Prague Highlights Small-Group Tour by Bus, Boat and on Foot

Panoramic bus ride through the New Town

The first half hour is spent in an air-conditioned minibus crossing the centre of Prague, which is the easiest way to understand how the city fits together before you start walking. The route passes the Dancing House, the curved glass-and-concrete building finished in 1996 on the Vltava embankment, then runs up Wenceslas Square, the long boulevard laid out as a horse market in 1348 and crowned by the National Museum, and past the National Gallery buildings. Your guide uses the ride to tell the story of the New Town, founded in the 14th century as one of the largest planned towns of medieval Europe.

The bus ride is included only in the full tour; the shorter option replaces it with a short transfer straight to the castle. For most travellers the panoramic ride is worth keeping: it shows the river embankments and the modern city that the walking parts of the Prague sightseeing tour do not reach.

Prague Castle

Prague Castle has been the seat of Bohemian princes, kings, emperors and presidents since its foundation around 880, and the complex of palaces, churches and courtyards covers roughly 70,000 square metres on the hill above the Lesser Town. The 75-minute guided walk takes you through the gates and courtyards, past the Old Royal Palace and the Gothic mass of St Vitus Cathedral, whose spires and flying buttresses dominate every view of the city, and along the ramparts to the viewpoints over the red roofs of Prague.

Interior entry tickets are not included, so the cathedral, the palace halls and Golden Lane are seen from outside; the courtyards, the gardens and the viewpoints are free to enter with the guide. If you want to go inside later, Prague Castle opening hours are long in summer and the guide will tell you how to get to Prague Castle on your own and when the queues are shortest. The changing of the guard happens at the main gate on the hour.

Vltava River cruise

After the castle the group boards a boat for a one-hour cruise on the Vltava River, the relaxing middle part of the tour. The boat moves slowly past the Lesser Town riverside, the island of Kampa, the National Theatre and the concert hall of the Rudolfinum, and under the arches of Charles Bridge, the stone bridge begun in 1357 that connects the Old Town and the Lesser Town and carries thirty Baroque statues. From the water you see the bridge towers, the castle on its hill and the weirs that make the river sparkle, a view you cannot get from the streets.

There is seating inside and an open upper deck, so the cruise works in any season; most travellers spend the hour on deck taking photos of Charles Bridge from below. This is also a good rest after the castle walk before the final part of the Prague sightseeing tour on foot.

Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock

From the river the guide leads you into the Old Town, the medieval core of Prague with lanes laid out in the 13th century, to Old Town Square. Here stand the Gothic towers of the Church of Our Lady before Týn, the Baroque Church of St Nicholas, the pastel house fronts of the old merchants and the Old Town Hall with its tower. On the tower face is the Astronomical Clock, the Orloj, installed in 1410 and still the oldest working clock of its kind: an astronomical dial showing the position of the sun and moon, a calendar plate and, on the hour, a procession of the Apostles above the dial.

Your guide explains the history of the clock and what each moving figure means, so the hourly show makes sense instead of being just a crowd moment. The walk around the Old Town and the square lasts about an hour in total and is the best introduction to the area you will probably explore again on your own.

The Jewish Quarter, Josefov

The tour ends with a guided walk through Josefov, the former Jewish Town between Old Town Square and the river. The ghetto that stood here for centuries was mostly rebuilt around 1900, which is why the quarter today mixes elegant Art Nouveau apartment houses along Pařížská street with monuments far older: the Old-New Synagogue of around 1270, the oldest active synagogue in Europe, the Jewish Town Hall with its Hebrew clock whose hands run anticlockwise, the Spanish Synagogue and the walls of the Old Jewish Cemetery with its layers of leaning tombstones.

The synagogues are seen from outside on the tour; they open to visitors as part of the Jewish Museum, and the guide will tell you the opening hours if you want to come back. The walk takes about 45 minutes and brings the tour to an end in the Old Town, close to the metro and tram stops.