16 Best Bars in Prague, Checked and Priced for 2026

The 16 bars below were each checked against the venue’s own site or a dated 2026 listing in September 2026, because Prague’s bar scene turns over fast and half the lists online still send people to places that shut years ago. They split into four groups: cocktail bars in the Old Town, cellar jazz clubs, beer halls, and late clubs that do not open until 10pm. Cocktails in a serious Prague bar cost CZK 245 to CZK 385 (about €10.10 to €15.85, $11.75 to $18.45, £8.70 to £13.65), and a half-litre of tank lager in a pub costs a fraction of that. Czechia uses the Czech koruna, not the euro, so every price is in koruna first, converted at the rate of 10 September 2026.

Two practical rules apply to most of this list. Serious cocktail bars in Prague take reservations and fill up on Friday and Saturday, so book earlier in the evening than you think you need to. Nightclubs here open at 10pm and nothing happens before midnight, which is a different clock from the one most visitors arrive with.

The best bars in Prague

The 16 bars in Prague are listed below, grouped by what you would go there for.

1. Hemingway Bar, Karolíny Světlé 26. Hemingway Bar is the Prague cocktail bar with an international reputation, built on rum, rare bottles and a working absinthe fountain, and it has appeared in the World’s 50 Best Bars list. It opens 5pm to 1am Sunday to Thursday and 5pm to 2am on Friday and Saturday. Reservations close at 9pm, so book an early slot at the weekend or expect to queue on the pavement.
2. Black Angel’s Bar, Staroměstské náměstí 460/29. Black Angel’s sits in a Gothic cellar directly under Old Town Square and works from the diary of Alois Krcha, a First Republic bartender whose recipes and sketches turned up during a hotel reconstruction in 2009. The World’s 50 Best Hotels has named it one of the ten best hotel bars in the world, and it appears in Dan Brown’s novel The Secret of Secrets. It opens daily 5pm to 3am and admits over-18s only.
3. Anonymous Bar, Michalská 12. Anonymous Bar takes its theme from the Gunpowder Plot, the film V for Vendetta and the Anonymous collective, and the staff wear Guy Fawkes masks. Signature cocktails run CZK 245 to CZK 385, with Remember, Remember at CZK 325 and Shadow Gallery at CZK 285. It opens daily 5pm to 2am, takes bookings and often takes walk-ins too, though a queue builds after 10pm on Saturdays.
4. The Alchemist Bar, Provaznická 1. The Alchemist pours drinks like Alice in Wonderland, Black Sun and Death by Penicillin at CZK 295 to CZK 345, and books private groups of up to 50. Its Choose Your Fate tarot game, which older guides still describe as the reason to go, is marked temporarily suspended on the bar’s own site, so go for the cocktails rather than the game.
5. PopUp Bar, Prague city centre. PopUp Bar is a coffee shop through the day and a club at night, with international DJs from Thursday to Saturday and a happy hour from 5pm to 9pm that takes 15% off classic cocktails. The name misleads a lot of write-ups: it is a fixed venue in the centre, not a roving pop-up that appears in different buildings.
6. Crazy Daisy, Prague city centre. Crazy Daisy is a cocktail bar done up in First Republic style with a video-mapping show projected onto the walls, a wine list of more than 500 bottles including a deep champagne section, and a resident DJ most evenings. Its party trick is alcoholic ice cream churned with dry ice at the table.
7. Le Valmont Club & Lounge, Uhelný trh 414/9. Le Valmont opened in 2016 in a building dating from the 1420s on a UNESCO-protected square, took the Best Club and Best New Business categories at the Czech Bar Awards in its first year, and keeps a second menu of long-forgotten recipes behind the bar that guests are asked not to photograph. It is a club and lounge rather than a quiet drink.
8. Aloha Cocktail Bar & Music Club, Dušní 8/11. Aloha is Prague’s tiki bar, fitted out in the style of American Polynesian bars of the 1930s to 1960s, with a wooden interior, low light, exotic cocktails, a kitchen and live DJs and bands. Prague City Tourism lists it, which is a reasonable sign of stability in a category that churns.
9. AghaRTA Jazz Centrum, Old Town. AghaRTA opened on 29 September 1991, the day after Miles Davis died, and took its name from his 1975 album Agharta. Concerts start at 9pm every night, in a brick cellar, with Czech and visiting international players, and the club runs the AghaRTA Prague Jazz Festival. It releases 16 discounted e-tickets per show; the rest go through reservations or the door.
10. Jazz & Blues Club Ungelt, Týn 640/2. Ungelt is a 50-seat cellar behind the Týn Church, in the 15th-century House of the Three Walnuts, with a mezzanine squeezed in to add seats and live jazz, blues, funk and fusion every night. Its drinks list includes absinthe cocktails, and there is a small garden outside in warm weather.
11. Jazz Republic, Jilská 1a. Jazz Republic has run since 1997 with about 30 resident Czech musicians who form different line-ups each night, so no two concerts repeat. Doors open at least 75 minutes before the music, the age limit is 18, bookings are capped at 10 seats, and men are asked to wear long trousers.
12. Music Club Jilská 22, Jilská 22. Jilská 22 is a mid-size club a few doors from Jazz Republic, with a dance floor, a bar area and a quieter chill-out zone, running DJs, live acts and bands across genres. It rents the whole space out from Sunday to Wednesday, so check the programme before walking over on a weeknight.
13. Déjávu Music Club, near Náměstí Republiky. Déjávu is a small music club seating about 60, with local DJs most nights and a daily happy hour from 6pm to 9pm at half price on cocktails. Book a table if there are more than four of you.
14. London Underground Bar, near Národní třída. The London Underground is Prague’s British pub, one metro stop from the Old Town, with karaoke on Mondays, a stand-up comedy night on Fridays and DJ sets afterwards. It opens during the day at weekends for Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and rugby, which is the reason most people who go there go there.
15. INDUSTRY Prague, Malá Štupartská 3. Industry is a shisha bar in the daytime and a bottle-service club at night, playing hip-hop and chart music in the Old Town. Guides that describe it as a multi-floor superclub have it confused with somewhere else.
16. DUPLEX, Wenceslas Square 21. Duplex is the big room on Wenceslas Square, a member of DJ Mag’s Top 100 Clubs of the World, open seven nights a week from 10pm to 5am with a terrace looking down the square. It is the late option when everything else has closed.

The best cocktail bars in Prague

The strongest cocktail bars in Prague are Hemingway Bar and Black Angel’s, and both are cellars in the Old Town within ten minutes’ walk of each other. Expect to pay CZK 245 to CZK 385 (about €10.10 to €15.85, $11.75 to $18.45, £8.70 to £13.65) for a signature drink at this level, which is roughly half London or New York.

• Hemingway Bar, Karolíny Světlé 26. Rum, rare bottles and an absinthe fountain, 5pm to 1am Sunday to Thursday and to 2am Friday and Saturday. Reservations stop at 9pm.
• Black Angel’s Bar, Old Town Square. A Gothic cellar working from a 1930s bartender’s recovered diary, daily 5pm to 3am, over-18s only.
• Anonymous Bar, Michalská 12. Masks, a rotating menu and a late surprise list, daily 5pm to 2am.
• The Alchemist Bar, Provaznická 1. Theatrical drinks at CZK 295 to CZK 345, with the tarot game currently paused.
• Crazy Daisy. Video mapping, 500 wines and dry-ice ice cream, for a night that is more show than sipping.

The best live music and jazz bars in Prague

The best jazz in Prague is played in cellars, and three of them are within five minutes of each other in the Old Town. Music starts around 9pm at all of them and the rooms are small, so buy or reserve rather than turning up at 8.55pm.

1. AghaRTA Jazz Centrum. Nightly concerts from 9pm, Czech and international players, and the club behind the AghaRTA Prague Jazz Festival.
2. Jazz & Blues Club Ungelt. Fifty seats behind the Týn Church, jazz, blues, funk and fusion every night, plus a summer garden.
3. Jazz Republic, Jilská 1a. Thirty resident musicians in changing line-ups since 1997, 18 and over, long trousers for men.
4. Lucerna Music Bar, Vodičkova. In the Lucerna Palace passage off Wenceslas Square, running since 1995, with live concerts midweek and a large 1980s and 1990s video party on Friday and Saturday nights that locals go to as much as visitors.

The best pubs in Prague

The best pubs in Prague sell one thing well and do not advertise. Tank-poured Pilsner Urquell, which travels unpasteurised from Plzeň and is stored in a lined tank behind the bar, is the thing to look for on the door; the word is “tankové pivo”.

• U Fleků, Křemencova 11. Brewing on the same site since 1499, U Fleků pours its own dark lager and nothing else, in one size, at CZK 59 (about €2.45, $2.85, £2.10) for a half-litre in 2026. Waiters will put a shot of Becherovka on your table unasked; you can wave it away.
• U Zlatého tygra, Husova 17. The Golden Tiger was Bohumil Hrabal’s pub and it is still a locals’ room with Pilsner Urquell from about CZK 50. It is cash only. Do not go in a large group.
• Lokál Dlouhá, Dlouhá 33. A modern take on the Czech beer hall with tank Pilsner Urquell and proper Czech cooking, open Monday to Saturday 11am to 1am and Sunday noon to 10pm. This is the easiest of the three if you want to eat as well as drink.

For where to eat around them, see our guide to restaurants in Prague.

Where to learn about Czech beer in Prague

The Pilsner Urquell Original Experience at 28. října 377/13, a minute from Můstek metro, is the place to learn how Czech beer works without leaving the city. The Original Tour costs CZK 579 (about €23.85, $27.70, £20.50), runs 60 to 90 minutes in 11 languages and includes two beers or soft drinks. The Tapster Academy, where you learn the three traditional Czech pours, costs CZK 1,049 and is adults only; the two together cost CZK 1,460, and there are combinations with a river cruise at CZK 1,029 and a Czech lunch at CZK 899. Last entry is at 7pm. Its beer hall and terrace, Výčep U Zvonu, is open to anyone without a ticket, and it is one of the few places on that stretch that is not a tourist trap. Some listings place this venue on Wenceslas Square and describe it as a nightclub with a rooftop lounge, which is a different building entirely.

The best rooftop bars in Prague

Rooftop drinking in Prague is limited by the fact that the Old Town is a protected historic core with height restrictions, so the terraces that exist are on the newer buildings around Wenceslas Square and along the river. Duplex’s terrace above Wenceslas Square is the best-known and the latest-opening. For a view of the castle rather than the square, the terraces of the riverside hotels on the Old Town side are the ones to look for, and they close far earlier than the clubs do.

Where to drink absinthe in Prague

Absinthe in Prague is worth drinking somewhere that treats it as a spirit rather than a stunt. Hemingway Bar keeps an absinthe fountain and pours it the French way, dripping iced water through a sugar cube; Ungelt lists absinthe cocktails on its regular menu. Avoid the tourist-street bars that set the sugar cube on fire, which is a Czech invention from the 1990s, burns off the aromatics and is not how absinthe is drunk anywhere it is made properly.

Is tipping required in bars in Prague?

Tipping is customary in Prague bars but not obligatory, and 10% is the normal amount when you are served at a table. In a cocktail bar with a bill, round up or add 10%; at a beer-hall bar where the waiter marks a paper tab, rounding up to the nearest CZK 10 or CZK 20 is normal. Tips go on the payment when you settle, not on the table, and staff are used to being asked to make it a round number.

Getting home after a night out in Prague

Prague’s metro stops running at around midnight and the night tram network takes over, which is the thing to plan for rather than a taxi. Night trams numbered in the 90s run every 30 minutes and all of them pass through Lazarská in the New Town, which is the interchange to memorise. Use Bolt or Uber rather than hailing a taxi in the street, and never accept a fixed price from a driver on Wenceslas Square. If you are visiting from outside the EU and would otherwise pay roaming charges to call a car at 3am, an Airalo eSIM installs on one phone before you fly and the code HARRY5578 takes €3 off.

Where to stay for Prague nightlife

Stay in Staré Město or the northern edge of Nové Město if the bars are the point, because twelve of the sixteen venues above are inside that area and you can walk home from all of them. Josefov and the streets around Dlouhá put you closest to the cluster of cocktail bars and beer halls; Wenceslas Square is louder, cheaper and where the late clubs are; Vinohrady is a tram ride out, quieter, and where people who live in Prague actually drink. Compare hotels in Prague before you book, because rates on the nights of a big fixture or a New Year’s weekend double without warning.

Prague is well connected by rail to Berlin, Dresden, Vienna and Bratislava, and the train is usually more comfortable than the budget flight. Compare trains and buses to Prague across operators in one place. Once you are here, see our guide to the must-visit Prague attractions for the daytime, and the Prague Christmas markets if you are coming in December.

Prague bars FAQ

What are the famous local drinks in Czechia?

The famous Czech drinks are pilsner lager, Becherovka, absinthe and slivovice. Pilsner Urquell and Budweiser Budvar are the two lagers with the largest reputations abroad; Becherovka is a herbal bitters from Karlovy Vary, drunk cold as a shot or long with tonic as a beton; slivovice is plum brandy, usually homemade in Moravia; and Czech absinthe is a separate and rougher tradition from the French. For more on the country, see our page of interesting facts of Czechia.

How much does a beer cost in Prague?

A half-litre of Czech lager costs roughly CZK 45 to CZK 70 (about €1.85 to €2.90, $2.15 to $3.35, £1.60 to £2.50) in an ordinary pub, and U Fleků charges CZK 59 for its own dark lager in 2026. Tourist-street bars on the approach to Charles Bridge charge two or three times that for the same beer, which is the single easiest way to overpay in this city.

Do Prague bars take cards?

Most Prague bars take cards, but several of the pubs above do not: U Zlatého tygra is cash only, and small neighbourhood pubs often are too. Carry a few hundred koruna in notes. If a terminal offers to charge you in euros or dollars, decline it and pay in koruna, because the rate applied is always worse than your bank’s.

What time do bars close in Prague?

Cocktail bars in Prague generally close between 1am and 3am, pubs between 11pm and 1am, and nightclubs at 5am. Clubs do not fill until after midnight, so an evening here runs later than in most of Europe.

Are Prague bars safe?

Prague bars are safe, with the standard caution about the tourist strip around Wenceslas Square, where the risks are inflated bills, drink-price switching and pushy street promoters rather than violence. Ask the price before ordering in any bar that does not display a menu, and refuse anyone who approaches you in the street offering to take you somewhere.

Which other Czech cities have good nightlife?

Brno has the strongest bar scene outside Prague, and Ostrava has Stodolní Street, a single street of dozens of bars that is the most concentrated nightlife in the country. Both cost noticeably less than Prague for the same drink.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 5 tips below come from checking every bar on this page against its own site in September 2026, and each one is something the listings do not tell you.

1. Reserve Hemingway Bar before 9pm or not at all. Its reservation system closes at 9pm, and Friday and Saturday tables go long before that. It opens at 5pm and runs to 1am on weeknights and 2am at weekends, so an early booking is the reliable way in.
2. Do not go to The Alchemist for the tarot game. The Choose Your Fate concept that every list still leads with is marked temporarily suspended on the bar’s own website. The cocktails at CZK 295 to CZK 345 are the reason to go now.
3. Take cash to U Zlatého tygra. Hrabal’s pub is cash only and takes no cards at all, which strands about one visitor in three at the till. Pilsner Urquell there starts around CZK 50 a half-litre.
4. Learn one number: Lazarská. The metro stops at about midnight, all Prague night trams numbered in the 90s pass through Lazarská, and they run every 30 minutes. Knowing that one interchange is worth more at 2am than any taxi app.
5. The Pilsner Urquell Experience is not on Wenceslas Square. It is at 28. října 377/13 by Můstek, its Original Tour is CZK 579 with two drinks included, and last entry is 7pm. Its beer hall, Výčep U Zvonu, is open without a ticket if you only want the beer.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the team covers Czechia for independent travellers, including the bars, beer halls, jazz clubs, restaurants and hotels in Prague worth booking. Every venue on this page was checked against its own website or a dated 2026 listing, and we update it when bars change hands, move or close.