Prague: From Charles Bridge to the trendy center | What's tourism in the Czech capital like today?

Charles Bridge, Prague's most famous landmark. Only the early birds among you will ever get to see it this empty. It's 7am and I've managed to beat the crowds. The bridge, the Vltava river, the spires. Now seems to be the perfect time to take it all in. The vibe is very special. Prague is one of the most visited cities in all of Europe and that's not really surprising if you consider that it's been a political and cultural center in Europe since the middle ages. Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. Since it's my first time in town, I'm getting some help from one of them. Actor and tour guide Christian Meistrik. First, I want to learn some basic Czech skills. I mean I would like to be able to be polite a bit. So let's start with hello. If you say hello, it's like ahoj, but it's a little bit more familiar. So when you come to the shop and you say like ahoj, it's not the best thing you can do. We say dobrý den, like guten tag you say, right? So guten tag is dobrý den. Almost perfect. Then you should probably know how to say goodbye. I will never say goodbye. I will have to stay here forever. That's a good idea as well. We love people like you. All right. Before the pandemic, the old town was often very overcrowded. A relaxing stroll through here was basically impossible. Although tourists have returned this year, it hasn't gotten out of control. There are about half as many as before the crisis, Christian tells me. Our first stop is the Old Town Square in front of the Old Town Hall. A ticket for the tower costs 250 Czech crowns. Yep, Prague is part of the EU, but not the Eurozone. That's about 10 euros. At 41 meters, you have the city at your feet. Why is Prague then called the Golden City? I think it's in the time that they started to use it, Prague was one of the capitals of the seat place of the Holy Roman Empire for the emperor. But we don't use it anymore. Actually, we locals don't use it as much. We use the expression mother of hundred spires. Because if you look from the window from the bars, you can see there are spires everywhere. And actually, I would say there's even more definitely than hundreds of them. At the top of every hour, tourists gather in front of the astronomical clock on the town hall facade to witness a little play. But the true highlight is the clock itself, built in 1410. The figures were added later. And then there's the skeleton. The skeleton rings the bell, time goes by, time goes by. Skeleton is death. It's quite remarkable that death would be depicted in such a way in that time, isn't it? Whatever you do, the message is, remember that in the end is the death. So just like try to fill the life, fulfill life as much as you can do that. That's really beautiful. The square is a must for every Prague visitor. And as you can see, we're not alone. Where are you from? We're from Scotland. From Mexico. Hong Kong. From Austin, Texas. From St. Cruz. What brings you to Prague? Beautiful. I think wondering about actually to just get the atmosphere is the kind of thing that we like to do and just sort of soak it all in. It's a museum in itself. Oh, it's wonderful. I've always heard Prague was such a beautiful city and it is. It's true what you hear about Prague's arts and culture. There was a piano player in the metro station and music on the bridge. We are interested in the buildings. We are interested in the structure of the town. And the food. And the food, of course. By the afternoon, the Charles Bridge is indeed pretty crowded, despite the unfavorable weather. But apparently still no comparison to the time before the pandemic. Back then, Prague was overflowing with tourists. Prague was having a bit of a problem before the pandemic with over-tourism. Definitely, definitely. So how big of a problem is it then right now? We're slightly getting to the high numbers. But as I said before, in 2019, we had like 8 million people coming to Prague. And now they say we are getting to like 50-40% of that. As a tour guide, you of course want people coming to your city, right? So what's problematic about too many people coming or that amount of people? It destroys the atmosphere. You know, you see all these posters like the Prague Castle or Charles Bridge, like no people really like this romantic atmosphere. The over-tourism really kills the atmosphere and actually even destroys that thing. Because imagine there's like a million tons of people coming. So it really destroys the aesthetic as well. How can it be managed though? Because this is a beautiful city and you've done like great work showing it to me. Thank you. But how can you keep people out? Honestly, I think there's like... Because we have the inner city, but we have as well so many beautiful districts all around the main city. I mean the main center. So we have like districts which were really industrial like Holešovice, Karlin, Žižkov. Then we have really posh areas like Bubanec or Vinohradec. So there's so many things to explore just in a wider city center. So what I think is the solution is just to a little bit direct the people out of the city center and to explore with them these beautiful areas. Thank you so much for sharing your city with me. It was a pleasure meeting you. I'm going to take his advice and head out of the center. Sonja, who's also a tour guide, will show me this other side to Prague. We're off to Holešovice, the hip part of town. Fancy Wilhelminian buildings in a district that grew during the industrialization. This is where Sonja lives. She takes me to her favorite cafe, Sukrarná Alchimista. I hope you like it. Are you kidding me? It's one of my favorite coffee here. It's so unexpected. I know, I know. That's like something like a small paradise garden. It's like a little paradise, exactly. So there are a lot of different plants and you can be sitting here always and the coffee is very good. They are making everything homemade and really, really good one. Coffee? You don't have to tell me twice. Sonja tells me that only 20 years ago Holešovice was a gray and dull part of town that has seen a lot of change in the past years. So you chose to live here. What is it you appreciate about Holešovice? The life, the freedom, the relax, no rush. Everything what I need for my living is here. I don't need to, as I mentioned before, I don't need to go to the city center. And the prices are lower than the touristic center. Therefore, we do not like to dine somewhere in the city center because the prices are here for us better. And you see there is a pub there, bakery there, there is another restaurant, there is a tea room here. You can choose what you like. You have everything you need. Exactly. So if you like to meet Czech people, come here and enjoy living with us because we are very hard-opening people and we like to speak with foreigners. Of course, I also want to try some Czech beer, so Sonja takes me back into the old town. Turns out, here too, you can find corners that are not overrun. At the pub Ukunštatu, you can choose between 100 different kinds of beer. So what makes Czech beer so special? Hops and water. We have a very special hops and they've been here and they give the beer bitterness. And this is very special beer, I mean hops. The water is also very special, so it means if you have the hops, all the procedure and you do it somewhere else, the water is different and will not be tasting the same way. All right, and I heard that in the Czech Republic, there's more per capita consumption of beer than anywhere in the world. We beat up you, we beat up Britain and Australia too, yeah. But I think it's thanks to you guys, because you are coming here to drink beer, therefore the rate is a little bit higher. So it's not the Czechs, it's the Germans that come here and drink all your beer. Cheers to that. Yeah. Who can blame them? Night has fallen and time has come to bid Prague farewell. Back where it all started, on Charles Bridge. And even if this time I'm not entirely by myself, the mass tourism that plagued the city before the pandemic has not returned the way many feared. And hey, who can blame people for being attracted to this beauty? It's a perfect blend of history and modernity with so much to offer, especially off the beaten path. That's it. My day in Prague is already over. There is, of course, a lot more to see and discover, but I still hope you enjoyed to get a little taste of the Czech capital. Time now for me to say goodbye, or better yet, na shledanou.