Kid-Friendly Prague

Prague is a gorgeous city in the Czech Republic with so much history. Before our trip, we had heard many great things about this destination and we were not disappointed. We traveled before peak season and found everything to be relatively slow, but the major attractions still had A LOT of tourists – I am assuming peak season would be almost unbearable.

Prague Day 1: Familiarization

Our first day in Prague was the day we arrived by plane. Our kids (23 & 5 months) were jet lagged, so our first thought was to go to our AirBnB and get situated.

Prior to leaving the US, we hired a driver through our AirBnB to drive us from the Airport to the apartment. He was there waiting for us when we arrived. He also had two age-appropriate car seats. This made things SO MUCH EASIER. All we had to do was load up and relax as he drove us. The drive from the airport was a bit longer than expected, but easy and comfortable.

Once at the apartment we all crashed. Baby, Toddler and parents. 3 hours of hard napping. Once my mom and step dad arrived at the apartment (they flew in from Washington D.C.), we decided to rally the troops and familiarize everyone with the city while also avoiding the strong desire we all had to keep sleeping….the thought was if we kept everyone awake, it would be easier to adjust to the new time zone.

We spent about 4 hours out in the city and walked from our apartment down to Old Town. We didn’t do any walking tours, but just putzed around. We tried some local snacks, saw some key Old Town sites and decided we were too tired to keep going. We rode the metro back and grabbed pizza for dinner.

Prague Day 2: Prague Castle & Charles Bridge

Jet lag and babies can be difficult. Jimmy and I barely slept the first few nights because our kids took a bit to adjust. We didn’t leave the apartment until almost noon the first full day. Not ideal, but with kids you have to be flexible.

We decided to ride the metro out to the Castle and see that first.

Prague Castle:

The castle is huge. You could spend an entire day here or two days. The most iconic stop is the Cathedral. We decided to forgo actually going INTO the castle and just walk the grounds (which is FREE) and do the FREE part of the Cathedral tour. Something we have learned with our babies in tow is that we are not ideal museum goers….we like to look at the major sights, but not hang around. Our kids like to keep moving and we like them to be happy.

The incredible view from the clock tower

One thing we did pay for is the tower climb. The BEST views of Prague are from the tower at the Prague Castle. Ed, Jimmy, Charletta and I climbed to the top while my mom stayed down at the bottom and held the baby. WORTH. EVERY. KROWN. The views are incredible. Charletta slept through the climb up, but once she woke up at the top – she LOVED IT. I do think the very circular climb down was a bit confusing for her, but Jimmy carried her, so it wasn’t terrible.

The castle grounds are beautiful too, the views are stunning and there is A LOT of space for kids to run wild. We know that letting little ones get their shakes out is important, so this is a slow-paced place for them to do that. BONUS: There are restaurants & bars along the grounds, so you can enjoy the panoramic views, your kids can run wild and you can relax!

NOTE: This is the most popular attraction in Prague. If you’re visiting in peak season, you’ll be waiting

Find more info about the Prague Castle HERE: https://www.hrad.cz/en/prague-castle-for-visitors

Charles Bridge:

We visited the bridge twice. It is full of history and amazing views....IF you can get a spot through the throngs of tourists. As one of Prague's most famous sites, it stays packed all day long. I would suggest waking up really early if you can and going there first if you want some good photos without a thousand strangers.

I don’t want to recreate the wheel and explain every detail of the history of the bridge…the “The World is a Book” describes the experience on the bridge amazingly. We loved her descriptions and history lesson!!

Check it out here: http://www.theworldisabook.com/17451/sights-charles-bridge-prague/

Day 3: Random Prague

Café Louvre:

Did it stand?  Tell us if you've ever tried! — Did it stand? Tell us if you've ever tried!

We stopped in for an iconic Hot Chocolate and to feel what it feels like to sit where Einstein sat. Charletta loved their fruit bowl and of course she went to town on whipped cream that came with our hot chocolates. They say you can stand a spoon up in the hot chocolate because they are so thick – we tested it! What do you think happened?

Café Louvre: http://www.cafelouvre.cz/en/

John Lennon Wall:

“At first glance the Lennon Wall is like any graffiti-covered wall you see around the world. But this wall is special thanks to its history. I’ve heard people saying that it is Pague’s equivalent of the Berlin Wall. They are not far from the truth. Some people also believe that the „John Lennon Peace Wall“ helped inspire the non-violent Velvet Revolution that led to the fall of Communism in the former Czechoslovakia in 1989.”

This is a pretty cool tourist attraction! We got some great photos here and the street is a dead end, so there isn’t much traffic in and out which meant our toddler could run about freely and enjoy herself. Any chance we have to let her out of the stroller is a WIN. Also, this is a nice FREE attraction and a GREAT photo opportunity.

Grand Café Orient & The Black Madonna:

If you have kids, just skip this. We went inside and the wait staff was EXTREMELY rude and seemed put out that we had a stroller and two kids. We sat ourselves and after about 15 minutes of staff walking by us pretending they didn’t see us, we decided to leave. Maybe ¼ of the tables had patrons, so it was not a busy time. We had heard they were famous for delicious cake, but it wasn’t worth being ignored and overlooked.

As we started to leave a waiter came up to us and asked if we wanted to see a menu…..a little too late.

So, I don’t consider this a kid-friendly place and it’s totally skippable.

https://www.grandcafeorient.cz/index.php?id=historie&lang=en

Old Town Prague:

Everything about the main Old Town Square is kid friendly. We were there during the Easter Market and there were street food/beer/wine vendors everywhere. We were able to let Charletta run wild, while enjoying some of Prague’s most iconic food. We also were able to see the famous Clock Tower performance. The atmosphere was lively and fun; definitely a family-friendly place. Charletta was even able to meet the Easter Bunny.

http://www.czechtourism.com/c/prague-old-town-square/

Enjoying some adult beverages and relaxing

Day 4: Rest Day

On our final full day in Prague we ventured downtown to find the “Hanging Man” statue and then decided to go out to a park I had heard of. I read it had a vineyard, restaurant and a nice big open park.

We walked into the park to find an INCREDIBLE kids park. The play area is fenced in so your kids can’t wander off. We spent a lot of time here letting Charletta run free and enjoy the company of other children.

We walked the park and then found a spot in an open field near the restaurant so we could get drinks and snacks and lay around. Which we did. Charletta ran, climbed the tree nearby, ran more, watched a pair of twenty somethings throwing a frisbee (she was laughing so hard), and ran around more. We had a short walk from the park back to our apartment and she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion in the stroller.

If you go to Prague with kids, you MUST MUST MUST visit one of their incredible parks. We are partial to Havlickovy Sady, but honestly, any of their parks are fantastic!

Here is a great list of Parks: http://www.praguepost.com/166-expats-in-cz/46816-top-10-parks-in-prague-to-waste-the-day-in

TIPS:

Navigating the Prague Metro with Kids:

The Prague Metro is one of the most straight forward and easy to navigate metros we’ve used in Europe. They had escalators at every entrance/exit, so getting our double stroller wasn’t impossible. A warning tho, those escalators are VERY steep and sometimes very long. A few stops had about 10 steps (after the escalator) to exit to the street, so we carried the stroller out at those places.

There are four completely stroller friendly (and handi-cap accessible) stations near the Main Square: Florenc, Muzeum, Smíchovské nádraží and Hlavní nádraží.

To easily navigate the city by bus, tram or Metro with a stroller or wheelchair, see this website: http://www.dpp.cz/en/barrier-free-travel/

Must Try Eats:

Hot Chocolate at Café Louvre
Local Beer (adults only)
Franken Cone (AKA Chimney Cone) – a DELICIOUS cinnamon-sugar-covered doughnut cone filled with your choice of ice cream ---- YUM
Goulash (Guláš)
Street Vendor “Hot dog” served in a cone shaped bun (SO DELICIOUS) -- my favorite sauce was the spicy mustard
Street Vendor food in general – we were lucky enough to have the Easter market and a variety of vendor food. It was ALL SO GOOD. I tried many dishes and none disappointed.

Overall, Prague was beautiful. The city is full of history and enjoyable with kids. We recommend this city to anyone looking for aslow paced, food filled adventure!