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Prague recs?


Assman

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I'll be spending the weekend in Prague.  We have an AirBnB down near the Old Town Square so we're central to pretty much everything.  We're doing random bars on Fri night, touristy shit on Sat, and doing a pub crawl Sat night. My to-do list is:

-Prague Castle/St. Vitus

-Old Town Square

-Charles Bridge

-Lennon Wall

 

Looking for recs on restaurants, bars, clubs, and any not-so-well-known sights to see.

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Yes.  By all means go OUT of the main part of the city to some residential areas for the best food/beer.  We stayed in Vinohrady, a middle-class area and there were FANTASTIC places that offered huge portions of food and beer for a lot cheaper than in the tourist areas.  Just ask for a good local place and someone will direct you.  Trust me on this.

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If you are doing the same pub crawl I did you'll have a blast.  Good way to meet people from all over.

Fred and ginger building then hit the prague beer museum pub.  Good beers.

Kafka statue

U Fleka is the ultimate tourist restaurant but still a fun time. 

Find U Hrocha pub near the bottom of the castle.  A Pils with the smoked fish is amazing. 

 

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10 hours ago, midtown said:

If you are doing the same pub crawl I did you'll have a blast.  Good way to meet people from all over.

Fred and ginger building then hit the prague beer museum pub.  Good beers.

Kafka statue

U Fleka is the ultimate tourist restaurant but still a fun time. 

Find U Hrocha pub near the bottom of the castle.  A Pils with the smoked fish is amazing. 

 

 

Just to clarify, it's actually U Fleku.  Agree it's a total tourist trap but the beer is excellent and the experience is fun.  If the oompah band comes by taking requests, you can ask them to play "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and then sing The Eyes.  Good times.

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22 minutes ago, Spankytoes said:

Last time I was there was 2013 so I’m a bit hazy on details. I will say that the fried cheese sandwich sounds much better on paper than it tastes in execution. Also, get one of those chimneys from a street vendor. You’ll see.

They are called trdelnik and they are amazing...i go with just the plain cinnamon and sugar

I cant tell you the name of but when you cross charles bridge towards the castle.take a left and head down to river. There will be a few restaurants with patios right on the river

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55 minutes ago, Spankytoes said:

Last time I was there was 2013 so I’m a bit hazy on details. I will say that the fried cheese sandwich sounds much better on paper than it tastes in execution. Also, get one of those chimneys from a street vendor. You’ll see.

Those are not Czech at all, what so ever.  

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I've been taking Czech at UT for a couple of years, and thinking of moving to Prague soon, so Rage thought this might be up my ally.

1 hour ago, midtown said:

Those are not Czech at all, what so ever.  

Agree to disagree.  smažený syr (fried cheese patties) are very Czech...although I've not had it in the form of a sandwich...it's usually served with fries.

blog_image_smazenysyr1.jpg

That said, I'd stick with the more meat oriented dishes such as:

Guláš - be careful to order the meal, not the soup.  They usually have both on the menu.

Svíčková - similar to guláš, but with an orangish sauce and sometimes the meat is studded with pork belly.

For beer, I like Kozel a lot, specifically the dark one (tmavé) but you simple can't go wrong with Czech beer.

Another poster mentioned Vinohradý, which is one of my favorite parts of Prague.  There's a great restaurant nearby Florenc station called Pivovarský Klub...upstairs is a great (but small) pub with an awesome selection of beers, and downstairs is a restaurant.

This probably goes without saying but if the weather is nice, the Pražský Metronom (Prague Metronom), is a must.  There's a beer garden with a great view of the city.

In addition to Vinohradý, the area between the Hradčanská and Dejvice Metro stations is really good.

Just stay away from Old Town Square area once you've checked it off your list.

 

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I just wrote this to another Shagster who PM'd me for rec's:

 

Quote

May is beautiful - they might still be having the flower festival in Old Town Square, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I prefer to book in MaloStranske (small town) which is still a part of old town.  There are some nice out of the way restaurants that haven't hiked up their prices like Old Town Main (like U Schnellu, Pizza Resturante on Josefska, Ferdinanda (basement place)).

Definitely do the following:

Old Town Square - be there at the top of the hour during evening, there are performance from the top of the clock tower that are fun crowd yelling events; take lots of pictures, avoid the tourist groups, and don't eat in the cafes there (prices are WAY jacked up)

Castle - because it's one of the loveliest Gothic castles still in use (Czech government uses it)

Charles Bridge - I tell people to go at the crack of dawn, when the mists/fog make it look mysterious (like when it was shown in Mission Impossible 1), later in the day it's packed with tourist, vendors and pickpockets

Wenceslaus Square (namesti) - it's a pure tourist fest here now, but this square is where Communism broke in 1989.  The protests in this square were what caused the Czechoslovakian communist government to abdicate and started the domino effect of Poland, East Germany and (eventually) Russia to fail.

Metronome - north across the river of old town, walk up to it, it's a nice easy hike up a small hill, but then enjoy the park with your wife and take plenty of pix looking down into old town

U Fleku - yeah it's a tourist trap, but it's OLD and it's BEER, but get the pig knuckle and be sure to walk it off by the legions bridge (you can go down on the island and take pictures looking up to the Charles Bridge

Finally... Petrin, Petrin, Petrin.  The park on the hillside south of the Castle, overlooking all of small and old town (it has a Eiffel tower looking tower at the top).  Stroll through this park, stop at the Petrin Terrace restaurant and enjoy a Krusovice (my favorite Czech pivo), if you see young lovers in the bushes/woods it's considered normal there, just smile and move on

God I miss that place, best years of my life.

 

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On 4/5/2018 at 11:00 PM, DixonHur said:

I've been taking Czech at UT for a couple of years, and thinking of moving to Prague soon, so Rage thought this might be up my ally.

Agree to disagree.  smažený syr (fried cheese patties) are very Czech...although I've not had it in the form of a sandwich...it's usually served with fries.

blog_image_smazenysyr1.jpg

That said, I'd stick with the more meat oriented dishes such as:

Guláš - be careful to order the meal, not the soup.  They usually have both on the menu.

Svíčková - similar to guláš, but with an orangish sauce and sometimes the meat is studded with pork belly.

For beer, I like Kozel a lot, specifically the dark one (tmavé) but you simple can't go wrong with Czech beer.

Another poster mentioned Vinohradý, which is one of my favorite parts of Prague.  There's a great restaurant nearby Florenc station called Pivovarský Klub...upstairs is a great (but small) pub with an awesome selection of beers, and downstairs is a restaurant.

This probably goes without saying but if the weather is nice, the Pražský Metronom (Prague Metronom), is a must.  There's a beer garden with a great view of the city.

In addition to Vinohradý, the area between the Hradčanská and Dejvice Metro stations is really good.

Just stay away from Old Town Square area once you've checked it off your list.

 

My girlfriend is Czech, from Lovosice.  Prague is great.

If you like beer, you should go to Lokal.  They have tank Pilsner Urquell.  It's so fresh and creamy and delicious.  You can get smazeny syr and other dishes there.  One side is smoking and one is not.  It's worth making a reservation cause it'll get busy on nice days if you don't want to sit in the smoking section.

https://www.prague.eu/en/object/food/229/lokal-dlouhaaa

Same good Pilsner at Golden Tiger, but more of a mix of angry locals/tourist pub.  https://www.prague-guide.co.uk/the-best-pilsner-beer-taste-at-golden-tiger-u-zlateho-tygra/

Also, Letna is a hill that overlooks the river and they have beer gardens.  Cool, chill vibe up there drinking beer outside.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g274707-d8099107-Reviews-Letna_Beer_Garden-Prague_Bohemia.html

Last summer we stayed in Prague 6 and it was cool.  Near the Park Ladronka which was nice for morning workouts and just walking some residential streets.  The trains are fairly simple and doesn't take long to get most places.  

 

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On 4/8/2018 at 8:01 AM, nycHorn said:

My girlfriend is Czech, from Lovosice.  Prague is great.

Humble brag, lol, just kidding.

I've actually been to Lovosice.  I ate at Tinito after visiting Terezín.  Small world.

I almost put Lokal on my list, but didn't know if it would seem "authentic" enough since it's a small chain. That said, it's one of my favorites.

Another Prague favorite is the zoo, if you're into that kind of thing.  It's one of the best zoos I've been to.

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Vinohradý is a great part of town that's easily accessible and totally worth it.

Heading up to Letna was my favorite part of my time in the city -- super chill, beautiful views of the city and the Volga River.

I rented a bike in town and just headed northeast along the river for a few hours; it was fantastic.

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Echoing the others, I'm a big Lokal fan as well.  Perfectly served Pilsner Urquell, nutty and delicious. 

You won't have enough time for this, but don't get conned into buying tickets for one of the string shows at the various cathedrals. 

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Also, prepare for uncontrollable flatulence.  I don't know if you can take some type of supplements that might help (probiotics maybe?), but my wife and I tooted through our whole time there and in Hungary.  I'm sure a large contributor is the beer and lots of starchy foods. 

Or, perhaps that's why you're going--in which case, touche. 

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Prague was great and is my new favorite city in Europe. 

We had an AirBnB a few blocks from the Old Town Square so we were central to everything.  Friday night we got to town around 11pm, so we quickly changed then walked into the first bar we found down the street called James Dean.  There was a line outside and I generally don't do bars with lines, but it had a good crowd, so I asked the bouncer how much to skip the line.  He said "100", which at first I thought was 100 Euro, so I said no thanks.  But then I realized he meant 100 Koruna, which is like $4, so I happily handed him the money and it was at that point I realized the affordability of this place.  There is a chill bar area and restaurant upstairs, and a dance club downstairs.  The women inside were phenomenal and the drinks were cheap.

The next day we walked to Old Town Square, grabbed a beer and sausage, and started walking.  They're renovating the clock so we missed out on that.  We walked across the Charles Bridge, then up to St. Vitus, and finally down to Lennon Wall.  St. Vitus was absolutely gorgeous.  Behind the cathedral there was an area with food and beer booths.  I grabbed a beer and one of those cinnamon/sugar fried pastries with the chocolate inside.  Game.  Changer.  Fuck that thing was good. 

That night we did one of those Prague Pub crawls.  It was more or less a waste of time.  There were probably 25 people doing the crawl.  The first bar we went to was completely empty except for those of us in the crawl.  Then they took us to Duplex which is a club further south of city center.  The club was pretty cool and had a good crowd.  The DJ was putting on a pretty solid show upstairs too.  Best of all, grade-A ass crawling all over that place.  We left about 3am and walked over to Karlovy Vary just to see if it lived up to the hype.  It didn't.  The guy to girl ratio was probably 5:1 and it was packed full of tourists.  We shut it down at 6am, grabbed a doner, and headed home.

Prague is one of those cities that you need to spend a week in to truly appreciate it, and I wish we had more than 36 hours there.  10/10, would visit again.

 

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On 4/11/2018 at 12:52 PM, Angry Gorilla said:

You need to refresh your memory, going to Prague next month.

Karlovy Lazle, 18 and up and laden with sluts. First two floors are techno, 3rd floor "oldies", and then 4th floor is hip hop. 

There's an ice bar in the basement, but was pretty lame. 

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15 minutes ago, Assman said:

Prague was great and is my new favorite city in Europe. 

We had an AirBnB a few blocks from the Old Town Square so we were central to everything.  Friday night we got to town around 11pm, so we quickly changed then walked into the first bar we found down the street called James Dean.  There was a line outside and I generally don't do bars with lines, but it had a good crowd, so I asked the bouncer how much to skip the line.  He said "100", which at first I thought was 100 Euro, so I said no thanks.  But then I realized he meant 100 Koruna, which is like $4, so I happily handed him the money and it was at that point I realized the affordability of this place.  There is a chill bar area and restaurant upstairs, and a dance club downstairs.  The women inside were phenomenal and the drinks were cheap.

The next day we walked to Old Town Square, grabbed a beer and sausage, and started walking.  They're renovating the clock so we missed out on that.  We walked across the Charles Bridge, then up to St. Vitus, and finally down to Lennon Wall.  St. Vitus was absolutely gorgeous.  Behind the cathedral there was an area with food and beer booths.  I grabbed a beer and one of those cinnamon/sugar fried pastries with the chocolate inside.  Game.  Changer.  Fuck that thing was good. 

That night we did one of those Prague Pub crawls.  It was more or less a waste of time.  There were probably 25 people doing the crawl.  The first bar we went to was completely empty except for those of us in the crawl.  Then they took us to Duplex which is a club further south of city center.  The club was pretty cool and had a good crowd.  The DJ was putting on a pretty solid show upstairs too.  Best of all, grade-A ass crawling all over that place.  We left about 3am and walked over to Karlovy Vary just to see if it lived up to the hype.  It didn't.  The guy to girl ratio was probably 5:1 and it was packed full of tourists.  We shut it down at 6am, grabbed a doner, and headed home.

Prague is one of those cities that you need to spend a week in to truly appreciate it, and I wish we had more than 36 hours there.  10/10, would visit again.

 

Glad you had a good time, it's one of my favorites as well.  Always looking forward to my next chance to visit Prague.

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I enjoyed the Krakow area - the city was ok but Wielczka (Salt Mine) and Auschwitz are game changers.

Never been to Odessa but if you're looking for something out of the way, try Ljubljana and Bled (Slovenia), it's a beautiful and peaceful place.

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On 4/18/2018 at 6:22 AM, Grippe said:

I enjoyed the Krakow area - the city was ok but Wielczka (Salt Mine) and Auschwitz are game changers.

Never been to Odessa but if you're looking for something out of the way, try Ljubljana and Bled (Slovenia), it's a beautiful and peaceful place.

I'll second Ljubljana.  Great city and Slovenia is small enough to visit several areas in a single day.  And of course, the birthplace of Melania.

Never been to Odessa either, but I have spent time in Ukraine, and from that perspective, I can definitely recommend it.

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  • 1 year later...

Slightly overhyped IMO.  Stlll a great city to visit but holy shit its touristy.  

St. Vitus is damn cool.

Find your way to Hrocha.   Get the smoked fish with onions.

Don't exchange money anywhere.

Drink and wander around.  Get away from the masses if you can. 

Sign up for a pub crawl.  Its educational and not just a bunch of kids getting drunk

At night when the tourist are not out as much its better.

 

Goulash  at Kolkova Olympia, Vitus, and the last one is Urocha

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Most of the fine dining (which isn’t pricey in dollars) is booked out weeks in advance.  If  you want to spend an evening out and some place with a high trip advisor rating make your reserve now.  
 

On the other hand, the fine dining options are predominately not the local cuisine, so you may be better off skipping it anyway (if you want to eat at a French restaurant, just make a stop in France).  

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  • 4 years later...
On 10/24/2023 at 2:26 PM, Neonmoon said:

Looking at a trip in March. Yes, it will be cold. Want to avoid tourist and want cheap ass flights 

Anyone been recently? Recs? How much Czech do I need to know?

I don't know if you got an answer to your question but for Prague you definitely don't need to know any Czech language.

If you're taking a spouse or gf, the philharmonia, ballet or symphony are always fun nights out. Besides the medieval architecture and history, there's also some interesting ww2 history there. Stream Operation Anthropoid on prime to get a taste. The cubist and art deco architecture are also amazing if you know where to look. Other rec is to walk the Charles Bridge at Sunrise and then to Old Town Square so you can practically have them to yourself.

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On 11/1/2023 at 6:06 PM, nycHorn said:

I always loved hitting Lokal. They serve tank beer Pilsner Urquell - beer that’s not meant to stored/kept a long time. It’s always fresh and good pours. Go there and get some traditional fare and have a few mugs of beer.

We stayed across the street from a Lokal in May. I wanted to like the place, but the food was just ok and the service was fucking terrible. I had one Pilsner U dropped off after 20 minutes and then gave up on ever getting someone to bring another one. They get a lot of huge groups in there that monopolize the waiters.

image.thumb.png.2c1cac4b487a9e89e4516fd9e0cce0b4.png

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When I was there in May, I really enjoyed Pork's restaurant near the Charles Bridge.  Pork dishes and beer.  Pork knuckle below and a cold beer was quite tasty.  Also, the restaurant at the Four Seasons has an appetizer/entree, homemade duck ravioli in a truffle parmesan foam sauce, that was crazy good.

 

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Oh yeah, get these Trdelnik things sold everywhere on the street.  Basically a hollow donut/churro thing cooked over an open fire then rolled in cinnamon/sugar and stuffed with gelato.  One place had them rolled in chopped pistachios and then stuffed with pistachio gelato.   They were fantastic and yes based on the last two posts I am a fat man!

Image result for street dessert prague

 

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Some good recs here especially Nase Maso. There are several Lokals and the one posted above on Dlouha is my least favorite.  Late March can be unpredictable, either really nice spring weather or gray and rainy. I will blow past the obvious sites and focus on stuff you might miss. 
 

Not many people make it past Prague Castle to Vysehrad, the site of a competing castle and center of power from the Middle Ages.  Vysehrad is down the river and is much quieter. Lots of the old fortifications were destroyed in wars but some ruins remain, the national cemetery, the a set of medieval tunnels, and the oldest rotunda church in Prague that has a cannonball stuck in the wall.  It’s one of my favorite and most atmospheric spots with amazing views down the river to Prague castle. 

The coolest library is in the Strahov Monastery which also has a brewery and fantastic views over the Mala Strana down to Charles Bridge and Old Town. Pay to get a guided tour behind the ropes. 
 

Prague is full of great museums but the two best are the Medieval Art Gallery which is inside one of the oldest monasteries with an important church that has Bohemian kings buried in the floors. The other is the new building of the National Museum and in particular the 20th century history exhibit. 
 

St. Nicholas church is a showstopper but make sure to climb the tower, which used to be a secret police listening station to keep an eye on the nearby Western embassies.

Outside of Prague there is a site called Pruhonice that has a really great small palace/castle and UNESCO recognized gardens. It’s worth half a day. The Italian restaurant next door (“The Italians”) is fantastic. 
 

For food, my favorite place for Czech fare is called Kantyna not far from Wenceslaus Square.  Make sure to go to “Kantyna” and not “Cantina.” It’s in an old bank, they serve fantastic meats and Czech potatoes/cabbage cafeteria style and they have fresh Pilsner and dark beer.

You need to go to U Fleku even though it’s a total tourist trap. The dark beer is some of the best in the city and is legitimate. I’d stop for an afternoon rest and get a snack of beer cheese to go with it, ignore the Schnapps and the rest of the menu. The waiters are surly. 
 

Despite the prime real estate next to the castle, Kuchyn (kitchen) is affordable, delicious, and well-done takes on Czech specialities.  They also have great cold beer. 
 

If you like wine, there is a place called “Na Sklenicku” (By the glass) in an arcade just off Wenceslas square. The good wine is served as suggested from taps.  While there, stop into Lucerna theatre and get a coffee if the shop is open and see the Cerny statue hanging from the ceiling, then make your way to the Franciscan gardens. The Church of our Lady of the Snows is nearly completely hidden from every angle except inside the garden.  And look for the cubist lamp post. 
 

For beer and hipster food go to the Karlin neighborhood and hit up Dva Kohouty (Two Roosters) for great tanke microbrews. Karlin is a young, cool hood. 

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12 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Some good recs here especially Nase Maso. There are several Lokals and the one posted above on Dlouha is my least favorite.  Late March can be unpredictable, either really nice spring weather or gray and rainy. I will blow past the obvious sites and focus on stuff you might miss. 
 

Not many people make it past Prague Castle to Vysehrad, the site of a competing castle and center of power from the Middle Ages.  Vysehrad is down the river and is much quieter. Lots of the old fortifications were destroyed in wars but some ruins remain, the national cemetery, the a set of medieval tunnels, and the oldest rotunda church in Prague that has a cannonball stuck in the wall.  It’s one of my favorite and most atmospheric spots with amazing views down the river to Prague castle. 

The coolest library is in the Strahov Monastery which also has a brewery and fantastic views over the Mala Strana down to Charles Bridge and Old Town. Pay to get a guided tour behind the ropes. 
 

Prague is full of great museums but the two best are the Medieval Art Gallery which is inside one of the oldest monasteries with an important church that has Bohemian kings buried in the floors. The other is the new building of the National Museum and in particular the 20th century history exhibit. 
 

St. Nicholas church is a showstopper but make sure to climb the tower, which used to be a secret police listening station to keep an eye on the nearby Western embassies.

Outside of Prague there is a site called Pruhonice that has a really great small palace/castle and UNESCO recognized gardens. It’s worth half a day. The Italian restaurant next door (“The Italians”) is fantastic. 
 

For food, my favorite place for Czech fare is called Kantyna not far from Wenceslaus Square.  Make sure to go to “Kantyna” and not “Cantina.” It’s in an old bank, they serve fantastic meats and Czech potatoes/cabbage cafeteria style and they have fresh Pilsner and dark beer.

You need to go to U Fleku even though it’s a total tourist trap. The dark beer is some of the best in the city and is legitimate. I’d stop for an afternoon rest and get a snack of beer cheese to go with it, ignore the Schnapps and the rest of the menu. The waiters are surly. 
 

Despite the prime real estate next to the castle, Kuchyn (kitchen) is affordable, delicious, and well-done takes on Czech specialities.  They also have great cold beer. 
 

If you like wine, there is a place called “Na Sklenicku” (By the glass) in an arcade just off Wenceslas square. The good wine is served as suggested from taps.  While there, stop into Lucerna theatre and get a coffee if the shop is open and see the Cerny statue hanging from the ceiling, then make your way to the Franciscan gardens. The Church of our Lady of the Snows is nearly completely hidden from every angle except inside the garden.  And look for the cubist lamp post. 
 

For beer and hipster food go to the Karlin neighborhood and hit up Dva Kohouty (Two Roosters) for great tanke microbrews. Karlin is a young, cool hood. 

This is awesome 

thanks for all the recs 

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