New Town

What it is

Nové Město — the New Town — is new only by Prague standards: Charles IV laid it out in 1348 as a planned city wrapping the Old Town from river to river, with streets and squares scaled so generously they still fit a modern capital. This is where Prague actually works — offices, theatres, shops, hospitals — and where most of its modern history happened.

What is here

Wenceslas Square, a 750-metre boulevard rather than a square, with the National Museum at its head — the stage of 1918, of Jan Palach's self-immolation in 1969, and of the crowds of November 1989. The memorial to that revolution is around the corner on Národní. The National Theatre stands on the embankment with Café Slavia facing it; downstream, Frank Gehry's Dancing House of 1996. On Resslova, the crypt of the Heydrich Terror memorial, where the 1942 parachutists made their last stand — the most affecting hour in Prague. Along the river runs Náplavka, the embankment of Saturday farmers' markets and summer evening crowds. Charles Square, one of the largest medieval squares in Europe, keeps the New Town Hall where the first defenestration happened in 1419. And U Fleků has brewed its dark lager here since 1499.

What it is like

A real city with tourism in it, rather than the reverse. The Lucerna passage — built by Havel's grandfather, with David Černý's upside-down horse hanging in it — leads to Lucerna Music Bar; the grand cafés, Louvre and Imperial, are here. The upper end of Wenceslas Square turns seedy after dark: herna bars, touts, and the standing advice to decline any invitation from a stranger on the street.

Practical

The best-connected ground in Prague — Můstek, Muzeum, Karlovo náměstí and I.P. Pavlova put all three metro lines within reach, with the main station on the eastern edge. For sleeping it beats the Old Town on value and transport; the one caution is the magistrála, the traffic artery past the National Museum — avoid rooms fronting it, because that noise does not stop at night.