Prague is still cheaper than western Europe and the gap has narrowed considerably. What has not changed is that the centre operates at two entirely different price levels depending on whether a business expects to see you again.
The currency, and the two traps
The currency is the Czech koruna (CZK), not the euro. Prices quoted in euros in tourist areas carry a poor implied rate.
Trap one: exchange booths. Booths in the centre advertising “0% commission” make their money on the rate, and some have historically used bait rates displayed for large sums with a much worse rate applied to small ones. Czech law now gives customers the right to cancel an exchange within three hours, which tells you how bad the problem was.
Do not change money at the airport or at a street booth. Use an ATM attached to a bank branch — Česká spořitelna, ČSOB, Komerční banka, Raiffeisen. Avoid the free-standing Euronet machines in tourist areas, which charge heavily.
Trap two: dynamic currency conversion. When an ATM or card machine offers to charge you in your own currency rather than crowns, it is offering to do the conversion at a rate several per cent worse than your bank’s. Always choose crowns. This is the single most valuable sentence in this article.
Accommodation
The largest line, and the lever is location rather than standard. The Old Town commands a premium for being in the middle of the crowd; Vinohrady, Žižkov, Holešovice, Karlín and Smíchov are five to fifteen minutes away by metro and materially cheaper.
Christmas, Easter, May and summer weekends are the peaks. January, February and November are the cheapest, and winter Prague is arguably the better Prague.
See where to stay.
Food and beer
This is where the two-tier pricing is starkest.
A beer on the Old Town Square costs several times what the same beer costs in Žižkov, and the same is true of a plate of goulash. It is not a scam — the prices are displayed — it is a market for people who will visit once.
Walk fifteen minutes and halve the bill. That applies to almost everything in this city.
Lunch menus — polední menu — are a Czech institution: a soup and a main for a fixed low price at lunchtime in ordinary restaurants, including good ones. It is the best value in the country and it stops around two.
Check the bill. Look for items you did not order, and note that bread and snacks placed on the table are usually charged.
Transport
Very cheap and excellent. A 90-minute ticket costs about a euro; a 24- or 72-hour pass is better value if you are making several journeys a day.
Validate paper tickets in the yellow machine before travelling — the on-the-spot fine for an unvalidated ticket is many times the fare and inspectors target routes used by visitors. See getting around.
Attractions
Modest by western European standards.
Prague Castle circuit tickets, the Jewish Museum combined ticket and Strahov are the main paid items, and none of them is expensive.
Concerts at the Rudolfinum and the National Theatre are the outstanding bargain — world-class performances at a fraction of western European prices.
The free list
Charles Bridge and the whole Old Town.
Prague Castle’s courtyards and gardens — you pay only for the interiors.
Vyšehrad, including the ramparts and the national cemetery.
Letná and Petřín parks, and the memorial to the victims of communism.
The Wallenstein Garden in Malá Strana.
Náplavka and the Saturday market.
Galerie Rudolfinum, and free-entry periods at the National Gallery.
Tipping
Round up, or about 10 per cent for good service in a restaurant. Tell the waiter the total you want to pay when handing over money rather than leaving it on the table and walking out. Nothing extra at a pub beyond rounding.
The rough shape
Accommodation first, food and drink second, transport a rounding error, attractions modest. If you need to cut, move the accommodation out of Prague 1 and eat where Czechs eat — those two decisions between them change the total more than anything else available.
Two habits that save the most
Eat the lunch menu. The polední menu — soup and a main at a fixed low price, served roughly eleven-thirty to two — exists in almost every ordinary restaurant including good ones. Making that your main meal and eating lightly in the evening is the largest single saving available, and the food is better at lunch anyway.
Cross the river or go one metro stop out to drink. The price of a beer in Prague varies more by location than by quality. The same brewery’s product costs two or three times as much on the Old Town Square as it does in Žižkov, and the pub in Žižkov will be better.
What not to economise on
Shoes. The centre is cobbled, hilly on the castle side, and you will walk a great deal of it.
A concert. The Rudolfinum and the National Theatre are the best value in the city by a wide margin, and skipping them to save the price of two dinners is a poor trade.