Companions in Prague

Where to eat and drink

Dinner in Prague happens late. Few restaurants fill before nine; at eight you will find tables empty that by ten are full. Avoid Old Town Square itself, the restaurants there survive on location alone. Instead, head to Vinohrady or Žižkov, neighbourhoods east of the city centre where locals actually eat. The beer is cold and comes in half-litre glasses as standard. Wine lists are improving, though Czech wine rarely appears on them; the country produces white wine competently but not memorably, and most restaurants know it.

Katarina studied classical piano and still plays, badly, on any instrument she finds, a habit that surfaces when a bar has a guitar or a keyboard within reach. She moves easily between districts and knows which pubs serve food past midnight. Old Town has the Charles Bridge and St. Vitus Cathedral drawing crowds all day; by evening the cobbled streets narrow and fill with other visitors doing exactly what you are doing. Malá Strana, on the western bank of the Vltava, stays quieter. The Jewish Quarter north of Old Town Square is worth an hour in daylight—the Old Jewish Cemetery and the Spanish Synagogue are real, not reconstructed—but empty after dark.

Rain and timing

Prague floods when heavy rain arrives, and the Vltava rises fast. The metro runs until midnight; after that, trams continue but taxis become scarce. If rain starts in the evening, plan to stay put. The streets along the Vltava—Náplavka on the left bank, towards Vyšehrad—flood first. Concerts at the Municipal House or the Estates Theatre run on schedule regardless of weather; both venues are central and dry.

The city in late autumn or winter is genuinely different from summer. Winter brings freeze-thaw cycles that crack the paving stones. The light at four in the afternoon is already failing. Few tourists are here. Vinohrady fills with students and young professionals from the offices in the neighbourhood; Žižkov's bars are warm and crowded. If you are here in these months, you are seeing the city as Czechs live in it.

What to do before nine

The National Museum stands at the top of Wenceslas Square but is ordinary inside: go if you have strong reasons, skip it otherwise. The Jewish Quarter museums and the Old Town Hall astronomical clock are the standard daytime stops. Walk the Charles Bridge early, before the crowds. The Powder Tower marks the border between Old Town and the new city; it is a remnant but not a ruin, and the view from the top is actual Prague: rooflines, the river, the castle on the hill.

If you want a concert, check what is running at the Estates Theatre or the Prague Spring venues. These are real performances, not tourist shows. The afternoon is your time to move through museums or parks. Petřín Park, in Malá Strana, has a tower you can climb and views across the city that tourists miss because they stay in Old Town.

Katarina is warm without being effusive and has a talent for making an evening feel unhurried rather than scheduled. She navigates the city's districts without the self-consciousness of someone consulting her phone every five minutes. She knows when to suggest moving on and when to sit longer.