Jewish Quarter of Prague (Josefov): Sites, Tickets and Tips

Josefov is the Jewish Quarter of Prague, a compact district of a few streets between Old Town Square and the Vltava River. Josefov holds 4 synagogues, the Old Jewish Cemetery, the Ceremonial Hall and a small gallery that together form the Jewish Museum in Prague, plus the Old-New Synagogue, the oldest active synagogue in Europe, and the Jewish Town Hall with its Hebrew clock. The Jewish Quarter (Josefov) takes 2 to 3 hours to see, and one Jewish Town ticket covers every open site, the Old-New Synagogue included, on any day except Saturdays and Jewish holidays.

Mom and I walked through Josefov during a few days in Prague, and our Czechia travel guide covers the rest of the country. We had planned to wander past the buildings, but the first synagogue changed that plan, so we bought a ticket and spent about two hours inside four sites. The editorial team checks the ticket, opening-day and closure details below against the Jewish Museum in Prague website.

Josefov quick facts

The Josefov quick facts below cover location, transport, time, ticket, closed days and dress code.

What to see in Josefov

The 9 sites to see in Josefov are listed below, starting with the two that draw the most visitors. Mom and I went inside 4 of them and saw the rest from the street; all 9 sit within a 5-minute walk of each other.

Old-New Synagogue

The Old-New Synagogue is the oldest active synagogue in Europe, built around 1270 and still the main synagogue of the Prague Jewish community after more than 700 years. The Old-New Synagogue was first called the New Synagogue, and its twin-nave Gothic hall keeps its medieval furnishings, including the seat of Rabbi Loew.

Image source: Flickr – Paul Asmand and Jill Lenoble

The Old-New Synagogue is also the home of the Golem legend: Rabbi Loew, the 16th-century rabbi known as the Maharal, is said to have formed a golem of clay to protect the community, and its remains supposedly lie in the attic, which stays closed. The Prague Jewish Community runs the synagogue, so its hours can differ, but the Jewish Town ticket has included it since 1 January 2024 and no separate admission is sold. Mom and I skipped the interior, which the ticket now makes an easy add-on.

Old Jewish Cemetery

The Old Jewish Cemetery is one of the oldest surviving Jewish burial grounds in Europe, in use from 1439 to 1787 and holding more than 12,000 tombstones. The Old Jewish Cemetery grew upwards because the ghetto had no room and Jewish law forbids disturbing graves, so burials were stacked up to 10 layers deep, according to the Jewish Museum’s researchers. National Geographic listed it among its Top 10 Burial Sites to Visit, and Rabbi Loew is buried here.

One narrow path runs through the cemetery, so you move at the pace of the group ahead; mom and I shared it with a tour group and could not linger. The gravestones lean at every angle, crooked and tipping over, and some carry folded notes weighed down with small stones: wishes from visitors who believe the dead can pass on prayers, while a stone alone is a sign of remembrance. Bring a pebble from home if you want to leave one, because taking a stone from the graveyard is considered disrespectful.

Pinkas Synagogue

Pinkas Synagogue holds the memorial to the Shoah victims from the Czech lands: its walls carry the names of about 80,000 Jewish victims of the Holocaust from Bohemia and Moravia, each with a date of birth and a date of death. Pinkas Synagogue is the second-oldest surviving synagogue in Prague, built in 1535, but the memorial is the reason it is the most moving stop in Josefov. The names went up in the late 1950s, the memorial was closed under communist rule, and it reopened in 1995.

The upper floor holds the children’s drawings from the Terezín ghetto (1942–1944), which mom and I found even harder to take in than the wall of names. Most of the children who drew them were later murdered in Auschwitz, and UNESCO added the collection to its Memory of the World Register in 2025.

Maisel Synagogue

Maisel Synagogue was commissioned by Mordechai Maisel, the mayor of the Jewish Town, and built between 1590 and 1592 as the largest synagogue in the ghetto. Maisel Synagogue has been rebuilt several times since, and its neo-Gothic exterior from 1905 sets it apart from its neighbours on Maiselova, just north of Old Town Square. Inside, the permanent exhibition covers the Jews in the Bohemian Lands from the 10th to the 18th century, useful context before the cemetery and the Pinkas memorial.

Spanish Synagogue

The Spanish Synagogue is the youngest and most ornate synagogue in Josefov, built in 1868 for Prague’s Reform community in a Moorish style modelled on the Alhambra in Granada, hence the name. The Spanish Synagogue stands on Dušní street on the site of the Old Shul, the ghetto’s oldest house of worship, and its gilded arabesques and stained glass were the most impressive thing mom and I saw in the Jewish Quarter. The exhibition covers the Jews in the Bohemian Lands in the 19th and 20th centuries, the building hosts chamber concerts, and the Franz Kafka statue by Jaroslav Róna stands beside it. Preview the interior with the 360° tour of the Synagogue on the Jewish Museum website.

Klausen Synagogue

The Klausen Synagogue is the largest surviving synagogue of the former Prague ghetto, built in 1694 in early Baroque style on the site of three smaller buildings, one of them a yeshiva founded by Rabbi Loew. The Klausen Synagogue is closed for reconstruction: the Jewish Museum removed its Jewish Customs and Traditions exhibition in July 2024 and plans to reopen by 2028 at the latest with a new exhibition on the same subject, so until then you see it from outside, beside the cemetery exit.

Ceremonial Hall

The Ceremonial Hall of the Prague Burial Society stands on the grounds of the Old Jewish Cemetery and was built between 1906 and 1908 in neo-Romanesque style for tahara, the ritual purification of the dead. The Ceremonial Hall closed in July 2024 with the Klausen Synagogue, and the museum prepared a new exhibition on the silver treasures of Czech, Moravian and Silesian Jewish communities for the end of 2025; check the museum website for its current status.

Artschul gallery (the former Robert Guttmann Gallery)

The Artschul gallery is the Jewish Museum’s space for temporary exhibitions, next to the Spanish Synagogue at U Staré školy 3, and it carried the name Robert Guttmann Gallery from its opening in 2001 until its recent renaming. The gallery honours Robert Guttmann (1880–1942), a Prague naive painter, shows items from the museum’s collections on Jewish life, the wartime persecution of Bohemian and Moravian Jews and contemporary art, and has its own free ticket.

Jewish Town Hall

The Jewish Town Hall (Židovská radnice) stands beside the Old-New Synagogue and is known for its 2 clocks: a Roman-numeral clock on the tower and a lower Hebrew-numeral clock whose hands run anticlockwise, following the Hebrew letters. The Jewish Town Hall was built in 1586 under Mordechai Maisel, gained its Rococo facade in the 18th century, and remains the seat of the Jewish community, closed to the public.

Tickets and opening days

One Jewish Town ticket covers every open site of the Jewish Museum in Prague and, since 1 January 2024, the Old-New Synagogue as well; no separate Old-New Synagogue admission exists any more. The Jewish Town ticket is valid for 3 opening days, admits you to each site once, and is sold online, at the synagogue ticket offices and at the Visitor Centre at Maiselova 15, which also has audio guides. Sales stop 30 minutes before closing.

Prices at the time of writing are listed below; check the Jewish Museum in Prague website for current prices and hours before you go.

• Adults: 600 CZK (about €24, $27, £21)
• Students under 26: 400 CZK (about €16, $18, £14)
• Children aged 7 to 15: 200 CZK (about €8, $9, £7)
• Children up to 6: free
• Artschul gallery: free ticket, for the gallery only

The sites close on Saturdays and on Jewish holidays such as Pesach and Shavuot, and the museum publishes the exact dates each year. Opening hours run from 9 a.m., closing at 4.30 p.m. from mid-October to the end of March, at 6 p.m. in April and from September to mid-October, and at 7 p.m. from May to August on the 2026 schedule; the Old-New Synagogue’s hours can differ.

Prague sightseeing passes deserve a check first, because the museum lists the Prague Visitor Pass and the Prague CoolPass as giving one free entry per site. If you plan to buy a Prague Card sightseeing pass for other museums and a river cruise, check whether the current pass includes the Jewish Museum sites, because pass contents change.

Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered. Men cover their heads in the Old-New, Spanish and Pinkas synagogues and in the cemetery, and paper kippahs are handed out at the entrances. Photography without flash or a tripod is allowed for personal use.

A suggested route through Josefov

The suggested route through Josefov below runs in walking order from Old Town Square, takes 2 to 3 hours with the ticket, and saves the Spanish Synagogue for last.

1. Visitor Centre, Maiselova 15: buy or collect your Jewish Town ticket and an audio guide, or the bonus ticket if you hold a Prague sightseeing pass.
2. Maisel Synagogue: see the exhibition on the Jews in the Bohemian Lands for context.
3. Jewish Town Hall and Old-New Synagogue: continue up Maiselova, look up at the Hebrew clock, then go inside the Old-New Synagogue.
4. Pinkas Synagogue: walk a few minutes west to the wall of names and the drawings upstairs; the synagogue is the entrance to the cemetery.
5. Old Jewish Cemetery: follow the single path through the graves to the exit beside the Ceremonial Hall and the Klausen Synagogue.
6. Ceremonial Hall and Klausen Synagogue: go in if they have reopened, or look at the facades and carry on.
7. Spanish Synagogue, Kafka statue and Artschul gallery: cross east to Dušní street for the gilded interior, the statue and the free exhibition next door.
8. Pařížská boulevard: finish on the avenue of Art Nouveau facades and designer shops that leads back to Old Town Square.

Josefov history in brief

Josefov’s history in brief runs from a walled Jewish Town in the 13th century to the Jewish Museum that looks after the surviving buildings today. The Jewish Town (Židovské Město) took shape when Prague’s Jews were ordered in the 13th century to live in one enclosed district next to Old Town Square, and its golden age came in the 16th century under Emperor Rudolf II and the mayor Mordechai Maisel.

Emperor Joseph II’s Edict of Tolerance in 1782 began the emancipation of the Jewish community, Jews could live outside the ghetto from 1848, and in 1850 the district was renamed Josefov in his honour. The quarter decayed into one of the poorest parts of Prague, and between 1893 and 1913 the city demolished most of it for the boulevards of a “Paris of the East”, Pařížská among them. Only 6 synagogues, the Old Jewish Cemetery and the Jewish Town Hall survived, and the Jewish Museum in Prague, founded in 1906, looks after most of them. The Nazi occupation deported the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia through Terezín to the death camps, and the roughly 80,000 names in the Pinkas Synagogue record the victims. Josefov lies inside the Historic Centre of Prague, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1992.

Tours of the Jewish Quarter

Tours of the Jewish Quarter pair a licensed guide with the Jewish Town ticket, so you hear the history of each synagogue and of the ghetto as you walk between the sites. A guided tour of Josefov fits the cemetery, the Pinkas memorial and the Old-New Synagogue into one morning, and the guide handles the ticket and closures for you; book ahead in high season. The Jewish Town walking tour with synagogue entrance tickets we link to has good reviews and includes the admissions.

Where to stay in or near Josefov

Hotels near Josefov put you within walking or tram distance of the Jewish Quarter’s synagogues, and the 5 Prague hotels below range from a hostel to a design hotel. For more options across the city, see our guide to hotels in Prague.

• Boutique: Hotel Prague Inn. We spent three nights at the Hotel Prague Inn, a small central hotel with a spacious room, an elaborate breakfast and good WiFi, and it was our base for the Jewish Quarter. Book it: Book a room
• Budget: Hostel Damiell. The Damiell is a simple hostel near Prague Castle, about 25 minutes on foot from Josefov, with dormitories of one to four beds. Book it: Book a room
• Chain: Clarion Hotel Prague City. This modern hotel is a five-minute walk from Wenceslas Square, with a tram stop outside the door for Josefov and air-conditioned rooms with WiFi. Book it: Book a room
• Luxury: BoHo Prague Hotel. The BoHo Prague has a central location close to the Jewish Quarter, large rooms with modern furniture and artwork, and a restaurant and wellness centre open to guests for a surcharge. Book it: Book a room
• Apartment: Remember Residence. The Remember Residence is a few minutes from Charles Bridge and about 20 minutes on foot from Josefov, with bright apartments, full kitchenettes and a garden that is its standout feature. Book it: Book a room

Getting to Prague and to Josefov

Getting to Josefov from central Prague means taking metro line A or tram 17 or 18 to Staroměstská and walking 3 minutes; from Old Town Square it is a 5-minute walk. Getting to Prague itself, mom and I flew from Brussels Airport and took a hotel transfer booked beforehand. Flights are easiest to compare in one place, so search Trip.com for an overview of your flight options. For the airport, you can book a private Prague airport transfer here or check out this shared shuttle service; there is no direct train or metro line to the centre, but bus 119 runs to Nádraží Veleslavín on metro line A and the Airport Express bus reaches Hlavní nádraží, the main train station, in about 35 minutes. Trains reach Prague from the neighbouring capitals, so search train options and prices to Prague before you book a short flight.

Save money on your trip to Prague

Saving money on your trip to Prague starts with the sightseeing passes, because the Prague Visitor Pass and the Prague CoolPass include the Jewish Museum sites at the time of writing. A Prague Card sightseeing pass can pay off if you also plan several other museums and a river cruise; check its list of included sights first.

Don’t forget travel insurance

Travel insurance covers you when part of your trip gets cancelled, when you get sick or hurt abroad, and sometimes when your electronics break or get stolen, so I make sure I am covered on every trip. If you have no policy yet, check out SafetyWing: their plans are flexible enough to sign up for while you are already travelling, and when I caught COVID they reimbursed all my expenses without a fuss.

FAQ: the Jewish Quarter of Prague

Is the Jewish Quarter in Prague worth visiting?

Yes, the Jewish Quarter in Prague is worth visiting for the oldest active synagogue in Europe, the layered Old Jewish Cemetery and the Pinkas memorial, all within a few streets of Old Town Square. The Spanish Synagogue’s interior was the highlight of our visit.

How long do you need in Josefov?

You need 2 to 3 hours in Josefov to see the open sites on the Jewish Town ticket, and half a day with a guided tour. The ticket stays valid for 3 opening days, so you can split the visit.

Is it free to walk around the Jewish Quarter in Prague?

Yes, walking around the Jewish Quarter in Prague is free: the streets, Pařížská boulevard and the building exteriors cost nothing. The ticket applies to the synagogue interiors and the Old Jewish Cemetery, and the Artschul gallery has its own free ticket.

Is the Jewish Quarter in Prague open on Saturday?

No, the Jewish Museum sites and the Old-New Synagogue are closed on Saturdays and on Jewish holidays, while the streets stay open. Plan the synagogues and the cemetery for Sunday to Friday, and check the museum’s list of holiday closures for your dates.

What is the difference between Josefov and the Jewish Quarter?

There is no difference: Josefov is the official name of Prague’s Jewish Quarter, given in 1850 after Emperor Joseph II, and “Jewish Quarter” or “Jewish Town” (Židovské Město) describes the same district. Street signs use Josefov; guidebooks and tickets say Jewish Quarter or Jewish Town.

More Prague guides

The Prague guides below cover the rest of a city trip around Josefov, from hotels and restaurants to the Christmas markets.

• Czech Republic travel guide: itineraries and practical advice for the whole country.
• Things to do in Prague: the city’s sights beyond the Jewish Quarter.
• Hotels in Prague: where to stay by area and budget.
• Prague restaurants: where to eat in the city.
• Traditional Czech food tour in Prague: the food tour we recommend for a first visit.
• Prague Christmas markets: our guide to the December markets.
• Fun facts about the Czech Republic: history and culture in bite-size form.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 5 tips below come from our own morning in Josefov and from checking the Jewish Museum in Prague’s current ticketing and closures, which have changed twice since most guides to this quarter were written.

1. Buy the Jewish Town ticket and stop there. It has covered the Old-New Synagogue since 1 January 2024 and no separate admission to it exists any more, whatever a guidebook says. The ticket is valid across 3 opening days, admits you once to each site, and sales stop 30 minutes before closing.
2. Save Saturday for the streets. Every museum site and the Old-New Synagogue close on Saturdays and on Jewish holidays such as Pesach and Shavuot, while Josefov itself stays open to walk through free.
3. Allow far longer than you think you need inside. Mom and I meant to walk past the buildings and look at the facades, then went into 4 sites and spent about two hours there. The Spanish Synagogue’s interior was the part neither of us expected.
4. Do not queue for the Klausen Synagogue or the Ceremonial Hall. Both closed for reconstruction in July 2024 and the museum expects to reopen them by 2028 at the latest, so the Klausen is an exterior beside the cemetery exit for now.
5. Take bus 119 to Nádraží Veleslavín from the airport. Its terminus moved years ago and older guides still send arrivals to Dejvická. The Airport Express runs to the main station, Hlavní nádraží, in about 35 minutes if that suits your hotel better.

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 first-hand notes in this post come from her visit to Josefov, the Jewish Quarter of Prague, with her mom, when they went inside the Maisel and Pinkas synagogues, the Old Jewish Cemetery and the Spanish Synagogue and stayed at the Hotel Prague Inn. The team covers Prague for independent travellers, including the Jewish Quarter tours, hotels and restaurants worth booking, and updates this page when prices, dates and rules change.