Prague Guided Tour

The City is well covered with the public transport system that should fit to all your needs. Better than buying more single tickets (18 CZK and 26 CZK) you can buy a 24-hour ticket for 100 CZK. Do not use the services of street taxi cars; better call for a radiotaxi.

Please consider this article only as a brief summary of the most visited monuments of Prague and keep in mind, that there is a lot more to see. If you have more than only a day, buy a guidebook and plan your tour with its help, you won't regret it.

Wenceslas Square dominated by a building of National Museum and the statue of St. Wenceslas is usually considered as the center of Prague. Variety historical moments has taken place here--revolutions, celebrations, mourning... When there are no historical moments on time, the Wenceslas square is full of shops and crowded with people hurrying for meetings and shopping. Near the National museum you can find the National Opera House.

Just between these two notable buildings is a strange-looking structure of former the Federal Congress Hall, now a seat of Radio Free Europe.

After you walk down the square, you will find yourself at the pedestrian zone "Na prikope" where there dozens of luxury shops and a lot of banks have its headquarters here. You can roam a bit there, but then we recommend you to visit the Estate Theatre (originally built 1781 and connected a lot with W. A. Mozart), Powder tower (remnant of old city fortifications) and Municipal house (beautiful Art-noveau palace, recently underwent a complex reconstruction).

Turn around and continue through Celetna Street to the Old Town--historical center of Prague.

Old Town city hall with famous Astronomical clock, miraculous wonder of medieval engineering, will surely catch your attention. You can also enter the city hall and climb the tower to enjoy a splendid sight of the square and Our Lady before Tyn Church.

Near the base of the tower there are 27 white crosses paved into the ground, commemorating 27 nobles and burgers, who were executed after the revolt of Czech estates. This revolt was ended with the defeat of rebel army in the battle on White Mountain (hill on outskirts of Prague, in those times way behind the city walls) and re-catholization of Bohemia begun. Czech estates' uprising is considered to be the first part of the Thirty Years' War. You can find great number of historical houses around Old Town Square, each with a specific and interesting history.

In the vicinity of the Old Town square lies Small square, former "Vegetable market". Cross this square, continue through Charles Street and you will end up near the Charles Bridge. There is Klementinum on your right, large complex of buildings of once a Jesuit college, nowadays there is the National Library and some exhibitions take place there. Cross the Vltava River by the Charles Bridge and admire thirty baroque statues lining the bridge. Some statues have religious motives and some are inspired with Czech legends and myths. On the other side of the bridge is part of the town called Mala strana. Church of St. Nicolas, dominating the Mala Strana Square, was built by the Dientzenhofer family in the first half of the 18^th century. Enjoy a small break on Mala strana, because quite exhaustive climb up to the Prague castle awaits you now. Go through Nerudova Street and look at the historical houses. A great number of them has some kind of embossment or painting on its gable or a door arch. Usually a story is connected with each house, some are complete myths but some are true. At the end of Nerudova Street there are stairs leading up to the Loreto Square, named after the loreto with carillon. One side of this square is barred with decorative fence and only way through is Matyas' Gate guarded by a guardsmen. Enter through the gate and find yourself in the area belonging to the Prague Castle. Famous St. Vitus cathedral is probably well known, but there is much more to see and you can spend almost whole day visiting the Prague Castle.