which towers over the rest of the city and supplies the classic picture-postcard image of Prague. Spread across the slopes below the castle are the wonderful cobbled streets and secret walled gardens of Mal Strana, little changed in the two hundred years since Mozart walked them.

With a population of just one and a quarter million, Prague (Praha to the Czechs) is relatively small as capital cities go. It originally developed as four separate self-governing towns and a Jewish ghetto, whose individual identities and medieval street plans have been preserved, to a greater or lesser extent, to this day. Almost everything of any historical interest lies within these compact central districts, and despite the twisting matrix of streets, its easy enough to find your way around between the major landmarks. If you do use public transport, youll find an extensive and picturesque tram network and a futuristic Soviet-built metro system that rivals most German cities. Price rises over the last decade mean Prague is no longer the budget destination it once was. However, one thing you can be sure of is that the beer is better and cheaper than anywhere else in the EU.

Whats new

Its not so much whats new, but whats reopening soon in Prague thats big news. The National Museum spent several years under scaffolding before its grand doors swung open again in 2018, and the same is true of the Museum of Decorative Arts (UPM), which has undergone a complete makeover. Artisan food is now big in the Czech capital with places like Nae maso pleasing the citys sworn carnivores. Prague is adding tram lines at a frantic pace and construction of blue metro line D from Nmst Mru is underway.

Where to

Shop

Pask, in Josefov, is home to the citys swankiest stores, among them branches of the international fashion houses. Celetn in Star Msto, and Na pkop on the border of Nov Msto, also specialize in luxury goods. The citys most modern department store is the multistorey My nrodn on Nrodn. Czechs have had their own malls known as pase since the 1920s, and new ones continue to sprout up. The mother of all malls is Palladium, on Nmst Republiky, housed in a castellated former army barracks. For more offbeat, independent shops you need to explore the cobbled side streets of Star Msto and Nov Msto.

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Eat

As in many cities, the main thoroughfares in Prague arent the best places in which to find somewhere to eat and drink. One or two grand Habsburg-era cafs survive on the main junctions of the city centre, but for the most part, the best cafs and restaurants are hidden away in the backstreets. Theres a particularly acute dearth of decent places in and around Prague Castle and Hradany, while expensive restaurants predominate in Mal Strana. For a much wider choice of cafs, and of cuisine, head to Star Msto and the streets of Nov Msto just south of Nrodn.

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Drink

Given that the Czechs top the world league table of beer consumption, it comes as little surprise to find that Prague is a drinkers paradise. Wherever you are in the city, youre never very far from a pub or bar where you can quench your thirst. Star Msto has the highest concentration of pubs and bars, but if youre looking for one of the citys new microbreweries or for a traditional Czech pub (