If you’re coming to Prague for a few days and are rested up and ready to really take it all in, you might want to look at the Prague Visitor Pass to pay once and knock out a lot of your expenses at once. We only had three nights in the city on this trip I’m on now, bookended by Amsterdam and Berlin, so for us it worked well to use this and hit the ground running.
You’ll have to do the math to see if it adds up for your situation, but the 48-hour pass is 2,400 Czech koruna, which is roughly 100 US dollars as I write this. The 72-hour one is less per day, at 3,000 koruna, around $125.
What you get for that is a load of free tours and admissions, unlimited public transportation, and a long list of discounts. As always with these city passes, they’re not for travelers spending a week or more in the city and spacing out their sightseeing. You need to go into whirlwind tour mode to get the most out of it.
It can really pay off if you do that though. See the full list of experiences here.
What We Did With Our Prague Pass
We checked out everything on offer on the official website long before we got to the city and figured out what was at the top of our list. We also left room for a little spontaneity as well, hitting two sites later that we didn’t have to make any reservations for.
We also took a whole lot of metro and tram rides, though if you’re just in the packed historic center with the bulk of the tourists, you probably won’t use that aspect much.
What I’d strongly advise though if you have a pass and want to avoid the crush of humanity that exists there most months of the year, it would be wise to get a little further out on the metro lines. There you can easily find a less expensive hotel and then more reasonable bars and restaurants will be around it. You only have to go a few stops to see a much more local side of Prague.
One big bonus on the getting around aspect if you fly in: this includes transportation from or to the airport on the Airport Express bus. That’s normally more than $4 each way.
Prague Venice River Cruise
You can’t really go all that far on the Vitava River of Prague on a sightseeing trip, thanks to flood control features. The small wooden boats of Prague Venice River Cruise company can go into the waterways of Lesser Town though, which the larger ships can’t navigate. It’s a nostalgic-feeling boat too, with an iron stove providing head in cold months and and a creaky hull with cushioned wood benches.
You go down some steps at the Charles Bridge entrance, where there’s also a museum included in the price, then you enter a stone tunnel where they ask you what you want to drink. That’s included too, including a beer if you’d like.
Then you putter around the river getting a different view of the city while your wired earbuds provide explanations in the language of your choice. You get some insight about the structures you’ve been seeing from the banks and it’s a nice ride on the water. This is $23 per person without the Prague Visitor Pass.
The Clementinum Astronomical Tower and Baroque Library
I was a little disappointed that we only got a quick peek into the library from the doorway here and it looks nothing like the photos since they have the lights dimmed so low it’s hard to see much. You can’t blame them though since the books in here are leather-bound ones from hundreds of years ago, in the time of Jesuit monks. They’re fragile.
It is well worth a visit anyway to learn about the history of the complex and see how astronomy was done in olden times. Plus it was a lot of stair climbing, so I worked off a pilsner or two during the exploration. The reward is some of the best views in the city, from right in the heart of Old Town. The shot from the top of this post is from there and here’s a view in another direction.
This normally costs $13 to $16 depending on your reservation type.
Charles Bridge Area Guided Tour
The first time I came to Prague, I got up before the crack of dawn and walked from my hotel to the Charles Bridge while it was still dark in order to be on it when it wasn’t thronged with people. This time we joined the crowds but it wasn’t too hard to get some pics and hear the explanations from our mic-less guide.
We started out at St. Nicholas Church right off the square, then timed it right to go by the Astronomical Clock as it did its thing at the top of the hour, little figures coming out and moving around while a skeleton rings a bell. We peeled off after that and made our way to the bridge, with a few stops on the way to admire some beautiful buildings.
We got some insight into some statues on the bridge (the darker they are, the older) and then explored the areas below the castle on the other side, known as Lesser Town.
It was another good tour with an engaging guide and this would have been $23 each without the pass.
Jerusalem Synagogue
The better-known Spanish Synagogue is also included with the pass and that normally costs a hefty $23 to enter, but we went to Jerusalem Synagogue that’s normally $6.50 because it was only two blocks from our hotel. It was still quite impressive to see and there were probably only 6-10 other people inside most of the time we were wandering around.
There was also an exhibit on the second level about what the Jews of Prague went through when the horrors of the Nazis ended and the reign of the anti-religious Soviets began. For those who stayed, it was a generation before things got much better for them.
Dox Museum
We hadn’t planned on visiting this modern art museum, but we did a guided tour of the Holesovice Art District that was excellent, highlighting an area that used to be an industrial zone and a slaughterhouse district. When it ended at the Dox Museum, we were intrigued by what we saw and used our passes to get stamped in. I was really glad we did because this would have been worth the trip by metro on its own.
This modern art museum has an impressive collection from Stefan Milkov on the main floor, some rotating exhibitions, and then a suspended zeppelin frame structure that stages lectures inside. It was a great experience all around.
Plus I loved this quote from George Orwell on the front, which goes out to all the haters telling me not to discuss politics on this blog, despite the fact that travel is intricately intwined with visas, free press, freedom of movement, and environmental policy:
An opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.
Admission to the Dox Museum normally costs $12 each for admission, plus the transportation cost if you don’t have a pass. See the official site here.
The Full Scope of the Prague Visitor Pass
We didn’t have the time or the will to be frantic sightseers trying to fit it all in. I did a lot of exploring on my own the first time I visited and my wife didn’t want to spend all day indoors, so we picked the Prague experiences that got us excited and let the rest slide.
If you have more time or energy than us, or just different tastes, here are some of the other things to do in Prague that are included with the city pass.
– Multiple churches and cathedrals
– Prague Castle and Lobkowicz Palace
– Multiple synagogues and a Jewish history guided tour
– A trip to the top of Petrin Tower
– Admission to the zoo or botanical garden
– Standing room tickets to the Prague Symphony
Beyond that, it also includes a lot of discounts and freebies designed to get you in the door of commercial establishments. So if any of those sound fun, you can get a little more out of your pass.
Is the Prague Visitor Pass Worth It?
For us, this Prague city pass was worth the price and we came out ahead, but barely. We’re slow travelers by nature and aren’t used to cramming in a whole day of planned activities between when we leave the hotel or apartment and when we return. So if what we did seems in line or even ambitious compared to what you would usually tackle, it’s kind of a wash.
The main advantage for us was convenience. It’s nice not to have to worry about what things cost: we just did what we wanted to do, knowing it was covered.
If you added on a few more more expensive experiences though, like a tour of Prague Castle ($19), a guided tour of the Medieval Underground ($25), and a the Old Royal Palace ($19) for instance, then you could easily see a 50% return on your investment. Add in some more things and you’re getting close to doubling your money.
You can also get some freebies at certain pubs or restaurants with the pass to get you in the door. Or you can get a discount at some shops and on some experiences, like the Tapster Academy Experience at the Pilsner Urquell Center or a dinner cruise on the river.
For more information, see the official website for the pass. Then see more about what to do here on the very useful Prague City Tourism website.
