JANUARY 2023
Prague is such a magical city and it gets even more magical during the Christmas period, as several Christmas markets pop up in various spots. In this blogpost I will give my assesment on Prague’s kid friendliness by ranking the activities in Prague. Overall, we loved our visit to Prague, we might not got to visit all of its high-end cozy restaurants, but we certainly got to explore it thoroughly.
Practical information
Prague is the capital city of the Czech Republic and almost situated in the middle of the country, making it a lovely start of of a roadtrip. We drove from the Netherlands to Prague, which took us about 7,5 hours. The currency used in Prague is the Czech Koruna, we discovered that you could pay by card almost everywhere in Prague, so don’t take out too much cash. We decided on staying in the old city center of Prague, in Old Town Square Appartments for € 145 per night during the Christmas period. I wouldn’t particularly recommend this hotel. Especially when traveling with kids, I do recommend staying in the old town, as all the main sights are within walking distance and you can go back to your room for afternoon naps. We parked our car in the parking garage at the Rudolfinum which costs about € 25 per day.
Activities ranked according to kid friendliness
10) Synagoges
In the last spot you will find all of Prague’s beautiful synagoges. I personally loved the Spanish synagoge and the Jerusalem synagoge, but they weren’t stroller friendly, so we had to take Hugo out of the stroller many times. This caused him to want to run through the synagoge, which did not seem respectful to us. We ended up breezing through the synagoges that belong to the Jewish museum (CZK 400 for adults) and the colorful Jerusalem synagoge (CZK 100 for adults), because we didn’t want to disturb the other visitors. Because of our experience at the synagoges, we decided not to visit Prague castle, which also features many stairs/we had been before.
9) Old Jewish cemetery
The Old Jewish cemetery also belongs to the entrance tickets that come with the Jewish museum/synagoges (CZK 400 for all monuments). I had been before and I could remember it being really impressive. The graves are very old and overgrown with moss, giving off a “beautiful in a strange way” vibe. Hugo definitely liked to wander through the paths of the cemetery and wanted to play hide-and-seek, which we also did not think was respectful.
8) Astronomical clock
The astronomical clock is a must-see in Prague. We happened to bump into it in the morning and captured the clock when it wasn’t busy yet. During the day it gets really crowded with tour groups at the clock. For Hugo the clock was quite boring and even “the show” which happens on the hour didn’t impress him.
7) John Lennon wall
We are now getting to the part of the list that is kid-friendly, starting with the Lennon wall. The John Lennon wall is a big mural that symbolizes freedom, it features political statements and John Lennon tributes. It is very colorful and an interesting sight for kids too.
6) Dancing House
I love to visit Frank Ghery buildings, so of course we brought a visit to the Dancing House. It is located on a busy crossroad, giving it just enough interest for kids. I took pictures in front of it, but you can also visit the rooftop bar to get amazing views of Prague.
5) Zizkov Television Tower
We visited the observatory tower of Zizkov, which is located slightly out of the city center. Tickets for adults cost about € 13 which I found very steep, considering the limited amount of rooms you can visit. However, Hugo loved roaming around the observatory, touching the glass, looking out over the city and sitting in the egg chairs, so it was money well spent. During Christmas time you will find a skating rink at the foot of the tower, but unfortunately it didn’t open up until 12. You can rent skates at the rink as well. What makes the Zizkoc tower special is that it decorated with babies crawling up the tower, which was a fun detail that definitely did not go unnoticed with Hugo!
4) Charles bridge
If you don’t come to the Charles bridge really early in the morning, you will find it in a burstling state. Too bad for my pictures, but perfect for entertaining Hugo. He loved watching the wedding photo shoots, street artists and the seagulls flying by! The Charles bridge is the symbol of Prague, definitely worth a stroll, just don’t expect it to be relaxed.
3) Hamleys Toy store
This is the only activity we did especially for Hugo, after boring him with the synagoges we thought he deserved some play. Hamleys is an enormous toy store which features an indoor merry-go-round and a free slide. Hugo was mostly interested in the Brio-train set up, but there is something to find for each age.
2) Christmas markets
The Christmas markets in Prague are traditionally held between the end of November until the beginning of January. The main squares are decorated abundantly for the Christmas markets, making Prague even more beautiful than it already is. I have made Hugo obsessed with Christmas trees and lights, so naturally he loved the Christmas markets. In the evening different types of free concerts are being held on the Old Town Square market, which was fun for kids as well. Another thing that is great about Christmas markets with kids is that you can have informal food and let them taste lots of different things. The food and drinks at the Christmas markets were much more expensive than in other locations in Prague, so this is not a budget friendly tip
1) Rotating Kafka head
Kafka is a famous writer and Prague has a statue of his head, that consists of rotating disks of steel. On the hour the head starts rotating for about 15 minutes. We waited at the little Christmas market for the magic to start happening. Hugo was fascinated when the head started to slowly spin, so I made this one the number one on my list!
