The old town, new town, Hradčany & Spořilov districts of Prague are all located east of the river Vltava.
A separate post covers the Malá Strana and Hradčany districts of Prague, located west of the river Vltava.
Our overnight European Sleeper rail journey from Brussels to Prague via Dresden and Decin had taken over 15 hours and we arrived on Thursday 20 November 2025 around 11.40am.
Thanks to suggestions in the
Prague Hlavni Nadrazi station guide on The Man In Seat 61 website we knew where to go on arrival at Praha hl.n..
We followed the signs to the old station entrance hall and took the escalator back up to level 0 and went inside
Fantova Kavárna (Cafe Fanta) named after the station's architect Josef Fanta, which also has tables just outside its entrance, under the central dome. Bottled Pilsner Urquell is available here. After a coffee we walked through the commercial concourse under a main road and car park to emerge at Vrchlického sady park. It was cold outside as we turned right and walked to the Hlavní nádraží westbound tram stop on Bolzanova.
From our stop we saw an old tram going east (above) before our tram arrived. We took tram 15 to Malostranské náměstí which crosses the river Vltava on the Štefánikův most bridge. From there we walked to our accommodation at
Residence Thunovská. After staying on the west side of the river for the rest of the day we ventured back to the east side on Friday and Saturday to visit some sights, breweries, bars and the Museum of Communism.
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| Old town bridge tower and view towards Prague castle |
The order for the places we visited below is based on their distance from the Charles bridge which was busy with tourists at all hours of the day.
We called in to
U Zlatého tygra (The Golden Tiger), Husova 17, shortly before the above photo at the Charles bridge was taken, on Friday. Unfortunately for us, it was full and without a reservation we could not have a beer at this traditional Pilsner Urquell beer hall included in '
The Royal Route' bar crawl by The European Bar Guide.
Pivovar U Supa
After a look at the
Astronomical Clock on the old town hall (top photo of post), we continued by an indirect route, past the City Art Gallery,
Pivovar U Supa at Celetná 563/22 - 'the oldest brewery with an inn in Prague'. This is another establishment featured in 'The Royal Route' bar crawl.
The spacious and impressive interior has a central bar featuring copper tanks. We were shown to a free table towards the back of the room. Unfortunately, a group of loud Englishmen at a nearby table, felt the need to talk and laugh loudly with each other as though they owned the place. Based on this kind of behaviour, perhaps it's not surprising that tourists are not always welcomed everywhere in Prague.
The printed beer menu offers a 'Beer lovers tasting' (450 Kč ). Guest beers are from Cvikov and Kasteel (Rouge). The U Supa draught beer is 'Sup' 12°, a bottom-fermented blonde beer.
With the choice of 0.3 l for 79Kč or 0.5 l for 89Kč (approx £3.30), Tim ordered the larger measure and found it relatively bitter.
We passed the Powder gate tower adjoining Smetana Hall, K+K Hotel Prague Central and Prague Masaryk station on our way to the next bar.
Minirest
Our next stop on the 'Royal Route' bar crawl was
Minirest, Havlíčkova 1026.
It's a handy stop for rail commuters as there is a TV screen with departure times just inside the entrance.
In the UK this might be described as a 'micropub' as it is just a small room with a good selection of beers. The beer details are given on standard panels on a side wall. Each panel gives the brewery and beer name, ABV, IBU for bitterness and EBM (Extract Percentage in the Original Wort) and a beer style. The price for the different measures is also shown.
There are seven taps on the small bar.
Tim enjoyed
Pivovar Hrádek Lambert 12° chosen for its relatively lower IBU bitterness rating (27).
Meals are not served here so it was time to find somewhere for a lunchtime meal.
Kolkovna Celnice
We remembered the
Kolkovna chain of brewery restaurants from a previous visit to Prague (July 2008). The branch at V Celnici 1031/4 is conveniently located next to the entrance for the
Museum of Communism which we would visit after a late lunch.
Kolkovna serve Pilsner Urquell tank beer (above photo) and Velkopopovický Kozel Černý. The food menu has three pages with a broad choice that includes several traditional Czech dishes.
The expansive restaurant space has some interesting old brewery photos on the walls. Another nice touch is that cutlery and serviettes are held in a white ceramic tankard with the Pilsner Urquell logo.
You can expect prompt service at a Kolkovna restauant as the business model is based on quick turnover.
The
Museum of Communism had some interesting displays and short films and there was a shop where you could buy a can of
Kofola original, a caffeinated cola drink introduced in 1960 that is still popular. Museum tickets cost 380 Kč (320 Kč age 65+) so allow some time with the exhibits to justify the cost. As one might expect, the narrative is not sympathetic to the old Communist regime.
Vinohradský Pivovar
On a cold Friday, our first full day in Prague, we took two trams to reach
Vinohradský Pivovar at Korunni 106, in the district that the brewery takes its name from. A blackboard at the entrance lists the beers and the menu of the day.
The ground floor bar (above - after 2pm) was quite busy when we arrived at 1pm. Low level windows let some natural light into this room with a curved ceiling.
We found a table downstairs where there was plenty of space with three rows of individual tables, a bar near the staircase and two toilet entrances at the far end. A graphic on the street side of the room shows brewing vessels.
A porthole window through a deep inner wall gives a glimpse of fermentation tanks and it was also possible to view the brewery in the full height space from a doorway on the staircase.
Our beers were served in branded straight glasses. The beer menui includes 12 draught beers and 19 cans. On the right, Meg's M8 hazy session APA (3.4% ABV) is top fermented with a blend of hops including Simcoe and Amarillo. On the left, Tim's Hazy Galaxy session IPA (4.9%) is top fermented with Galaxy and Sabro hops and was a favourite beer on this trip.
It's nice when an English menu is available! For lunch, we enjoyed traditional mushroom kulajda soup (79 Kč) with ingredients that also include dill, potatoes and cream. Service was helpful and friendly.
První Pivní Tramway
První Pivní Tramway is located in Spořilov at the southern end of tramlines 11, 14 and 96. Conveniently for us on Friday, tram 11 goes directly there from the Orionka stop for Vinohradský pivovar, taking about half an hour. Unfortunately, the door and window of the 'First Beer Tramway' were shuttered when we arrived at 2.45pm and a printed note advised in Czech 'Due to operational reasons today only from 3:30 PM'. It was too cold to stand around so we caught the next tram back as far as the Michelská stop and tried in vain to find an open bar nearby. In the process we crossed the river Botič which joins the Vltava in Prague.
After these steps we caught a tram back to Spořilov and were the first customers of the day at První Pivní Tramway. The photo of Johnny Cash in the noticeboard outside endorsed CASH ONLY did not present any problem.
It's bar service here and the barman seemed a bit gloomy but duly poured our beers with Tim drinking
černy potoka Bardotka a 5.1% ABV hazy IPA with Motueka and NZ Cascade hops, another favourite beer on this trip. This beer cost 90 Kč for 40cl.
Sitting in the room to the left of the bar by the window we could see trams rumbling past every few minutes outside and some brewery graphics on the opposite wall. The furniture appears to be made from old wooden tram bench seats.
There is an oil painting with a flying man motif in this room and colourful artwork in another area by the same artist featuring crows and horses.
A varied selection of music was playing featuring local musicians including tracks from
V barvach (in colours) by Prago Union.
We had a second round here and Tim's
Pivovar Kladno Kročehlavy Kladenský ležák 12°, 5.2% ABV, with a slightly burnt note, cost 64 Kč for 40cl.
Although not in use today, Tim used a flash to get a photo of the section of an old tram carriage which is is to the right of the bar and toilets, before we left.
A unique feature of the Gents toilets is original tram handrails at the urinals.
At 5pm, while waiting for a tram back to Prague at the stop on the opposite side of the turning circle, a video of the trams passing Prvni Pivni Tramway was recorded.
Note that within the Prague area covered by
pid, travel on trams and buses is free for
seniors aged 65+ a passport or equivalent official photo proof of age may need to be shown during ticket checks.
Half price travel tickets are available for those aged 60 - 65 years.
