Everything I did in Praha

In April 2025, my sister Floor and I went on an interrail trip through Czech Republic, which included a visit to the capital. We spent about 4 days in the city, so in this blog I’ll tell you about everything we did in Praha (also known as Prague). You can expect my honest opinion on activities and sightseeing, tips for vegan-friendly restaurants and some thoughts on sustainability. As usual, you can find my main tips and recommendations at the bottom of the page.

Day 0

Evening – arrival

After some train delays, we arrived in Praha around 22:00. Luckily, our accommodation was located pretty much next to the main station. We stayed at MeetMe23, which is something in between a hostel and a hotel. We thought it was reasonably priced and reasonably sustainable. Because it’s not a full-on hostel, it was quiet and there wasn’t much interaction with other travellers, even though we stayed in a shared room. We went straight to bed after arriving, so we’d be ready to explore Praha the next day.

Day 1

Morning – photobooth and brunch

My sister and I had both prepared a day of activities. Floor organised the first day, so the itinerary was a surprise for me. It was also really nice to have someone else be the tour guide and just tag along. After having a small breakfast of leftovers from our train journey, we set out towards a photo booth. On an earlier trip to Paris we went to a photobooth as well, so my sister wanted to continue the tradition. En route, we saw the rotating Franz Kafka head. The weather was slightly sunny, casting a beautiful light on the streets and green spaces that we passed. The photobooth itself was a little hidden. We found it on the square under ‘The New Stage of the National Theater’.

The next stop was brunch at Etapa. We only now realised that this was on the other side of the city centre, so we took the metro for a few stops. The neighbourhood around Etapa surprised us with its coloured buildings, pristine little park and calm vibe. There were lots of other coffee places, as well as wine bars and flower shops. Etapa itself is a small vegetarian restaurant that focuses on using seasonal produce from Czech farmers. It’s clearly a popular spot, because we saw some people waiting for a table. The food was absolutely delicious! Etapa ended up being one of the highlights of everything we did in Praha. For more restaurant tips in Praha, check out my full A-Z vegan food guide.

Afternoon – Grotta and Old Town

Next stop: Havlíčkovy Sady, a park with a view over the east side of Praha. The main reason we went to this park was to see the Italian Renaissance-style Grotta, but I hadn’t realised there was a whole park around it. We strolled around for a while and admired the view. The Grotta was really cool and we sat down on a bench to take in the pretty sights. There were other tourists there to take photos, but it wasn’t massively overcrowded. The Grotta was fun to walk through and it is definitely a good photo spot. We then walked through the Vinohrady area. We came across an Easter market at the St. Ludmilla Basilica, but weren’t hungry enough to get any food. It was nice to see that most of the market stalls sold local delicacies.

The market at the Old Town Square was the opposite, as it seemed to be a repetition of the same 3 or 4 stalls over and over. The USE-IT map I had downloaded beforehand pointed us towards some local gift shops. We especially liked LOCAL ARTISTS. Some of the other supposedly authentic shops were disappointing in the sense that they were either more expensive (Manufaktura) or selling poorer quality products than we expected (Blue Praha).

This part of the city was also absolutely crammed with people. We wanted to see the St. Nicholas Church, but it was so crowded inside we left again after a few minutes. It is definitely an astonishing church, and entry was free. It was just too busy for us to be able to enjoy it, which is a shame. Especially after wandering through the quieter parts of Praha, the crowds in the Old Town put us off. We quickly diverted to Palo Verde for a bite. It was too early for dinner, so we had a massive pot of tea instead.

Evening – dinner and relaxing

For dinner, we settled on Loving Hut, a vegan Asian buffet restaurant. This was right up our alley! You pay for the weight of your food to discourage people from taking too much. Because I wanted to try almost all of the dishes, I did end up scooping an overly enthusiastic amount of food onto my plate. I did finish it, but was uncomfortably full by the end of it. Oops. Afterwards, we tried to find a supermarket to buy breakfast, but the ones we did find were closed due to the Easter holidays. We used the remainder of the evening to chill in the hotel and write in our journals.

Day 2

Morning – Vyšehrad

Today it was my turn to lead the activities. We took a metro to see the old castle complex called Vyšehrad. We walked around to see the Rotunda before heading to a tour take would take us through the casemates and Gorlice Hall. I had prebooked the tour on the official Vyšehrad website, but it was unclear where the starting point was, so we rushed around trying to find it. Turns out the correct address was not on the ticket, but only included in the confirmation email. The tour started from Cihelná Brána (the Brick Gate) and was very informative. The tour guide made it interactive by asking us to guess some of the fun facts. The Gorlice Hall was impressive to see and well worth the tour. Afterwards we went to the viewpoint to look across the Vltava river and the northern part of the Praha 4 neighbourhood.

Afternoon – lunch and Mucha Museum

From Vyšehrad, we walked back to the city centre to have lunch at Střecha, a vegan social enterprise and community hub. I was delighted to try a veganised version of traditional Czech bread dumplings in a hearty mushroom stew. From there, we headed towards the Mucha Museum. We went in without any expectations and ended up loving it! Of everything I did in Praha, the Mucha Museum is definitely one of the highlights. Both my sister and I loved the art noveau style of the drawings and prints, especially the pastel colours. Interestingly, in later life Alfons Mucha dedicated himself to activism and making posters for good causes, through which he campaigned for Czech independence.

After a good while in the museum to admire Mucha’s art, we had a quick peek in some of the synagogues in the historic Jewish quarter. We found the entrance fees to be a bit expensive, so we didn’t properly go into any of the synagogues, also because we did not inadvertedly want to sponsor pro-Israeli organisations.

Evening – classical music concert

For dinner, we had nourishing bowls at Healthy Longevity Café. I had booked another activity for the evening, namely a classical music concert in the Klementinum Mirror Chapel. I’d wanted to visit the Mirror Chapel and see a music performance, so the combination seemed perfect. Also, I couldn’t find any way of visiting the Mirror Chaper without attending an event. Sadly, just 2 hours before the concert was due to start, I got an email that the location had changed. We didn’t receive either an explanation or a (partial) refund. On top of that, there are 2 venues with the name ‘St. Salvator Church’, so obviously we ended up at the wrong one!

In the end we did find the right venue, which was probably equally as impressive as the Mirror Chapel. We arrived a bit late, but thankfully we could still go in and sit near the front. It was a small consolation that we ended up with better seats than we had paid for, because the past half hour had been rather stressful. The concert itself was amazing. I hadn’t quite reliased we signed up to see the Royal Czech Orchestra! Especially the opera singer was incredible. I’m happy we went, but I learned my lesson: don’t fall for the convenience of GetYourGuide and always book directly with the official event organiser.

Day 3

Morning – Karlštejn

We used this day to take a short daytrip to the nearby Karlštejn castle. I’m not necessarily a fan of daytrips, but we both wanted to see a proper medieval castle while in Czech Republic. So, we took a local 40-minute train to the Karlštejn village. The lady at the ticket office was not impressed by my mispronunciation of the village’s name, but I swear I tried my best! What I noticed at the small train station of Karlštejn, was that there are really good recycling bins to separate waste everywhere.

The village itself was a bit like a ghost town. Because I was there in late April, all the tourist-oriented restaurants and souvenir shops were still closed. I found it a bit sad to see how focused the town seemed to be on mass tourism in summer. The castle itself, however, was great! After a long climb to the top of the hill, we booked the next guided tour available in English.

As we later realised is typical for many museums and experiences in Czech Republic, you have to pay separately for tours through different parts of the castle. There was no all-in-one ticket or tour, so we had to choose what we wanted to see. We went for the basic route through the main living quarters. Tours to see the chapel and treasury had to be bought in advance. The tour was crowded with about 50 people, but we learned a lot and got to see multiple rooms and passageways.

Afternoon – organic vegan buffet

On the way back to the train station, we bought ice cream from the most enthusiastic man ever. He was super kind and wanted us to try all of the flavours. Back in Praha, we went to CountryLife BIO for a late lunch. We had been looking forward to going to this vegan buffet restaurant for the past few days, as the opening times were limited and we weren’t able to fit it in earlier. The food was absolutely delicious and we went back for seconds. It’s a cozy, sustainable place that I would recommend to everyone.

Evening – Geocaching

The end of the day we spent searching for a few Geocaches. Geocaching is a fun, low-impact activity for all ages where you look for hidden treasures. They’re often hidden in plain sight, so you have to be a bit sneaky and not draw too much attention while searching for them. We found 4 of them today! Geocaching is nice way to fill time and see some streets or areas you otherwise wouldn’t have reason to walk through.

Day 4

Morning – Karlův Most and Pražský hrad

It was a somewhat grey and gloomy morning, which seemed like a good moment to see the famous Karlův Most, or the Charles Bridge in English. It wasn’t very busy, so we had made a good call and got good photos. We tried to figure out which of the statues we had seen in the Gorlice Hall 2 days before. I can definitely recommend seeing the Gorlice Hall first, as it makes you look at the Karlův Most differently. After crossing the bridge, we wandered around the castle district.

Praha Castle was crammed with large tour groups. We found it unclear where and how to get access to see the insides of the castle, and again you needed to buy separate tickets for different parts of the castle. We walked around the outside for a bit, but decided against going in, mainly because of the crowds. Just behind the castle was the lovely and quiet Royal Garden. We crossed the gardens on the route to a nearby metro station. That’s one thing I haven’t mentioned yet: the Praha metros are frequent, affordable and reliable. Genuinely one of the better metro systems in Europe, if you ask me! After picking up our luggage at the accommodation, it was time to leave Praha and hop on a train to Brno.

Conclusion

• You can find enough to do in and around Praha to fill a full week
• Always book experiences directly with the official event organiser, and avoid going through third parties such as GetYourGuide
• Don’t focus your visit around the Old Town, and instead head out into different neighbourhoods
• Use the excellent public transport by for example getting a 24-hour metro ticket
• Enjoy the plethora of vegan restaurants, especially the traditional-style buffet/self-service restaurants
• Do some research in advance around ticket types for popular attractions