family travel guide
Prague stands apart from the list of tourist destinations: even those who have never been here know about the exquisite beauty of the Czech capital. This ancient city has been famous for its architecture for centuries, and tourists appreciate the friendliness of the people of Prague and its hospitable atmosphere.
That's why families with children come here so often. Everything here contributes to a calm and safe family holiday, and the main city of the Czech Republic can compete with Vienna and Berlin in terms of children's entertainment. Even if you plan a trip to balneological or ski resorts in the Czech Republic, try to visit Prague at least for a day — it has a charm everyone is attracted to.
Our article will tell you about the best time to go and all the pleasant moments of a holiday with children in Prague.
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is located in the north-western part of the country, on the banks of the Vltava River. The distance from Prague to Liberec is 113 km, to Brno — 200 km, to Pilsen — 208 km, to Karlovy Vary — 130 km, to Marienbad — 170 km, and to Teplice — 90 km. Lying at the heart of Europe, it is one of the most beautiful cities and the major Czech economic and cultural centre. Prague is home to about 1.3 million people.
The first Slavic settlements in the area where Prague is located appeared in the IX century. Prague became the capital of the Czech state in the 10th century and has held this title ever since, despite all historical twists and turns.
Is it possible to over-praise a family holiday in Prague? Hardly. Every praise for this city is justified; sometimes, there is room for even more recognition.
Ancient, majestic, bright, festive, green — this is all about Prague. The Czech capital would like to call itself an open-air museum; in fact, it is: the historical centre of Prague is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Prepare to walk for days on end, and be sure to bring comfortable shoes. The city of Prague is spread over nine hills: Letná, Vítkov, Opyš, Větrov, Skalka, Emauzy, Vyšehrad, Karlov and finally the highest, the Petřín.
The weather in Prague is favourable to travellers. It is good to rest here at any time of the year, and even for a trip with an infant, you don't need to choose any particular time. However, it often rains in the Czech capital, but the bad weather is quickly replaced by sunshine.
Prague for children (as the young tourists see it ), is a big playground. A very big one: with a moon park, with its island, with water slides and rope courses. There is so much fun here that you will return to the hotel only at night to relax with your child after a busy day.
Even Prague's museums can be considered a territory of games and fantasy: take, for example, a journey through Little Bohemia in the "Kingdom of Railways" or a meeting with the heroes of urban legends in the Museum of Alchemists and Magicians in Prague. As for the standard aspects of the holiday — accommodation, food and transport, Prague is a truly European city.
Hotels here are good, regardless of the number of stars, restaurants are good, transport is modern — travellers do not encounter any hardships. People come to Prague with children to relax from their worries, and they are successful in it.
The question of the best time to go to Prague with children has one answer — at any time of the year. Although it is considered that the tourist season here lasts from April to October, the winter of Prague is perfect.
Especially memorable is a trip in the days before Christmas. The city is decked out in lights, candles, and holiday decor; Christmas trees are set up in Old Town Square and other places, and music and performances are organised everywhere.
These days, a horse-drawn carriage taking visitors through the city's old streets seems much more appropriate than a double-decker bus. Fair stalls are bursting with souvenirs, and the scent of gingerbread is in the air.
In winter, ice skating rinks open in Prague's squares, where you can have fun with the whole family. At the end of February, a procession of masked men goes through the capital's central streets — the city organises the Shrovetide carnival. The carnival celebrations in Prague include carnival processions, feasts, dancing and singing in the city streets. The busy celebrations take place all over Prague, for example, at Kampa in Malá Strana, in Letná, Žižkov, at the Jiří z Poděbrad Square, in Břevnov, or Karlíně.
The spring season in Prague starts with a pleasant surprise for children. From the first days of March to mid-April, the first spring fair, "Matějská pouť", is held in the city, where almost one hundred and fifty attractions are open to all visitors.
It's also a great reason to buy your child some colourful, eco-friendly toys, such as a wooden marionette doll famous in the Czech Republic or a plush mole — a character from an old cartoon.
Summer holidays with a child are universal — you can visit museums or devote all your time to walks and entertainment. But you should look for accommodation well in advance: tourists worldwide flock to Prague during the summer holidays, just like at Christmas.
For a relaxing holiday with a baby in Prague, it is better to choose the off-season. At this time, the weather is good, the parks are fresh and cosy, and the hotels are not overcrowded with travellers.
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Prague's climate is suitable for long walks around the city. Harsh frosts are not typical for the winters here; summer is warm, and spring and autumn enjoy clear, dry weather. Autumn in Prague is typically dry as it is the second less rainy period throughout the year. The best holiday in Prague with children is considered to be in June and August. Yes, the summer weather is perfect for travelling. Daytime temperatures stay at +22-25°C, although there are heat periods up to +30°C and short cold spells up to +15°C.
In summer it often rains, although travellers are not hindered by it — in case of bad weather you can plan a visit to a museum or indoor entertainment centre.
In September, the number of fine days increases, but the air temperature drops to +19-20°C and at night to +10-11°C. The air gets cooler in October to +13°C, and the city becomes foggy. In November, the air gets cooler to +7°C, the sky frowns, but rains hardly disturb tourists' plans.
It is difficult to notice the arrival of winter — this time of year is rarely marked by snow. From December to February, the temperature is +2-4°C, with a slight frost at night.
If you plan a holiday in Prague for Christmas, ensure you have warm clothes: the city often experiences cold winds.
As early as March, Prague is already enjoying spring. The nights remain cold, but the air temperature increases to +8-10°C during the day, and a warm one replaces the damp, cold wind. In April, the temperature rises to +12°C, and in May to +18°C. Holidays in late spring can only be spoilt by rain.
Many hotels in Prague include breakfast in the room rate. It is very convenient if breakfast is buffet-style and you are used to starting the day with a full meal.
It is still advisable to ask whether the breakfast menu includes dishes suitable for children: porridge, cereal with milk, omelette, and dairy products. A special children's menu is not often offered.
Lunch and dinner are much more enjoyable outside the hotel, in restaurants of Czech cuisine. You should look for such restaurants outside tourist Prague, and the sign may say Hostinec, Hospoda or Rivnice instead of Restaurace.
The most traditional Czech dish — roasted pork knee (Pečené vepřové koleno) — may not be worth offering to children. Still, bramboračka soup served in a bread loaf, goulash with dumplings and shredded potato pancake "Bramborak" are often chosen by children.
Prague's Výtopna restaurants offer a unique food presentation: mini-trains deliver orders. The menu includes Czech dishes, pizzas and desserts.
In the capital of the Czech Republic, there are also European and Asian restaurants, pizzerias, fast food establishments, and street food stands. Finding a children's corner in a restaurant or an outdoor playground is very common.
Walking around Prague in winter, surprise your children with a special Czech treat — strips of dough are rolled onto a cylinder (called trdlo) and baked over hot coals.
Trdelník — the name of this sweet treat — is delicious on its own, but baked trdelnik is usually coated in sugar mixed with cinnamon or nuts. You can also try a "holiday" dessert in Prague — Carlsbad wafers (Karlovarské oplatky) — round, thin wafers. They are sprinkled with sugar, hazelnuts, almonds, cocoa, vanilla or cinnamon and then baked until they are crisp and thin, developing their characteristical flavour.
If you are going to cook in your apartment, you can go shopping at Tesco Express, Billa, Lidl and Albert supermarkets. There are more than ten supermarkets in Prague-1 and Prague-2 districts. There are also three food markets in the city centre.
Prague is not a compact city, so tourists have to do more than walk. Public transport in Prague is convenient and functional: metro, trams and buses allow you to get to any attraction without wasting too much time and nerves.
There is also a funicular railway to Petřín Hill and ferries to the zoo and Troja Castle. Transport runs regularly, at short intervals, from early morning to late evening, and even at night, there are several tram and bus routes.
The single ticket is valid on all PID lines in Prague, which include: metro, trams, buses (apart from the line AE), ferries and integrated passenger trains (S lines). All tickets are fully transferable, validity is limited only by time.
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Ticket prices for inner-city journeys (zones P, 0 and B) depending on the duration of validity and passenger category:
The suburban zones are numbered from 1 to 9.
You can buy tickets at automatic ticketing terminals everywhere on the streets, at tram and bus stops and metro stations.
You can also buy a ticket by SMS. To buy a ticket, send DPT plus selected tariff (e.g. DPT32) as a text of an SMS (Short Text Message) to the number 902 06 and within 2 minutes, you will get an electronic ticket to your mobile phone in the form of SMS. You can pay for your ticket on Prague trams with a contactless bank card.
Tickets must be composted before travelling. In buses and trams, the composters are located inside, on the handrails near the entrance doors, and in the metro, they are in front of the escalator.
Children can get a free travel document in Prague at PID ticket offices. You will need the passports of the child and one of the parents, as well as a 3.5 x 4.5 cm photograph of the child.
If you intend to use a taxi to travel around Prague, we recommend calling a car by phone or via mobile applications.
The price of the trip consists of the cost of boarding fare (about 50 CZK) and the cost of each kilometre of travel (30-35 CZK).
Travellers by car are not recommended to go to the city centre, where finding a free parking space is challenging.
In the Prague-1, Prague-2, Prague-3 and Prague-7 districts, most parking spaces are reserved for locals. The city authorities suggest leaving cars in interceptor car parks (their map is available on the city's website). The cost of parking is about 40 CZK/hour.
A family holiday programme in Prague can consist entirely of walks and entertainment. Of course, museums should not be ignored (especially for children), but a carefree pastime in the Czech capital is a pleasure for everyone.
The warmer it gets outside, the more you want to put aside excursions for later and walk around Old Prague with your child. You can explore the beauty of the Old Town on foot, but why not ride around the historic centre on the historic tram 91, a double-decker bus, a horse-drawn carriage or a bicycle?
The three main sights of Prague where all tourists tag a location in their social media posts are Prague Castle (formerly the residence of Czech kings and now the Czech president), Charles Bridge and Old Town Hall.
Children are most fond of the ingenious the Prague astronomical clock or Prague Orloj on the Town Hall Tower: at the beginning of each hour, figures of apostles appear in the tower's windows, followed by the crowing of a golden cockerel.
Since Prague's sights are not only in the Old Town, there are at least three other ways to see them when travelling with children. The first is to climb up to one of the observation platforms, such as the Old Town Hall Tower, Petřín observation tower, St Vitus Cathedral Tower, Charles Bridge Towers, and Vyšehrad fortress observation platforms.
The second way is to admire the city during a river trip. Both tiny boats and large liners are travelling along the Vltava. An hour's walk is enough to admire the unique appearance of the Czech capital. The third way is to see what the Czech Republic's capital was 200 years ago at the Prague Museum. Here you can see a model of the city centre made in the early 19th century. Another Prague miracle is dancing fountains. There are more advanced complexes nowadays, but Prague fountains are more than 100 years old, and their dance is still mesmerising.
What can't you find in Prague that is usually included in a holiday programme with children? Everything is here, and even in abundance.
1. Amusement Parks. Prague's Luna Park is a collection of all the classic rides and no queues. The Toboga Fantasy indoor play centre will come to your rescue in rainy or cold weather. Majaland Prague is Bohemia's largest indoor amusement park – 9000 m2, with 12 cool rides including a roller coaster 220 meters long and over 9 meters high.
2. Active recreation. If your fidgety child doesn't get enough opportunity to run on the ground, let them go for a run on the aerial trails. There are several rope parks in Prague – Vysoká Lana, Proud, Ořech and others.
Fun Island Prague offers even more activities, from mini golf to rafting. Extreme enthusiasts can kart in one of the go-karting centres or sledge down a winding and sometimes steep bobsleigh track.
3. Water parks. Water amusement centres will brighten up a holiday with a child in Prague, especially as they are open both in summer and winter. AquaDream and Letňany Lagoon water parks are not full of slides but offer a calm atmosphere and pools for kids. The Aquapalace Centre in Čestlice has an open-air beach, indoor play and adventure pools, 10 water slides and a small aquarium.
4. Animals. Prague Zoo is one of the best zoos in the world, and a walk through it is like travelling around the world – the zoo is home to animals from all corners of the Earth. The marine world reveals its secrets in the Oceanarium. And you can meet dinosaurs at the Dinopark.
5. Cultural programme. A trip to the theatre with children can leave different impressions, and the Prague Philharmonic Society is well aware of this.They have prepared a special programme for young visitors, as if inspired by a child's imagination. At the Minor Theatre, absolutely all performances are intended for children.
In the warm season, you can see how much greenery there is in Prague. Only a tenth of the city is built up – almost the same amount of land is under forests.
In addition to forests, there are many parks and squares where you can hide from the sun and heat.
It isn't very easy to choose one park out of many. What to choose — the luxurious Royal Garden, the picturesque Deer Moat Garden, the Letenské Gardens (one of their attractions is the Prague Metronome), the democratic Stromovka Park, the outlandish Botanical Garden of Prague, the Petřín Hill with the Mirror Maze and Observatory? Each green area is lovely in its way. Moreover, all parks have playgrounds for children.
But Prague's most famous playground is Children's Island. It's not just a name: the island is natural. Sandpits, swings, roundabouts, slides, climbing slides, sports fields and water play attractions occupy the entire sizeable area. From April to October, you can reach the island on one of the six ferries on the Vltava River — route P4: National Theatre Gollár — Children's Island (Dětský ostrov). Ferries are considered urban public transport, so the regular transport ticket applies.
If your list of things to do in Prague with a child is already complete and you still have plenty of free time, we recommend travelling to neighbouring cities. There you can also have a good holiday with the whole family.
The city of Liberec, for example, is famous for its zoo — the oldest in the Czech Republic. The zoo pays special attention to the preservation of endangered species of animals: rare golden takins, mangabeys, musk oxen, and snow leopards live here.
The Liberec Botanical Garden is also a pleasant place to spend time with children. Its pavilions don't just display plants from all over the world — here, you can see insect-eating plants and walk through the Mesozoic forest.
And if the weather interrupts your stroll, move to the Babylon indoor entertainment centre with its water park, rides, iQpark experimentium and 4D cinema.
We recommend visiting the safari park in Dvůr Králové nad Labem on a nice day. In the warm season, the tourist bus drives through the "savannah" where zebras, antelopes and watusi bulls graze, past lakes inhabited by pelicans and flamingos.
Larger and more dangerous animals live in enclosures: you will see elephants, giraffes, predatory cats, jackals and hyenas, small inhabitants of the African savannah.
In Pilsen, there is the Dinopark, where you can see prehistoric lizards. The Dino Aquarium deserves special attention: a 3D film will plunge you into the ocean's depths, where the monstrous creatures once lived.
But a preschool child will be especially interested in the fairy tale park "Children's Paradise" (Strancice municipality). Fairy-tale creatures inhabit this park, and its main playground looks more like a castle.
Here's the good news: Prague has museums that can easily be called exciting places for children. They will appeal to parents too.
For example, all the exhibits in the Lego Museum — buildings, equipment, compositions on the theme of famous films — are made of constructor bricks. The sights of Prague, built from Lego bricks, are recognisable at a glance.
You can show your child many amazing things in the Czech film director and animator Karel Zeman museum. The museum halls look like film pavilions, and some exhibits allow you to literally step into the frame.
The Museum of Alchemists and Magicians will be appreciated by teenagers who want to learn about Prague's spooky legends. The Donkey in the Cradle house ( Dům u osla v kolébce), where alchemist Edward Kelly lived several centuries ago, is full of oddities — for example, the fact that the owner of the house still wanders around his chambers.
Visiting the Museum of Miniatures in Prague with a child is no less attractive. The first things visitors see in it are microscopes and magnifying glasses. The works of miniaturist Mikhail Konenko cannot be seen otherwise: the artist has placed a camel caravan in the eye of a needle and the Eiffel Tower on the foot of a mosquito.
A real wonder is the Railway Kingdom museum. A huge railway model depicts the regions of the Czech Republic, and each train running on the tracks has a video camera built-in: you can "travel" around the whole country in two hours. And the amount of detail on the model! There are 187 buildings and 3.5 thousand human figures in the small city of Prague alone.
The National Technical Museum offers a journey from the past to the future. Its building is planned so one glance can cover dozens of old cars, trains, and planes (the main thing - do not forget that there are halls with not so large exhibits).
Holidays in Prague with children can be enhanced with a tasty excursion to the Choco-Story Museum. There is a quest for children, the victory in which is rewarded with a sweet gift.
A rich sightseeing programme is cheaper with the Prague Pass. It includes public transport, a sightseeing tour of Prague and a boat trip on the Vltava River. The Prague Card also entitles you to entry to 70 tourist attractions and museums.
You can purchase the card at tourist information centres or online.
The two main options for staying in Prague with children are hotels and apartments. Hotels in the Czech capital offer a good level of service, and this applies not only to the "five" and "four" hotels: many "three" hotels are suitable for a good family holiday.
To understand where it is better with children, study the list of services in the hotel. Here are a few options that may be important:
You shouldn't expect the hotel to have a playroom, a mini-club and a swimming pool — the city already has a lot of entertainment.
Only the Aquapalace Hotel, located near Prague, away from the capital’s attractions, has its entertainment program.
The significant advantage of apartments for independent holidays in Prague with children is the availability of a kitchen, where you can prepare the food to which the child is accustomed. In apartments, preparing baby food for the youngest tourists is easier. Note that some hotels and apartments are in old houses without a lift. The choice of where to stay in Prague depends most of all on the length of the trip.
If you are planning a short stay and do not want to spend precious minutes travelling, it is better to stay in the central districts of Prague 1 and Prague 2. Most of the sights are here.
The downside of these neighbourhoods is the high prices and the busy streets. However, you can't hear the noise from the streets if you choose a room or apartment with windows facing the courtyard.
All other districts of Prague are petal-shaped around the centre. Prague 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 are close to the Old Town, and accommodation in these neighbourhoods is cheaper.
These areas are as safe as the centre, and there are plenty of parks to walk around. Another advantage of the out-of-centre areas is easy (often free) parking. If you are travelling without a car, choosing options close to metro stations is advisable.
Families with children are not recommended to stay in the industrial districts of Prague 9 and Prague 8 - many interesting music festivals take place here. Still, the streets are noisy until late at night.
If you travel by car, you can look for accommodation around Prague. Accommodation in this case will be considerably cheaper than in or near the Old Town.
Prague Václav Havel Airport (Ruzyně) International Airport is 20 kilometres from Prague. It handles daily flights from many countries.
How to get to Prague from the airport:
Almost all international trains arrive at Prague's central railway station (Wilsonovo Nádraži, or Hlavni Nádraži).
It is located a 5-minute walk from the historic centre. Besides it, there are four other railway stations in Prague. City transport routes allow you to quickly get from the station to any part of the city.
You can reach the central station by metro (red line C) or trams No. 5, 9, 26. Train timetables and ticket prices are available on the Czech Railways website: https://www.cd.cz.
Prague has six bus stations, but international buses come to the Florenc bus station. The bus station is in the centre of Nové Město (New Town). It can be reached by metro (yellow line B and red line C) and tram # 8, 24. Bus timetables are available on the website of the bus station: https://florenc.cz/.
Two European routes pass through Prague: E65 (Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Montenegro) and E50 (France, Germany, Ukraine). Almost all roads leading to Prague are toll roads; you must buy a vignette at the nearest petrol station or online.
How to get to Prague:
More information is available on the official Prague website.
