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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.
Pretty much a fairy-tale dream of a European wine bar, established by a group of artsy Praguers: located in a crumbling courtyard and cellar-style cozy archway (check), serving up personally recommended wines to your taste (check), which you sup by candlelight on barrel tables either inside or outside, wrapped in blankets in the winter if you like (check). It's a little hidden: keep an eye out for the wine droplet sign, leading you into the courtyard, and it's on the right.
Despite its location just off the main drag up from the Charles Bridge, the Bluelight Bar manages to remain a laid-back, grungy haunt for some dedicated late-night drinking. The rock walls of the cavelike space are covered in graffiti, and the clientele is a mixed bag, but somehow it works. This is the perfect destination for a nightcap—just don't blame us if you're still ensconced hours later.
A classy wine bar and restaurant, with high ceilings, soft lighting, and a vast selection of vintages, including some particularly fine wines from the Czech Republic. Great steak here, too.
Every branch of this mini-chain of wine bars in the Czech capital has its own charm, but the Malá Strana location is among the best, not least because it has a distinct lack of competition in the immediate area. It's easily the best place in this district for a crisp glass of white in the courtyard in summer, or a reviving red in the cozy interior in the colder months.
Although Prague is beer territory, this bar is all about wine. A mazelike, multilevel cellar forms the large wine bar in a baroque building, and there's a garden too. Make note of where your traveling companions are or you might never find them again—the interior is that labyrinthine. But this also makes for a cozy drinking hole in the cold winter months, and it's open extremely late.
This is usually one of the first places during the year to crack open burčák, tasty new wine served shortly after harvest.
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