Ghost Stories Night Walking Tour with Costumed Storyteller Prague

Old Town Square at night

Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) has been the market place and the stage of Prague since the 12th century, and after dark it becomes a different place. The crowds thin, the Gothic spires of the Týn Church and the Baroque front of St Nicholas are floodlit, and the paving in front of the Old Town Hall shows 27 white crosses marking where the leaders of the Bohemian uprising were executed in 1621. Your storyteller begins here with the darkest legends of the walk: the ghosts said to return on the anniversary of the execution, and the clockmaker of the Astronomical Clock who was blinded so that he could never build another.

The Prague ghost tour spends about ten minutes on the square, enough to see the main monuments and hear why this is the right place to start a night walking tour in Prague. If you wonder whether Old Town Square is worth visiting after dark, this is the best time to see it: quiet, lit and full of atmosphere.

The Church of Our Lady before Týn and the Ungelt courtyard

The Church of Our Lady before Týn is the Gothic landmark of the Old Town, built from the 14th century, with twin towers of about 80 metres crowned by clusters of small spires. Its main front is hidden behind the houses of the square, which is why the church seems to rise straight out of the rooftops. Behind it lies the Týn courtyard, called Ungelt, a walled merchants' court where foreign traders paid customs duty from the 11th century onwards. The Renaissance house with the arcaded loggia is the finest building inside.

The storyteller leads you through the courtyard for one of the best-known Prague legends: the merchant who fell in love with a local girl, killed her out of jealousy and is said to haunt the arches of Ungelt ever since. It takes about five minutes, and the walk then slips into the narrow lanes toward the Jewish Quarter, with the first of the two secret stops along the way.

The lanes of the Old Town and the secret stops

Between Old Town Square and the Jewish Quarter the streets narrow into a medieval tangle: lanes that were laid out in the 13th century, passages that cut through house courtyards and corners lit by a single lamp. This is the part of the walking tour where the city feels oldest. The storyteller does not announce the two secret stops in advance; they are small places with big stories, a doorway, a wall or a shrine connected to a death, a curse or an unexplained sighting recorded in Prague chronicles.

The pace is slow and the distance short, so the walk is easy even for people who do not usually walk much. Each stop lasts five or six minutes, and the guide uses the lantern to point out the details you would never notice by day. This is also where the history is richest: the Old Town was a self-governing medieval city with its own walls, courts and executioner, and many of its legends come from real trials and real punishments.

The Old-New Synagogue and the Golem

The Old-New Synagogue, completed around 1270, is the oldest synagogue still in use in Europe and the heart of the Jewish Quarter, Josefov. Its steep brick gable and small windows give it a fortress-like look, and the building has survived fires, floods and the clearances of the 19th century that destroyed most of the old ghetto around it. The legend that draws visitors here is the Golem, the clay figure said to have been shaped by a rabbi of this synagogue in the 16th century to protect the community, and then laid to rest in the attic, where the stairs were removed so that nobody could reach it.

The guided stop lasts about six minutes and is from the outside only; the synagogue is a working place of worship and entry is not included. The storyteller explains the Golem, the history of the Jewish Town and why the quarter has more legends than any other part of Prague. From here the second secret stop leads to the finish.

The Old Jewish Cemetery

The Old Jewish Cemetery is the final stop of the ghost tour and the most atmospheric. It was in use from the first half of the 15th century until 1787, and because the community was not allowed to expand it, graves were layered on top of each other and thousands of tombstones now lean against one another in the raised ground under old elder trees. By day it is one of the most visited sites in Prague; at night, seen through the gate by lantern light, it is unforgettable.

The walk ends here, close to Pařížská street and a few minutes on foot from Old Town Square, so you can easily continue to dinner or a tram. If you want to see the cemetery and the synagogues inside, they open during the day as part of the Jewish Museum, and our team is happy to suggest the best time to visit. Opening hours are shorter on Fridays and the sites are closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays.