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Prague is a city that takes its liquid refreshment, and its after-dark entertainment, seriously. The beer is rightfully world-famous and beer gardens are a dream, a new trend for cocktail bars has taken the city by storm, and music and dancing options are plentiful.
Plus, with such a small city center, you'll rarely have to travel far to find the best bars and clubs. In fact, one of the great pleasures of Prague is wandering around Old Town and just popping into any of the bars that take your fancy (and that don’t look hideously overpriced). Go for the back streets, and don’t pay much more than 50 K? for a beer.) Another Prague perk is the relaxed hours. In the past, bars used to close down by 10 pm or so, but now Czechs have taken cheerfully to all-nighters spent discussing philosophy in smoky dives, listening to jazz in cavernous underground clubs, or dancing on tables in avant-garde clubs.
Many of the best nightlife spots combine international pizzazz with a bit of Czech eccentricity—think beers delivered by a miniature railway or a cocktail bar where absinthe is a major component in most of the menu options.
Prague is also a very musical city, which is reflected in its nightlife. A lot of the clubs also host live music performances, and the atmospheric jazz clubs offer great shows almost every night of the week.
Clubbers have plenty of options too, although anyone looking for the cutting edge of cool is unlikely to find it in Prague, because having a good time is much more important. There's an increasingly visible gay scene, too.
For those who want to look beyond the bar, there are evening cruises on the Vltava that show off the city’s gorgeous waterfront, which is beautifully lit as the sun sets. In recent years, a thriving scene on Náplavka (a riverside walkway in Nové Mesto) has sprung up, offering cheap and cheerful pop-up pubs right alongside the water, often accompanied by food and fashion markets. And if we're talking alfresco drinking, Prague's beer gardens, comprising no-frills benches and brews in its beautiful parks, are a must-visit in summer.
And while Prague isn’t Monte Carlo, gambling is legal, and there is a range of establishments from exclusive high-end casinos to all-night herna bars with slot machines and video-game terminals. Most gamers say the top venues lack ambience and only the brave try the nonstop herna bars.
The cocktail maker's cocktail bar of choice in Prague, and still probably one of the absolute best, Bonvivant's has a nostalgic feel and fantastic staff, who ask you what drinks and tastes you like and then whip you up something bespoke. Upmarket but not pricey, this is a perfect place for an adventure in mixology and some tasty tapas in a refined setting.
A steel-and-glass, lights-in-the-bar design gives this popular American-style cocktail bar a modern look, and the bartenders, in bow ties and suspenders, lend a classic touch. The drinks menu has all the expected favorites, and sometimes there's live music. Check out the curio rack showing off one of the last Bacardi rum bottles from pre-Castro Cuba.
This crowd-pleasing drinking establishment, named for the American writer–cum–bar fly Charles Bukowski, serves top-quality cocktails, beer, wine, and spirits. The candlelight makes for a cool (if slightly seedy) atmosphere, and bar staff are unfailingly friendly. In summer, patrons tend to spill out into the street.
This chic, lounge-style bar, situated on the rooftop of the Hilton Prague hotel, offers glorious views of the Czech capital (including parts you don't usually see). There's an extensive menu of innovative cocktails, as well as some beautifully presented snack food; try the chicken lollipops and prawn popcorn. The music can be very loud in the evening so it's not the place to come for a quiet conversation.
Absinthe is all over Prague, and if you want to dabble in the green fairy's magic, there are worse places than the sophisticated cocktail bar Hemingway, which is named after the man himself. You won't find any flaming absinthe here, but you will find a range of interesting cocktails, alongside Champagne and 200 varieties of rum—the famous writer's drinks of choice. It's worth reserving a table on weekends.
An atmospheric haunt that calls itself an "alchemical pub" (probably thanks to its location in the same building as the Museum of Alchemists), this bar likely hasn't worked out how to turn base metals into gold or discovered the elixir of life yet, but it's a pretty fun gimmick nonetheless. Try the cocktails (complete with dry ice) and enjoy the drinks in flasks, pipes on the ceilings (allegedly full of said elixir), and drawings and diagrams on the walls.
One of a gaggle of swanky cocktail bars that have recently taken Prague by storm, L'Fleur mixes it with the best of them, blending old-school elegance—although arguably the decoration feels a little generic—and classic cocktails with local flavors (try the Parfum for a hit of traditional Czech spirit Becherovka). The menu contains some unusual ingredients—so much so that it can be a bit incomprehensible—but friendly staff are happy to explain.
They call themselves cocktail artists and, although it is slightly cringe, it's hard not to agree. The team here make drinks based on your tastes rather than from a menu, and they are invariably great. There is no sign: look for the door with the little white horse. This haven is still astonishingly close to the bustle of Wenceslas Square.
With a cooler, more modern and stripped-back cocktail bar vibe than some of the others in this quarter, Public Interest has one of those drinks lists where everything is tempting, although Heroes is our current favorite (gin, grapefruit, lemongrass, and Prosecco—what's not to like?). It also serves good coffee if you are looking for a slightly less decadent after-dinner drink.
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