A guide to the best wine bars and beer pubs in Prague, away from the tourist traps and stag parties.
The Prague Beer Museum in Vinohrady
Most visitors to Prague don’t make it as far as leafy, well-heeled Vinohrady.
Vinohrady’s drinking scene is far more parlez than party, though the Prague Beer Museum bar offers a good introduction to the Czech brewing scene beyond the ubiquitous big bands. A more gentrified and less stag do-prone version of the same pub in the Old Town, it has 30 beers on tap. It’s worth delving beyond the usual Czech pilsners to discover local takes on IPAs and red ales.
Local pubs and bars in Žižkov
U Slovanske Lípy also has an impressive range of beers, and this decorative hodgepodge of a boozer makes a good starting point for a mini-crawl through the pub-packed Žižkov district, just to the north of Vinohrady. U Vystřelenýho Oka is amiably grungy, with a mixed age crowd, a propensity for hosting accordion and violin-toting live bands and a tremendous beer garden fashioned almost entirely out of chopped firewood.
Clubbing inside a nuclear bunker
For something more lively, and giving head to a laudable range of electronica sub-genres, Bunkr Parukářka offers a fairly unusual clubbing venue – it’s inside a former nuclear bunker.
The best place to drink wine in Prague
For pretty much the polar opposite – both in attractiveness of location and energy levels – Viniční Altan Grébovka is the most atmospheric spot to dabble with the Czech wine industry. The intricately carved wooden gazebo sits on top of a vine-strewn hill in Havlíčkovy sady. Whites tend to be a safer bet than the reds – but check before making the hike over there that it’s not closed off for a private function. It’s a very popular wedding spot at weekends.
Unpasteurised tank beer in Prague
For most Czechs, however, wine is largely regarded as an occasional novelty. This is a land of beer drinkers, proudly putting away considerably more per capita than any other nation on earth. It’s often cheaper than soft drinks or water in bars, but quality can be highly variable. The secret is to look for signs saying “z tanku” or “tankové pivo”. This ‘tanked’ beer is freshly brewed and unpasteurised – something that comes through in the taste. Lokál, a wonderfully modern-day take on the beer hall concept, is one of an increasing band of venues specialising in it.
More Czechia travel ideas
For a big range of Prague activities and experiences, look here.
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