New year, new places to discover, and new sights to capture for your ever-expanding Instagram profile. One city that should definitely be on your list for 2020 is the Czech capital, Prague. Whether for a short holiday or extended stay, you can be sure you’ll find more than your fair share of great places for excellent Instagram shots in Prague. While there are literally thousands of locations in the city for taking amazing pictures, we've put together the best Instagram spots in Prague to get great photographs and snaps to up your Insta game in 2020.
The John Lennon Wall
Not so much a place to go as it is a mood to capture, the John Lennon Wall is one of the few sites in Prague that is known for how often it changes, rather than for how long it’s been there. This graffiti-soaked Lennon mecca appeared after John Lennon’s assassination in 1980 when an unknown artist first painted a portrait of the Beatle on the wall. Later, young Czechs, irritated with the communist regime of the 1980s, aired their grievances on the wall in a medley of paints, images, and styles, prompting the idea of 'Lennonism vs. Leninism'.
The wall has been an open canvas ever since and new messages from artistically-minded protesters appear on the wall regularly. Even if you’re not in the area, a special trip out to the Lennon Wall is essential to capture one of Prague's most Insta-worthy sites. You'll find The Lennon Wall at Velkopřevorské náměstí, 100 00 Praha 1, Czechia.
Letna Hill
Not only is Letna Hill and beer garden one of the most popular hubs for young locals, it’s also a prime place to meet other travelers. The view from atop the hill is one of the best spots in Prague for great pics, and is actually very easy to get to.
When you get to the top, you’ll be able to get a beer from one of several outdoor stalls and savor it in the shade of Letna Park. After you’re suitably relaxed, walk to the top of Letna Hill to the location of the Prague Metronome, a seventy-five-foot tall red mast which marks the area not only of Prague’s most scenic vista, but also of where the largest Stalin statue was once constructed, and then blown up.
After taking more than five years to build, during which time it inadvertently claimed the lives of its architect, Otakar Svec, and his wife, the Stalin statue reigned supreme in Prague for just seven years, before de-Stalinization mandated its prompt removal. Tabling options to deconstruct the statue piecemeal, the statue was ultimately rigged with 1,800 lbs of explosives and systematically blown up over the course of a week; an interesting story to accompany an intriguing new Instagram pic from Prague.
You can take in Letna Hill and Prague Metronome on our
Free Castle Tour in Prague!
Prague Astronomical Clock
No trip to Prague is complete without a visit to the Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square, or the Instagram story to prove it. Though, this medieval marvel is not on our list for it's beauty, fame, or even the hourly show - the procession of the twelve apostles - that once drew 'oohs and aahs' from a captivated audience.
Arguably the most well-known spot in the Old Town, the Prague Astronomical Clock is also one of the most congested in the entire city. Rubber-neckers gather in droves to stand, wait for, and film the 600-year-old clock’s show on the hour. Once regarded as a miraculously complex feat of gears, pulleys, wheels, gismos and gadgets (two 15
th century men were said to have gone insane just by looking too long at the mechanisms), the Astronomical Clock Show now seldom draws much of an impression from the crowds that flock to it.
To be fair, the clock is spectacular, given its age and pithy design, but artistry seldom satisfies its crowds nowadays. That said, another shot of the Prague Astronomical Clock would be redundant, so rather than add to the compendious online collection, it’s much more rewarding getting a shot of the boredom and disappointment of its many fans when the anticipated clock show fails to dazzle.
Not for nothing is the clock show often referred to as the 2
nd most disappointing site in Europe, and the reactions of its viewers when they learn this are nothing short of priceless. The Prague Astronomical Clock is included on our
free tour of Old Town & Jewish Quarter in Prague.
Cerna Madonna
There are plenty of spots in Old Town where you’ll be able to get the postcard photos you want, but The House of the Black Madonna, or Cerna Madonna, in Prague is exceptional for being one of the only cubist-style buildings in the whole of the city. Seen on our
Prague free tour, incredible potential Instagram shots galore confront you in this century-old building, with its lavish café and tiles of colored cubes, trapezoidal designs on the walls, and hexagonal lights; you’ll feel like you’ve just become a part of a giant chess set, and you’ll want to be certain you capture the scene. Without doubt, one of the best Instagram spots in Prague.
Stromovka Park
Prague’s 'Central Park', Stromvoka park is a great chance to get a healthy dose of nature and take a break from the city’s baroque urban jungle. Stromovka is impressively dense for a city park. Five minutes of walking and you're swallowed beneath the romantic canopy under which the old Bohemian King Premysl Otakar II used to go deer-hunting seven-hundred and fifty years ago.
There’s evidence of more recent rulers as well, the most impressive of which is the 17
th century Royal Hall (now Slechtova Restaurant), an enormous new-Gothic structure stuck smack dab in the center of the park as though it lost its way going home and decided to simply camp out where it was. It’s an idea place for Instagram inspiration and unique picture opportunities in Prague.
One of the most picturesque parks in Prague, make sure you get a look at the scenic train that runs through the park, and to snap a few photos of the ducks milling about on the ponds too.
From the top of Vitus Cathedral
St. Vitus Cathedral is going to be one of the first shots you take when you enter Prague, and it’s little wonder why. Certainly one of the most iconic spots and one of the best Instagram spots in Prague, it’s also simultaneously one of the city’s oldest and newest. Construction started in 1344 when Czech’s most famous king, Charles IV, decided to put a Gothic cathedral in the spot formerly occupied by a Romanesque church.
Construction proceeded apace but got put on hold during the Hussite Wars beginning in 1419, and then languished during the next four hundred years due to a variety of misfortunes. It wasn’t until the second half of the 19
th century that the move was made to finish the cathedral, which was only consecrated in 1929. In addition to beautiful stained glass windows, mosaics, doors, chapels, and courtyards, the cathedral also comes equipped with a bell-tower which boasts 187 steps in addition to the best views of the city this side of the river.
Touring the cathedral, you won’t find many better Instagram story locations in the whole city. If you’ve still got the stamina by the end, finish up your Insta-story at the top of the bell-tower for a shot you won’t rival anywhere else. Located at III. nádvoří 48/2, 119 01 Praha 1-Hradčany, Czechia, you can learn more about St. Vitus Cathedral on our free Prague Castle Tour.
Paddle Boat by Charles Bridge
There are many wrong ways to get a good pic of Charles Bridge, but the worst has got to be attempting a shot while walking across it. Knocking shoulders against crowds of tourists, street performers, and stone statues, you may be lucky to fill your camera with any salvageable shots at all.
A much better angle would be to rent a paddle boat from one of the kiosks around the Charles and Manesuv Bridges and get your pics of Charles bridge from the bottom-up. A pretty enviable Prague Instagram story idea too would be tracking your progress from Charles Bride over to Strelecky Island, where you’ll be able to snap bonus shots of the swans. Be warned however: they come in thick and fast and they’re gluttons for the camera.
Renting a boat on the Vltava River in Prague will cost around about €7 per hour, depending on the size and type (peddle boat, paddle / row boat, for 4 or 5 persons, etc.) and from where you rent it.
Kampa Island (by Charles Bridge)
The alternative to paddling beneath Charles Bridge is to get your picture from the castle-side of the river, and the best place to do that is at Kampa Island. This charming little area comes complete with a small canal, brightly colored palaces, a storybook watermill, and a minimal amount of tourists.
After getting your fill of Charles Bridge pictures, wander further along the island and you’ll eventually find a little jetty presided over by a panoply of thirty-four yellow penguins. While an intriguing Instagram opportunity, the penguins also pack a sobering warning about the threat of climate change and plastic consumption, a topic that will no doubt be ever-present throughout this new 20s decade.
Dancing house
The majority of the more picturesque Prague architecture falls somewhere between 1400-1800, and comes from either French, German, or Italian influence. There’s only a handful of well-known modern buildings, the most famous of which is the Dancing House (actually the Nationale-Nederlanden insurance and asset company, but earned its nickname because it resembles a pair of dancers) designed by the Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunic in collaboration with Frank Gehry.
it's a wonderfully unique, obscure and enchanting piece of visually captivating architecture, especially at night, and a welcome addition to any self-respecting Instagram-fanatic's gallery. The Dancing House can be seen on our
Resistance and Revolutions Free Tour in Prague
Zizkov Tower
Not quite as delightful as the Dancing House, the futuristic Zizkov Television tower is nevertheless one of the most recognizable structures of the Prague cityscape, because it’s tall, and also because it was once named the second ugliest building in the world. Zizkov itself is an unjustly underrated municipality of Prague, with a reputation for classy cocktail joints and lots of beautiful old churches. The Soviet-ear Zizkov Tower however will add some welcome variety to your Prague menagerie on Instagram.
There’s the long and short of it, dear happy-snappy Prague-bound photo-fan. We hope this local's guide to the best places in Prague to take photos serves you well. Don’t forget while traveling through the city to check out our tours of the Old Town, Jewish Quarter, Castle, and New Town for even more Instagrammable madness. And if you’re keen on Prague nightlife, join our
Prague Pub Crawl for the chance to drink, photo-swap, and Insta-story with other like-minded travelers. Happy photo hunting.
