Prague itinerary: 1, 2 and 3 days

Prague rewards walking, and the historic core is compact enough that the main sights sit within about 3 km of each other. Two full days is the honest minimum: one for Old Town, the Jewish Quarter and Charles Bridge, one for the Castle, Malá Strana and the riverbank. A third day lets you pick between Josefov in depth, Vyšehrad and the New Town, or a half-day trip out of the city.

If you only have one day, choose the Old Town and Castle axis and accept that you will see squares rather than interiors. With four nights you can add Kutná Hora as a day trip and still keep an evening free for a beer hall. The parent country guide's default for a first trip is 3–4 nights in Prague, then one Bohemian town.

Weather changes the plan more than anything else. April–June and September–October give the best walking conditions; July and August are hot and crowded, and December is dark by late afternoon but brings the Christmas markets.

Day 1 — Old Town and the river. Start at Old Town Square before 9am while it is still walkable, see the Astronomical Clock on the hour, then go through the streets to Charles Bridge. Cross early or late; midday is shoulder-to-shoulder. On the far side, walk Malá Strana's lanes and climb to the Castle if you have energy left, or save it for day 2. Finish along the riverbank at Náplavka, where a paved embankment has food stalls and drinks in the warm months.

Day 2 — Castle and Malá Strana. Take tram 22 or the metro to Hradčany and enter the Castle complex when it opens; the Golden Lane and St Vitus Cathedral are the parts most people remember. Walk down through Nerudova Street to Malá Strana, lunch, then cross to the Old Town side for the Jewish Quarter (Josefov) — the Old-New Synagogue and the Jewish Museum's sites need two to three hours together. Evening: a beer hall or a restaurant away from the square.

Day 3 — pick one. Either a day trip to Kutná Hora (St Barbara's Cathedral and the Sedlec Ossuary, roughly an hour by train), or stay in the city for Vyšehrad's walls and cemetery, the New Town's Wenceslas Square and the Mucha Museum, and the Letná beer garden above the river. If you are continuing in the country, this is the day to move on to Český Krumlov or Brno.

Prague is cheaper than Vienna or Munich but no longer a budget city in the centre. The figures below are 2026 estimates for one person and will move with the exchange rate; treat them as a planning band, not a quote.

The biggest saving is eating one street away from Old Town Square, and using the 24-hour transport ticket instead of single fares if you ride more than twice a day.

Stay central but not on the square: Vinohrady, Holešovice and the area around Náměstí Míru are quieter and 15–25 minutes from the centre by tram or metro. Book accommodation two to three months ahead for May, June, September and December.

Use the official transport app or ticket machines rather than buying from touts, and validate paper tickets in the yellow box on first use. For the airport, the bus-plus-metro route is the cheap option and a fixed-fare taxi or ride-hail is the easy one; agree or check the price before you get in.

Czech is the language; English works in hotels, museums and most restaurants in the centre, less so in outer districts. Cards are widely accepted, but keep some cash for small shops and markets. Tipping is common: round up or leave about 10% in restaurants.

Kutná Hora is the standard day trip: trains from Praha hlavní nádraží take roughly an hour, and the cathedral plus ossuary fill a half day. Karlštejn Castle is closer and works as a half-day by train. Terezín, north of the city, is a memorial site rather than a sightseeing stop and needs most of a day.

If you have more time, the country guide's routes run Prague → Kutná Hora → Český Krumlov → Brno, with České Budějovice as the transfer point for Krumlov and Brno on the line to Vienna. Zruč nad Sázavou and the Central Bohemia towns suit a slower second trip rather than a first one.