Where to stay in Prague

Choosing a neighbourhood

Old Town — everything at your door, and the stag parties too. Beautiful, expensive, and the streets around Dlouhá run loud past two. Ask which way the room faces.

Malá Strana — the romantic answer. Baroque lanes, the Castle above, and genuinely quiet after the day-trippers leave at six. The trade is a tram ride or a bridge walk to everything on the other bank.

New Town — the practical answer. A few minutes' walk to the sights, metro everywhere, noticeably better prices, and most of the city's normal life.

Vinohrady — where people who know Prague stay on a second visit. Art Nouveau streets, the best café density in the city, fifteen minutes to the centre by metro. Same money, more space, better breakfasts.

Karlín — the design-hotel and food-scene quarter. Flat, riverside, ten minutes by tram.

Hradčany and around the Castle — lovely to wake in, less lovely to climb home to after dinner, and short on restaurants after dark.

What to check before booking

Whether there is a lift — five-storey nineteenth-century buildings without one are standard. Whether the room faces street or courtyard, especially in the Old Town. And whether "air conditioning" in a summer listing is a real unit or a fan; Prague's heatwaves are recent and the building stock has not caught up.