1 destination · 28 things to do
Czechia
Prague is the fairy-tale capital that turns out to be completely real: a skyline of a hundred spires above the Vltava, a castle complex so vast it holds a cathedral, a palace and a lane of tiny painted cottages, and a medieval astronomical clock that has been sending its apostles past the window on the hour for some six centuries. It survived the twentieth century almost unbombed, so the Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau layers sit intact on top of each other, from the statues of Charles Bridge to the cafés and arcades of Wenceslas Square, where the Velvet Revolution was won in 1989. This guide books Prague properly — the castle circuit before the tour groups, the Old Town Hall tower above the clock, the Jewish Quarter on a day it is open, Petřín with its newly reopened funicular, a river cruise at the right hour, and day trips to the bone chapel of Kutná Hora and the storybook town of Český Krumlov — and pairs it with tank-fresh pilsner, Letná sunsets, quiet Vyšehrad and the honest truth about money changers, the night-time pub crawl ban and the building works on Wenceslas Square. Then it matches you to the right hotel, from the Four Seasons by Charles Bridge and a monastery-turned-Mandarin Oriental to an Art Nouveau landmark, a design hotel in Josefov and a smart budget base in the New Town, because in a city this walkable, where you sleep decides which side of the river you wake up on.
