Best Places to Visit in Czechia: Castles, Spa Towns and Bohemian Landscapes

Prague's Castle District and Old Town: The Essential First Stop

Almost every Czech journey starts in Prague, and the historic core deserves at least two unhurried days. Begin at Charles Bridge before eight in the morning, when the baroque statues emerge from the mist and the only competition for the view is a handful of photographers. Walk up Nerudova Street to Prague Castle, the largest coherent castle complex in the world, and give the grounds three to four hours — St. Vitus Cathedral alone, with its stained glass and Gothic vaulting, can swallow an hour. The Golden Lane, a row of tiny 16th-century craftsmen's cottages tucked against the ramparts, is included with most circuit tickets and is worth the squeeze.

Cross the river for Old Town Square, where the Astronomical Clock performs its mechanical procession of apostles on the hour and the twin spires of Our Lady before Týn rise behind a pastel jumble of facades. Wander north into Josefov, the former Jewish Quarter, to see the Old-New Synagogue and the deeply moving Old Jewish Cemetery, where graves are layered more than ten deep. Finish on Wenceslas Square, less a square than a broad, gently sloping boulevard, where the National Museum crowns the upper end. Prague rewards getting lost: the lanes between Old Town Square and the river hide courtyards, puppet shops and cellar pubs that no itinerary can plan for.

Prague Beyond the Crowds: Vysehrad, Petrin and Letna

Once you have ticked off the headline sights, Prague's second layer is quieter and, for many visitors, more memorable. Vysehrad, the legendary seat of the earliest Czech princes, sits on a bluff south of the centre with river views, a romantic cemetery holding the graves of composers and writers, and Romanesque rotunda that predates most of the castle. It takes a half-day at an easy pace and rarely feels crowded.

Across the river, Petřín Hill rises above the Lesser Town, topped by a miniature lookout tower that mimics a certain Parisian landmark and offers the best panorama of the castle. The walk up through orchards and rose gardens in May is one of the city's small pleasures; a funicular saves your legs if the weather turns. Nearby, Letná Park's beer garden overlooks the Vltava's bends and is the classic late-afternoon stop, while Stromovka, the old royal hunting ground, is where locals run, picnic and cycle on weekends. Add the John Lennon Wall in Kampa for a quick look, then settle into a riverside terrace as the castle lights come on.

Castles and Chateaux: The Best Day Trips from Prague

Karlštejn Castle is the classic excursion — a 14th-century fortress built to safeguard imperial treasures, reachable by train from Prague in around forty minutes, followed by a short climb through a village of trdelník stalls. Interior tours are limited in number and sell out on summer weekends, so reserve ahead or arrive early. For something less visited, Konopiště's palatial interiors and bear moat, or the ruined Gothic bulk of Křivoklát, both make excellent half-day escapes into the Berounka valley forests.

Further afield, Český Krumlov is the country's showpiece: a UNESCO-listed medieval town folded into a hairpin of the Vltava, dominated by a sprawling castle with a remarkably preserved baroque theatre and a tower painted in illusionistic frescoes. Give it a full day, and consider staying overnight — the coach groups vanish by late afternoon and the cobbled lanes empty into something close to magic. Telč, another UNESCO site, offers a square of arcaded Renaissance houses reflected in fish ponds, while Hluboká's frothy white chateau, near České Budějovice, is the romantic counterpoint to all that stern stone. Three days are enough to see two of these comfortably alongside Prague.

Bohemian and Moravian Landscapes: Rocks, Gorges and Mountain Tops

Czechia's natural scenery is underrated, partly because the cities shout so loudly. In the north-west, Bohemian Switzerland National Park protects a plateau of sandstone mesas and pine forests, with the Pravčická Brána — the largest natural sandstone arch in Europe — as its signature sight. A full day here usually combines the arch with a flat-bottomed boat ride through the Edmund and Wild Gorges, where the cliffs close in and the boatman's pole is the only engine.

East of there, the Adršpach-Teplice Rocks form a labyrinth of sandstone towers you walk between on marked trails, some passages so narrow you turn sideways. Closer to Prague, Český ráj (Bohemian Paradise) pairs the Prachov Rocks with the twin-turreted ruin of Trosky on its volcanic plugs. For bigger climbs, head to the Krkonoše mountains on the Polish border and hike to Sněžka, the country's highest peak at 1,603 metres — a steady but non-technical ascent, snowbound from roughly November to April. In Moravia, the Punkva Caves in the Moravian Karst let you travel underground by boat beneath the immense collapsed chasm of the Macocha Abyss. Book cave entries in advance in July and August; groups fill fast.

Moravia: Brno, Olomouc and the Wine Country

The country's second city, Brno, has a younger, scrappier energy than Prague. Climb to Špilberk Castle for the view and its former prison casemates, then visit Villa Tugendhat, a modernist masterpiece of glass, onyx and steel that requires timed advance tickets. The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul tolls noon at eleven o'clock — a deliberate relic of a wartime trick — and the vegetable market and labyrinth of cellar bars beneath the centre are where the city actually lives.

An hour or so east, Olomouc is the sleeper hit of Czech tourism: a baroque Holy Trinity Column on the UNESCO list, an astronomical clock with socialist-realist figures, and six fountains scattered through a compact, student-filled old town. South of Brno, the Pálava hills around Mikulov produce the country's best white wines; cycling between cellar villages and stopping for tastings is the ideal September afternoon. Add the Lednice-Valtice estate, a landscaped parkland so grand it is called the garden of Europe, for a day of chateaux and follies.

Spa Towns and Silver Towns: Karlovy Vary, Kutná Hora and Pilsen

West of Prague, the Bohemian spa triangle still does what it has done for centuries. Karlovy Vary is the grandest, a valley of colonnades where you sip warm mineral water from porcelain spout cups between elegant facades, then climb to the Diana lookout above the forest. Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně are quieter, greener and cheaper, with singing fountains and peat-bog treatments. Late spring through early autumn is the season; the town also hosts a major film festival each summer, when rooms vanish weeks ahead.

East of the capital, Kutná Hora grew rich on silver and spent it on stone. St. Barbara's Church, with its tented roof and mining frescoes, is one of the finest Gothic buildings in Central Europe, and the Sedlec Ossuary nearby — a chapel decorated with the bones of tens of thousands — is strange, sobering and unforgettable. You can tour old mine shafts in a miner's coat and helmet. Pilsen, the city that gave the world pilsner lager, offers brewery cellars, a handsome square anchored by the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew, and the eerie underground tunnels that thread beneath the streets. Both are easy day trips by train.

Timing matters across the whole country: May, June and September bring mild weather and thinner crowds, July and August are warm but busy in Prague and Český Krumlov, and December transforms the old towns with Christmas markets. Czech trains and buses reach nearly every place on this list without a car, though rural trailheads and wine villages are far easier with one.