Prague is an absolutely beautiful city and is often at the top of peoples travel wish lists. The capital of Czechia and the largest city in the country, it attracts more than 8 million visitors every year. There is so much to do from exploring old town Prague and the Lesser Region, to visiting Prague Castle. There’s also some amazing museums and beautiful parks with great views over the city. Of course it is very easy to spend a lot of money while travelling, so we have put together a nice three day itinerary to see the best when you visit Prague while on a budget!

In this Post:

1. Where to Stay
2. Day One
   • Old Town
   • Letná Park
3. Day Two
   • Islands
   • Petřín Hill
4. Day Three
   • Lesser Town
   • Prague Castle
   • Museums

If you’re planning on visiting Prague on a budget, then you’re going to have to consider your accommodation. While Prague has a lot of relatively affordable accommodation compared to other European cities, where you stay can make a huge difference to your budget. If you’re looking to save money, we would recommend looking outside of the old town area. Public transport in Prague is very affordable and reliable, so it’s easy to reach most areas of the city.

Prague is dividided into 22 areas, numbered starting in the city centre and moving outwards. We stayed in Prague 3, which was a lovely residential area with good transport links. You could also consider Prague 2, the Lesser Town (Malá Strana), or Prague 5. These are all areas a little further away from the city centre but with good transport connections.

Day one is about seeing the touristy parts of the city when you visit Prague, which we always like to do first to get it out of the way. The best thing to do on your first day is explore Old Town Prague. The Old Town runs from Legion Bridge to Franz Joseph Bridge along the Vltava river. There’s lots of great things to see but the best thing to do in old town Prague is just to walk around the cute streets, admire the gorgeous buildings and do some shopping.

The best way to enter Old Town Prague is via the Powder Tower, a gorgeous gothic 15th century city gate. This gate is definitely worth a visit and also has a viewing tower you can go to for 200CZK.

Once inside, the most famous landmark in old town is of course the Astronomical clock, or Prague Orloj. This clocktower dates back to 1410 and has since gone through many renovations. It’s quite large, with the big astronomical dial, the round calendar dial underneath, and moving sculptures on either side. These sculptures move, most notably a skeleton striking a bell, every hour on the hour. It’s definitely a little underwhelming, especially with how many people wait under the clock on the hour, but it’s still fun to see.

The Prague Orloj is located in the old town square, where you’ll also find the Church of Our Lady before Týn. This is an amazing gothic style church looming over the square. It has free entry but is closed on Mondays. Nearby is the Klementinum, the countries oldest meteorological station with the famous and incredible Baroque library. While the pictures are stunning, we chose not to go in because it costs 380CZK or almost $30AUD each.

Lastly right next to this is the famous Charles Bridge. This stone bridge was built in 1402 and has 30 Baroque statues along it with large gates on either end. It is absolutely gorgeous and while it does get super busy, it’s worth it to walk along just once. To avoid the crowds at Charles Bridge, it’s best to arrive just before sunrise. There will still be many people around, but nothing like it is in the middle of the day!

While wandering around Old Town Prague we highly recommend eating at Lokál Dlouhááá. This restaurant serves tradional Czech food at very reasonable prices, with unlimited sides too! Some of the delicious dishes served are goulash, soup, fried cheese, roast pork and the best schnitzel we’ve ever eaten. They’ve also got some amazing looking desserts and a funky bathroom so it’s definitely worth a visit.

For dessert, we recommend heading out to find a trdelník or chimney cake. This is a dough similar to a doughnut or churro that wrapped around a stick and baked and then topped with cinnamon sugar and sometimes filled with gelato. You will find them everywhere, but our favourite place was Little Chimney Gelato and Bakery right near Charles Bridge. They were a little expensive but had such a nice array of flavours AND the offered gluten free trdelník too.

Letná Park is located on Letná hill just across the Vltava river to the north of old town Prague. It’s a great place to go when visiting Prague because it has a great view over the city! The best place to enter the park is across Svatopluk Čech Bridge, then head up the stairs. There’s not too many stairs but it is a steep climb up to the top. From there you’ll see a lovely view over Prague and its many orange rooves.

Once in the park the best thing to do is just walk around, squirrel spot and enjoy the view. However there is also a sports centre with tennis courts, basketball courts, an athletic track and a club. Nearby there’s also a beer garden, a playground, some restaurants and Letná pond. The main thing you will see in Letná Park though is the Prague Metronome. This was built in 1991 after a monument to Joseph Stalin was demolished. It is a working metronome that slowly ticks to represent how the passage of time will always bring change. The spot where the metronome stands is another great view point.

Day two is about exploring some of the great islands and the areas of the city on the other side of the river. Prague has thirteen islands sitting on the Vltava river, however there’s three that we’re going to recommend. Start by heading to the Dancing House, an office block with funky architecture. It also has a bar at the top that’s a cool place to head to when it gets dark, and it has a great hot chocolate! From there you’re nice and close to the first island, Slavic Island.

Slavic Island is one of the bigger islands on the Vltava and can be accessed via two bridges from the mainland. On the island is Žofín Palace which was built in 1884 and is used as an event space today. There’s some nice places to walk, view the mainland and take photos too.

After that, head to Legion Bridge and across to Shooters Island or Archer’s Island. This is a bigger island and has a lovely walk around the whole thing with more great views. There is also a sports club and a lovely café with cakes, drinks and a free bathroom!

The best thing about Shooter’s island though is the nutria that live there. Nutria are a semiaquatic rodent from South America that kind of look like very large water rats. They’re super cute and are very common on the island, often seen on the banks of the water. However please don’t go near them, touch them or feed them (we saw people doing all of these things!). They transmit diseases to humans and the water they swim in isn’t clean either, so best just to take photos from afar.

Lastly crossing Legion Bridge to the other side of the water, you’ll find a bridge across to Children’s Island. This is a smaller island filled with playgrounds, a football field, various courts and a skate park. There’s also a café and a sculpture on the island as well as some public toilets.

Just a two minute walk from Children’s Island is the entry to Petřín Hill. This hill rises 130m from the Vltava river and is a lovely place to spend a couple of hours. The walk up isn’t too steep and it’s a mix of stairs and ramp. There’s things to see on the walk up as well as somewhere to eat and places to see the view.

However, what’s up the top is the reason you’ll want to make the climb. There’s a lovely garden called Zahrada Květnice right next to a great rose garden. There’s also the Štefánik Observatory where you can do both day and night stargazing. As well as the domes, there’s also little exhibits and shows you can pay for, and a café to get some food. A short walk away is Petřín tower, which was built in 1891 and looks like a mini Eiffel tower. For 250 CZK you can climb the 299 steps to get a wonderful view from the top. Or you can enjoy the free exhibition under the tower about the history of it.

From there you can head back down the hill into the city. While on the walk you may see the track for the Petřín funicular. Even though it would be very convenient, sadly it is shut until summer 2026 due to extensive refurbishments. If you’d like to visit the top but would like to skip the walk, you can get a taxi up there, but public transport isn’t an option while the funicular is shut.

On the third day we gave ourselves the day to explore the amazing Prague Castle. We also wandered around the beautiful Lesser town just below the castle. It’s a slower day but was super worth it to give ourselves more time to explore these places.

The Lesser Town, Lesser Quarter or Malá Strana area is one of the most historic neighbourhoods of Prague. The area runs from next to Children’s Island along the river, under the castle and along the side of Petřín Hill. There are three bridges from the old town into Malá Strana, with Charles Bridge being the main one. If you choose to cross in via this bridge, it will pop you right into the centre of Malá Strana. The area was founded in 1257 and is dominated by beautiful coloured buildings with Baroque style architecture. It also has cute cobbled streets with great shops and lots of wonderful places to eat.

Apart from just walking around to admire the area, there are also some things to look out for. The main town square is divided in two by St. Nicholas Church, a beautiful baroque church. You can go inside for only 150CZK and it is open roughly 9am to 5pm every day, changing slightly depending on the month. Another thing worth visiting is the Lennon Wall, a legal graffiti wall. It popped up in 1980 after the murder of John Lennon and has graffiti featuring him as well as art on local and global issues. It’s free to visit and is a really interesting place to see while in Malá Strana.

Some other landmarks to see are the Wallenstein Palace, the Liechtenstein Palace and the church of Our Lady Victorious. Down near the water you’ll find the Franz Kafka Museum and just outside, the famous Čůrající postavy statue. Nearby is also Perníkový panáček or Gingerbread Man, a great store with delicious decorated gingerbread biscuits. There is so much to see and do in Malá Strana and also lots of hotels if you’d like to stay in this area too!

When you visit Prague, the number one thing to do is visit Prague Castle, a beautiful and impressive looking complex, sitting on a hill looking over the city. Built in the 9th century, it is the largest ancient castle in the world. It is also the most visited tourist attraction in the country, with almost 2.6 million people visiting in 2024. It’s easy to get up to, up a long ramp that isn’t too difficult to climb up.

Inside the castle complex are a variety of buildings such as St. George’s Basilica, the Old Royal Palace and the colourful Golden Lane. However the main building is the incredible Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral, sitting in the middle of the complex. There’s also a monastery, gardens, museums, a couple of cafes and even a Starbucks.

There are multiple ticket options, which you can buy either online or at the ticket counter at the castle. The tickets include entry to multiple things and there are four ticket options available. The most popular option is the main circuit, which includes entry to the four most popular buildings and costs 450CZK. There’s also a ticket for 300CZK that includes entry to four of the permanent exhibitions. Another ticket for 200CZK includes entry to the picture gallery, and lastly also for 200CZK you can get a ticket to climb the tower of the cathedral. We chose the main circuit ticket and thought it was worth the money for what we got entry into.

However, if you don’t have space in your budget for the ticketed areas, visiting the castle is still worth doing! You can go into the castle complex for free and walk around the impressive St. Vitus Cathedral. If you walk through the whole complex there’s a nice garden out the back where you can relax. Then down the whole side of the castle you can find the south gardens of Prague Castle. This is a nice long garden that’s free to visit and has an amazing view of Prague. It’s a great place to sit and take photos and is definitely worth the walk up the hill.

If you’ve got some spare time when you visit Prague or need to go indoors for a bit, there are two gorgeous places worth visiting:

• Klementinum – This is an astronomical tower and baroque library, often described as the most beautiful library in the world. You can enter from 9am to 7pm and have a guided tour for 380CZK.
• Strahov Monastery – Another historical site with a beautiful library open from 9am to 5pm and which you can tour for 190CZK. You can also do a joint tour of the library, the gallery and some parts of the Abbey for 340CZK.

There are also some great museums if you’re a museum fan:

• Franz Kafka Museum – This museum takes you through the life of Franz Kafka, a writer from Prague who had a huge influence on modern literature. It is open from 10am to 6pm and costs 300CZK to visit.
• Jewish Museum – This museum runs through the Jewish history in Prague through old artefacts and buildings. It is open every day except Saturday from 9am to 6pm (or 4:30pm in winter), and costs 600CZK.
• National Museum – This museum set in a gorgeous building has exhibits on Prague’s history, Czech culture and a large collection of natural history. It is open from 10am to 6pm every day and it costs 360CZK.
• Museum of Communism – This museum takes visitors though what life was like from 1948 to 1989 under communist rule with artefacts and immersive experiences. It is open everyday from 9am to 8pm and costs 380CZK per adult.
• National Museum of Agriculture – If you’re interested in farming, this museum takes you through the story of agriculture from the ground to your plate. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm and costs 200CZK to enter.

As you can see there is more than enough to stay busy for three days when you visit Prague! You’ve got the gorgeous Old Town and Lesser Town with lots of delicious food to enjoy. Many great parks and islands to explore and of course the famous Prague Castle. The best part is that so many of these things are cheap or free so you can really enjoy Prague on a budget. If you’d like to spend some time inside, there’s a huge variety of museums and libraries to visit that are world famous. You really won’t be at a shortage of things to do in this beautiful city and we hope you have a fabulous time!

To see everything we got up to on our visit to Prague, you can watch our vlog from the trip:

• A Complete Guide to Prague Public Transport
• Free and Budget Friendly Ways to Spend Your Time in Vienna
• How to See the Best of Budapest on a Budget