Prague escaped the Second World War with its historic centre almost entirely intact, which explains why walking through the Old Town feels less like visiting a preserved historic district and more like stepping into a place that simply never stopped being the 14th century. The Gothic churches, the Baroque palaces, the medieval astronomical clock telling the time since 1410, the Charles Bridge with its thirty Baroque saints peering at the Vltava below — these are not reconstructions. They are the originals, standing where they were built, entirely unconcerned that the 21st century has arranged itself around them. Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and is very aware of this fact, which is something you learn to work with.

The Old Town: Where to Go and How to Survive Going There

The Old Town Square at noon — when the Astronomical Clock’s hourly procession of twelve apostles rotates through its window, which takes approximately forty-five seconds and is watched by approximately four hundred people simultaneously — is one of the more reliable demonstrations of the gap between a sight’s reputation and the experience of visiting it at peak hour. The clock is genuinely remarkable: a medieval mechanical masterpiece that tracks the movement of the sun, the moon, and the zodiac with an accuracy that required an understanding of astronomy that most people of 1410 did not have. It is best viewed at 7am, when the apostles still make their appearance and the square contains you and perhaps eight other people who also set an alarm.

The Josefov Jewish Quarter has six synagogues and the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe. The Týn Church’s Gothic spires appear suddenly above the roofline like a fairy tale ongoing since the 12th century. The Kafka Museum in Malá Strana (yes, he was from here, yes this explains a great deal) rewards slow walking. Something is interesting approximately every thirty metres.

Prague Castle: The Largest Castle Complex in the World, Which Is Not a Small Thing

Prague Castle covers 70,000 square metres — the largest ancient castle complex in the world — containing a Gothic cathedral, Romanesque basilica, Renaissance palace, Baroque garden, and Golden Lane, the street of tiny medieval houses where Kafka briefly lived and his sister ran a bookshop, because Prague cannot help itself. Approach by walking up through Hradčany rather than the tourist shuttle — twenty minutes through increasingly beautiful Baroque streets, arriving at the gates with the reward of having earned the finest urban panorama in Central Europe.

The Beer: The Other Reason Everyone Actually Comes

Czech Republic is the world’s largest per-capita beer consumer. Czech pilsner — invented in Bohemia in 1842, replicated by the rest of the world with varying success ever since — is best drunk from a třetinka (0.3 litres) that ensures it arrives cold before you warm it. The hospoda — the dark-panelled neighbourhood tavern where regulars have specific chairs and beer is poured with deliberateness bordering on religious — is among the finest pub cultures in the world. Find one at least two streets from any tourist landmark and sit in it for longer than planned.

Practical Notes for the Unprepared

Prague is extremely walkable and has excellent public transport for when it isn’t. The Old Town, Malá Strana, Hradčany, and Vinohrady (the neighbourhood where the locals actually live, eat, and drink, and which most tourists never reach) are all connected by tram lines that run frequently and cost almost nothing. The Czech koruna is not the euro, which surprises a significant number of visitors who assumed it was, and the exchange rate means that Prague is considerably more affordable than Paris or Amsterdam for equivalent quality of food, drink, and accommodation. Trdelník — the spiral pastry sold on every tourist street corner, often filled with ice cream — is not a traditional Czech food and was not invented in Prague. It is a tourist confection of recent origin. Order the svíčková instead: beef sirloin in a cream and root vegetable sauce with bread dumplings and cranberry jam, which is traditional, which is extraordinary, and which will make you understand why Czech food has been underrated for so long and is worth rating properly now.

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Prague will seduce you with its architecture and keep you with its beer. Both are excellent reasons to stay longer than you planned — which, in Prague, is what always happens anyway.