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Full of fairy-tale vistas, Prague is beautiful in a way that makes even the most jaded traveler stop and snap pictures. The city is physically divided in two by the Vltava River (also sometimes known by its German name, the Moldau), which runs from south to north with a single sharp turn to the east.Originally, Prague was compos
Full of fairy-tale vistas, Prague is beautiful in a way that makes even the most jaded traveler stop and snap pictures. The city is physically divided in two by the Vltava River (also sometimes known by its German name, the Moldau), which runs from south to north with a
Full of fairy-tale vistas, Prague is beautiful in a way that makes even the most jaded traveler stop and snap pictures.
Full of fairy-tale vistas, Prague is beautiful in a way that makes even the most jaded traveler stop and snap pictures. The city is physically divided in two by the Vltava River (also sometimes known by its German name, the Moldau), which runs from south to north with a single sharp turn to the east.
Originally, Prague was composed of five independent towns: Hrad?any (the Castle Area), Malá Strana (Lesser Quarter), Staré M?sto (Old Town), Nové M?sto (New Town), and Josefov (Jewish Quarter), and these areas still make up the heart of Prague—what you think of when picturing its famed winding cobblestone streets and squares.
Hrad?any, the seat of Czech royalty for hundreds of years, centers on the Pražský hrad (Prague Castle)—itself the site of the president's office. A cluster of white buildings yoked around the pointed steeples of a chapel, Prague Castle overlooks the city from a hilltop west of the Vltava River. Steps lead down from Hrad?any to the Lesser Quarter, an area dense with ornate mansions built for the 17th- and 18th-century nobility.
The looming Karl?v most (Charles Bridge) connects the Lesser Quarter with the Old Town. Old Town is hemmed in by the curving Vltava and three large commercial avenues: Revolu?ní to the east, Na p?íkop? to the southeast, and Národní t?ída to the south. A few blocks east of the bridge is the district's focal point: Starom?stské nám?stí (Old Town Square), a former medieval marketplace laced with pastel-color baroque houses—easily one of the most beautiful central squares in Europe. To the north of Old Town Square the diminutive Jewish Quarter fans out around a tony avenue called Pa?ížská.
Beyond the former walls of the Old Town, the New Town fills in the south and east. The name "new" is a misnomer—New Town was laid out in the 14th century. (It's new only when compared with the neighboring Old Town.) Today this mostly commercial district includes the city's largest squares, Karlovo nám?stí (Charles Square) and Václavské nám?stí (Wenceslas Square).
Roughly 1 km (½ mile) south of Karlovo nám?stí, along the Vltava, stands what’s left of the ancient castle of Vyšehrad high above the river. On a promontory to the east of Václavské nám?stí stretches Vinohrady, the home of Prague's well-to-do professional set. Bordering Vinohrady are the scruffier neighborhoods of Žižkov to the north and Nusle to the south. On the west bank of the Vltava lie many older residential neighborhoods and several parks. About 3 km (2 miles) from the center in every direction, communist-era housing projects, called paneláks, begin their unsightly sprawl.
An unforgettable sight, this cemetery is where all Jews living in Prague from the 15th century to 1787 were laid to rest. The lack of any space in the tiny ghetto forced graves to be piled on top of one another. Tilted at crazy angles, the 12,000 visible tombstones are but a fraction of countless thousands more buried below. Walk the path amid the gravestones; the relief symbols you see represent the names and professions of the deceased. The oldest marked grave belongs to the poet Avigdor Kara, who died in 1439; the grave is not accessible from the pathway, but the original tombstone can be seen in the Maisel Synagogue. The best-known marker belongs to Jehuda ben Bezalel, the famed Rabbi Loew (died 1609), a chief rabbi of Prague and a profound scholar, credited with creating the mythical golem. Even today, small scraps of paper bearing wishes are stuffed into the cracks of the rabbi's tomb with the hope that he will grant them. Loew's grave lies near the exit.
It is fitting that the monument to Franz Kafka in Prague, located close to his birthplace, has a suitably surreal, Kafkaesque feel, depicting a small Kafka-like figure riding on the shoulders of a giant, empty suit. It was inspired by one of his short stories and created by sculptor Jaroslav Róna in 2003, and it now stands proudly on the corner of Dušní. Check out the base for the tiny tribute to arguably his most famous work, The Metamorphosis. There are other highlights for Kafka fans in Josefov, too—for example, his birthplace, on the corner of Maiselova and Kaprova, is marked with a bust.
This baroque synagogue, right by the entrance to the Old Jewish Cemetery, displays objects from Czech Jewish traditions, with an emphasis on celebrations and daily life. The synagogue was built at the end of the 17th century in place of three small buildings (a synagogue, a school, and a ritual bath) that were destroyed in a fire that devastated the ghetto in 1689. In the more recent Ceremony Hall that adjoins the Klausen Synagogue, the focus is more staid. You'll find a variety of Jewish funeral paraphernalia, including old gravestones, and medical instruments. Special attention is paid to the activities of the Jewish Burial Society through many fine objects and paintings.
The history of Czech Jews from the 10th to the 18th century is illustrated, accompanied by some of the Prague Jewish Museum's most precious objects. The collection includes silver Torah shields and pointers, spice boxes, and candelabras; historic tombstones; and fine ceremonial textiles—some donated by Mordechai Maisel to the very synagogue he founded. The glitziest items come from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a prosperous era for Prague's Jews.
Here you'll find two moving testimonies to the appalling crimes perpetrated against the Jews during World War II. One astounds by sheer numbers: the walls are covered with nearly 80,000 names of Bohemian and Moravian Jews murdered by the Nazis. Among them are the names of the paternal grandparents of former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright. The second is an exhibition of drawings made by children at the Nazi concentration camp Terezín, north of Prague. The Nazis used the camp for propaganda purposes to demonstrate their "humanity" toward Jews, and for a time the prisoners were given relative freedom to lead "normal" lives. However, transports to death camps in Poland began in earnest in 1944, and many thousands of Terezín prisoners, including most of these children, eventually perished. The entrance to the Old Jewish Cemetery is through this synagogue.
This 19th-century neo-Renaissance monument has some of the cleanest, brightest stonework in the city. Designed by Josef Zítek and Josef Schulz and completed in 1884—it was named for then Hapsburg Crown Prince Rudolf—the low-slung sandstone building was meant to be a combination concert hall and exhibition gallery. After 1918 it was converted into the parliament of the newly independent Czechoslovakia until German invaders reinstated the concert hall in 1939. Now the Czech Philharmonic has its home base here. The 1,200-seat Dvořákova síň (Dvořák Hall) has superb acoustics (the box office faces 17 Listopadu Street). To see the hall, you must attend a concert.
This domed, Moorish-style synagogue was built in 1868 on the site of an older synagogue, the Altschul. Here the historical exposition that begins in the Maisel Synagogue continues through to the post–World War II period. The attached Robert Guttmann Gallery has historic and well-curated art exhibitions. The building's painstakingly restored interior is also worth experiencing.
Dating to the mid-13th century, this is the oldest functioning synagogue in Europe and one of the most important works of early Gothic architecture in Prague. The name refers to the legend that the synagogue was built on the site of an ancient Jewish temple, and the temple's stones were used to build the present structure. Amazingly, the synagogue has survived fires, the razing of the ghetto, and the Nazi occupation intact; it's still in use. The entrance, with its vault supported by two pillars, is the oldest part of the synagogue. Note that men are required to cover their heads inside, and during services men and women sit apart.
In a custom-built art nouveau building dating to 1897, this wonderfully laid-out museum of exquisite local prints, books, ceramics, textiles, clocks, and furniture will please anyone from the biggest decorative arts expert to those who just appreciate a little Antiques Roadshow on the weekend. There are superb rotating exhibits, too, and a fantastic design-led gift shop.
You can't just wander into this building as a member of the public, but while you're in the area, it's worth paying attention to the outside. The hall was the creation of Mordechai Maisel, an influential Jewish leader at the end of the 16th century. Restored in the 18th century, it was given a clock and bell tower at that time. A second clock, with Hebrew numbers, keeps time counterclockwise. Now a Jewish Community Center, the building also houses Shalom, a kosher restaurant. The restaurant is open to the public for walk-ins during the week, and for Shabbat lunch or dinner if you book, but there are probably better options for dining in this quarter if you don't keep kosher.
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