Wenceslas Square
Wenceslas Square is where the Czech Republic announced itself twice: in 1918 when Czechoslovakia declared independence from the Habsburg empire, and again in 1989 when half a million people gathered to end communist rule.
Walking tour in Prague
Prague Old Town Free Tour
The Prague Old Town Free Tour covers the most important sites of the city of a hundred spires, walking through the Old Town, across Charles Bridge, and up to Prague Castle. The tour runs daily in English with morning and afternoon departures. The recommended tip is 10 to 14 euros per person. Budget travelers use it as a free orientation walk that covers in 2.5 hours what would take a full day to figure out alone.
Practical
Who runs it
- Operator
- Free Walking Tour Prague
The route
Where it stops
Each stop is free to stand in front of, whatever the tour costs.
Charles Bridge
Charles IV laid the foundation stone of the Karluv most at 5:31 AM on July 9, 1357, a moment chosen for its numerological palindrome (1-3-5-7-9-7-5-3-1) that the emperor believed would give the bridge supernatural strength. The bridge took 45 years to build and was Prague's only Vltava crossing for nearly 500 years.
Prague Castle
Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world, covering roughly 70,000 square meters. In 1618, Protestant nobles threw two Catholic Habsburg governors out of a castle window in what became known as the Defenestration of Prague, triggering the Thirty Years' War.
Vysehrad
This hilltop fortress south of the center predates Prague Castle and sits above the Vltava with wide-open views toward the Old Town skyline. The 11th-century Rotunda of St Martin is the oldest standing structure in Prague. Vysehrad Cemetery holds the graves of Dvorak, Smetana, Mucha, and dozens of other Czech cultural figures.
John Lennon Wall
The John Lennon Wall in Mala Strana has been covered in graffiti, lyrics, and political messages since the 1980s. It started as a quiet act of defiance during the communist era and became a permanent, ever-changing street art surface.
Everything else Prague costs.
Prague