Prague hotels

Four Seasons has it down when it comes to the best hotels in Prague for location. Right by the River Vltava, opposite the Castle and Charles Bridge is just downstream. It's a no-brainer that river-view bedrooms are best, though you can soak up the scene from the summer terrace and the Cotto crudo restaurant, which plates up Italian fine dining (highlights: tuna crudo, spaghetti with blue crab).

The hotel was created from three buildings that span neoclassical, baroque and neo-Renaissance periods, although bedrooms share an aesthetic of stripes, floral patterns and marble.

The lobby acts as a gallery for Czech artists such as Petra McGrath, while downstairs is a boutique selling Czech glassware. Best of all is a voyage in the hotel’s Riva, with Captain Stefan at the helm, who will tell you all he knows about the river. A good family option, but also a top choice for romantics.

Surely one of the best hotels in Prague for peace and quiet. Set behind walls in a former monastery – not a building known for raucous behaviour – it’s just a short walk to Charles Bridge but feels a world apart, in the quiet Mala Strana district near Kampa Park.

Last time I stayed, I wandered through illuminated cloisters and under high arches and barely saw another soul. But there’s a buzzy scene at the bar (order a Havel’s Schnauzer, made with Czech aperitif Becherovka) and restaurant, which has recently swapped Asian flavours for local recipes.
Bedrooms feature chandeliers, vintage paintings and pieces by celebrated glass-makers set beneath vaulted white ceilings.

It’s all like an ambient history lesson, with the spa occupying the 14th-century chapel – the original floor can be seen beneath glass – and archaeological finds from the restoration displayed along one corridor.

One of the best hotels in Prague for its social scene. Once the HQ of an insurance firm, it's now much more fun in its new role as a switched-on hub for locals and guests alike.

It’s full of lively, twinkly detail, with local designers and artists commissioned for artworks and design installations. These range from mushroomy ceramics to balloon-like glassware while the recurring motifs of a lion’s nose, sword and bird wing refer to the Bohemian legend of Prince Bruncvik.

The bar, where perfumes are used to analyse your cocktail type, leads to the restaurant, which mixes up Japanese and Czech dishes – tuna tataki and karaage chicken on one side, potato dumpling and rabbit svickova on the other.

Bedrooms are best described as contemporary Art Deco; my favorites are the Wintergarden suites, which have separate octagonal rotundas with a chaise longue and wraparound views.

More hi-tech aparthotel and co-working space than a traditional hotel, this is a great choice for long-term guests who aren’t too bothered about a concierge and families who appreciate the studios with kitchens and dining areas.

It helps that its owners, the Meinl family, are household names in Czechia, having founded their coffee business back in the Austro-Hungarian Empire era. It also helps that star Italian designer Matteo Thun reimagined the neoclassical building, crafting luminous bedrooms using natural wood, marble and an autumnal color palette.

I like the sense of space here, and the feeling of living like a local using the laundry via an app and grabbing a coffee from the lobby café before heading out to the nearby Mucha Museum. Set on quiet Senovazne Square in the New Town, it’s just a short walk to the sights, making it one of the best hotels in Prague for exploring.

You’ll notice the Café Imperial before the hotel itself, set on a corner of the New Town with Ancient Egyptian-style figures carved outside. It’s usually busy with locals and curious travelers, peering inside to look at the white and gold columns and Art Deco mosaics on the ceilings and walls.

Meanwhile, waiters glide by with plates of truffle gnocchi and goose-liver pate (it’s one of several restaurants run by celebrity chef Zdeněk Pohlreich). Of all the best hotels in Prague, this is the most striking: A Jazz Age time capsule with color and motifs on almost every surface.

The bedrooms are less spectacular but were recently refurbished and continue the theme with fanned headboards and feather designs—take a corner suite if you can. Even the gym is a work of art.

Prague’s one of those rare cities where it’s possible to stay very central yet still feel tucked away. Case in point is one of my favorites, the Josef, which takes its name from the historic Jewish district. In contrast to the heavyweight architecture around it, this is a bright space of glass and steel with a cloud of colorful butterflies fluttering in the all-white lobby.

Designed by Czech architect Eva Jiricna, it was refurbished in 2024, adding a garden window to the lobby and new furniture to the bedrooms (best views from the Rooftop Lounge and Josef Castle View ones), which showcase design names such as Flos, Vitra Eames and Baleri chairs – I love the twirly Moustache chair.

There's no restaurant, but this is one of the best hotels in Prague for its breakfast. Sourdough and croissants are baked on-site and are best eaten in the garden in summer.

One of the best hotels in Prague, the Alcron has been part of the city’s social life since it opened near Wenceslas Square in 1932, its design inspired by the transatlantic cruise lines of the time. The lobby is a sleek showcase for Czech marble, with columns of green and floors of white squares, as well as for works by local painters.

The bar is a favorite of mine, with its original Art Deco interiors, and a cocktail list inspired by anecdotes from the hotel’s history – past guests include Ella Fitzgerald and Winston Churchill. The whole place was refurbished in 2023, with a new coffee shop at the front.

This is one of the best hotels in Prague for its restaurant, whose inventive, plant-forward menu gives you a primer in Czech ingredients. The Lucerna concert hall is just opposite; have a look at David Cerna's amusing sculpture of King Wenceslas.

It’s easy to walk past the Boho without really noticing it. Set in a former newspaper office, this compact boutique hotel doesn’t shout its presence, which is part of its charm.

Behind the glass- and mahogany-fronted facade is a relaxed, contemporary space with Scandi-style furniture, blonde wooden floors and pops of color from cushions and throws. What gives it character are the photographs taken by the Spanish co-owner, who went on a photo safari around Prague using a pin-hole camera – handy for planning a sightseeing tour.

The lobby doubles up as a bar; there’s no restaurant, but the plant-filled breakfast room, which spills out onto a courtyard, is a lovely place to start the day. But the Boho’s ""secret weapon"" is its basement spa, a golden space with a small pool and hammam. This sets the hotel apart from several others.

Part of a cluster of hotels near Republic Square (see also Andaz, Boho and Julius), this is probably the most traditional, set in a 15th-century baroque palace. And despite being in the center of the city, it actually feels like a country-house hotel, with peacocks wandering the garden and a lion’s head fountain.

This is one of the best hotels in Prague for an indulgent weekend stay. Order afternoon tea and have long lie-ins before a massage in the spa. Beneath its dragon-red chandelier, the restaurant plates up fine-tuned Czech ingredients such as fresh asparagus with truffle and potato mille-feuille.

There is plenty of space in the bedrooms, which are furnished with lavish swathes of burgundy and have views of the medieval Powder Gate. Best is the two-bedroomed Bohemia Suite on the top floor, with sweeping panoramas from the bathtub.

There are excellent views from many hotels here, but I think the ones from the rooftop terrace at the Aria are really special, up among the chimney pots looking towards the Castle.

Set in the Mala Strana district, the Aria feels as if it’s grown organically over the years, with personal touches such as the owner’s art collection – including a statue of Dali – giving it a quirky, individual touch. It's also one of the best hotels in Prague for music, with a grand piano and music concierge in the light-filled lobby.

Every bedroom (all traditionally furnished with antiques and velvet armchairs) is named after a musician, from the Beatles to Dave Brubeck and Dvorak. Coda restaurant delivers an inventive Czech menu, but I think the highlight is the private access to the restored garden next door, a baroque beauty planted in 1720.