An Introduction to Prague

3-Hour Tour

Prague’s Old Town, New Town, & Jewish Quarter

Get a Solid Feel for the Golden City with a Local Historian

This 3-hour Prague walking tour is your orientation into the key sites and dazzling architecture of a city at the center of European history for a thousand years. Our knowledgeable, expert historian guides share the secrets of major Prague landmarks including Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, Charles University, Wenceslas Square, Municipal House, House of the Black Madonna, and the Old-New Synagogue. You’ll discover the social and political complexities of the Czech capital, a city proud to have developed a vibrant and unique culture despite centuries of foreign domination.

Journey through the Old and New Towns of Prague on our 3-hour walking tour, and learn of this UNESCO-listed city's emergence as a center of both medieval learning and brutal religious conflict.

Your expert historian guide distinguishes between architectural styles including Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Art Nouveau, and Cubist - detailing the religious and nationalist movements that fostered each style.

Explore the 20th-century events that shaped the city we see today, including WW1 and the first Czechoslovak Republic, the Nazi occupation, the Prague Spring protests of 1968, and the Velvet Revolution of 1989.

Stroll by the oldest-functioning synagogue in Europe, and learn of Prague's ancient Jewish community and complex relations with its German and Czech neighbors.

Enjoy an engaging and thought-provoking discussion on the evolving state of Czech politics and society today, 30 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Tour Details

Price

Private tour – $270 USD (1-10 persons)
*your guide all to yourself

 

Small groups – $75 USD per person
*still intimate with 8 persons or less


Departure time

Private tours daily at 10 AM and 2 PM

 

Small groups

  • Monday 2 PM
  • Wednesday 10 AM
  • Friday 2 PM
  • Saturday 10 AM

Meeting point

Private tours include a pick-up at your central hotel or flat

Small groups: Café Mondieu, Maltézské náměstí 480 (near the Lennon Wall)


Availability

Private tours run daily

 

Small groups: Year-round on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays


Duration

3 hours


Group size

Private tours: 1-10 persons
Groups of over 10 should contact us at info@insightcities.com in order to get a special rate for their party.

 

Small groups: 2-8 persons


Participation requirements

Our walks operate rain or shine, though, in the case of inclement weather, our guides often make alterations for our guests’ comfort.


What to bring

Comfortable walking shoes


About your guide

Read about our Prague guides


Cancellation policy

For cancellations 48 hours prior to your scheduled tour, Insight Cities offers a full refund. We cannot refund cancellations within 48 hours of a scheduled tour as we need to pay our guide.

Overview of Your Tour

medieval buildings in square

UNESCO-listed Prague; 1,000 Years in the Heart of Europe

This 3-hour Prague walking tour introduces key monuments within this beautiful UNESCO-listed city. As we explore, your expert guide shares insight into Prague’s 1,000 years at the heart of European history.

We begin our guided tour in the Old Town Square, the ancient marketplace that established Prague as an important center for medieval trade. The soaring, late Gothic towers of Tyn Church and Old Town Hall triumphantly showcase the economic and cultural power which Prague achieved during its centuries of Bohemian self-rule. At the Square’s center, the monument to the religious reformer, Jan Hus, stands as the symbol of Czech national identity and resistance to foreign domination.

old square with various buildings of pink red and blue

Exploring Prague’s Multicultural Past

Walking through the winding streets of Old Town, you’ll see monuments and buildings that reveal the social and political complexities of Prague’s multicultural past. At Charles University’s oldest remaining structure, a lovely Gothic oriel window from 1370, you’ll discover the impact that Czech intellectuals have had on their nation’s political fortunes – a tradition that began with Charles IV, the French-educated Holy Roman Emperor who founded the university in 1348 to make his capital city a center of learning.

Wenceslas Square; from Nazi Rallies to the first Czechoslovak Republic

Wenceslas Square will frame our discussion of Prague’s twentieth-century ordeals. The Nazis held mass rallies here, which was also the point of convergence for the Warsaw Pact tanks that crushed the Prague Spring protests of 1968. Next, the greatest of the City’s many art nouveau masterpieces, Municipal House, sends us back to the twentieth century’s most optimistic moment for Czech independence. Built in 1911, Municipal House flamboyantly proclaimed that the Czechs were thoroughly modern people, ready to join Europe. It was from this hall that the post-WWI creation of the first Czechoslovak Republic was declared.

four men in tshirts smiling in front of clock

A Discussion on Jewish Integration in Prague

Finally, you’ll walk through the Jewish Quarter. You’ll see the oldest functioning temple in Europe, the Old-New Synagogue, and the rococo Jewish Town Hall. This will lead us to a discussion of the cultural and economic interactions of Prague’s venerable Jewish community with its German and Czech neighbors. Ending our Prague walking tour at the Vltava River, beneath a grand view of Prague Castle, we’ll conclude with a summary of the emerging Czech political system, more than 30 years into the country’s post-cold war revival as a modern democracy.

See Our FAQs for More Information


See What Our Guests are Saying


You May Also Like...


Prague Castle View
edifice of gold and green curvy building
group of people in old library looking up at painted ceiling