Many agencies can provide you with a personal guide fluent in all major European languages. Also, the Prague Information Service (PIS) is an affiliate for many of them. Just pop into their offices for booking, though they might charge more than direct booking with a guide.
Many guides offer walking tours of the Old Town, Jewish Quarter, the castle, and much more. Because guiding is routine side work for university students, you will usually get hardworking young guides at good prices. You can either hire a private guide or join public walking tours which are cheaper. The quality will depend on the guide rather than the company. The best choice is to show up at the Astronomical Clock a couple of minutes before 10:00, or 11:00, then chat with a few of the umbrella. Prices for local guides are usually per hour (not per person); small groups can hire an inexpensive guide for several days. Guides meet you wherever you like and tailor the tour to your interests.
Prague Segway Tours
Not up to a walking tour? Try Segway, an electrically powered, two-wheeled vehicle. Prices around 1500 CZK per person.
Private Walks Ideas
Undiscovered Prague (2 to 3 hours)
It is time to visit a different Prague, where the real story was written, but only a few come to visit. The Strahov Monastery with its famous library, the magnificent Church Prazske Jezulatko – a thrilling discovery that will keep your camera busy. The cobble-stoned Nerudova Street takes us to a truly Baroque pearl, the Church of St. Nicolas. The Infant Jesus of Prague, Kampa Island and the Church of the Virgin Mary Under the Chain make “Undiscovered Prague” one of the most bewitching walks. And we finish by the John Lennon wall. Didn’t the Beatles sing: “There are places I’ll remember forever”? Is your place Prague?
Communism Walk (2,5 hours)
Czechoslovakia… Nazi occupation… Stalin… Communism coup… Soviet tanks… Velvet Revolution… There is no better place to investigate these crucial milestones of Czech history than the Museum of Communism. We visit the memorials connected with the communist regime, and then we enter the museum. With the help of your guide, the past rises; pictures, paintings and statues come alive, and you see something you thought you would never get to see. You have a chance to look into the eyes of Lenin or to enter a reconstruction of the police investigation office. At the end of the tour, you watch a film which reflects the dreariness of communism.
1000 years of Old Prague architecture (2 hours)
Visiting the places of long ago – the Romanesque rotundas, stone Gothic churches, Renaissance frescos, majestic Baroque noble-palaces or the historic houses with the finest architectural features in the city – will be like walking through the pages of history. We explore without stopping: from the shadowy, tortuous zigzag alleys of Old Prague, with its secluded courtyards, to the stunning boulevards of the New Town. Bethlehem Chapel, the Church of St. Martin in the Wall, the most typical gothic street of Prague, Municipal House… What dramatic and unexpected contrasts this walk has. That is the Prague we will discover!
Old Jewish Quarter Tour (2 to 3 hours)
Strolling around the Jewish Ghetto, the tragic destiny of the Jews is brought to life as you discover the important milestones in the history of Prague Jews: the first settlement, the Pogroms, the Nazi holocaust… This walk reveals the story of the five synagogues, which survived World War II, the Old-New Synagogue, which is still in use, and the Old Jewish Cemetery. Set amid the back alleys, the tale of Ashkenazi allows us to compare them with Sephardim’s. We might even meet the Golem, an artificial man created by Rabbi Low. Visiting the birthplace of the Jewish writer Franz Kafka, who was deeply influenced by the city, you discover how Prague can be “loved and hated” at the same time.
Franz Kafka’s Prague and Charles Bridge (2 hours)
Franz Kafka is one of the outstanding Prague locals. The life and work of this world-famous Jewish writer stayed closely connected to Prague at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. If you decide to join us for this tour, you will not only learn more about the magical writer Franz Kafka, but you will also become more familiar with the romantic nooks of the Old Town and Jewish Town, as well as having a stroll over Charles Bridge. In the end, our guide can accompany you to the Franz Kafka museum.
