When Is The Best Season To Visit Prague?

Prague is a city of all seasons. Fall is full of orange leaves and ripe plumbs, winter is chilly and grey, spring brings chirping birds and warm winds, summer is sweaty and blue skies. With weather Prague does not have extremes - it is not really, really cold in the winter or blistering hot in the summer.

Here is a graph of the average daily temperatures:

Prague Average Weather

Reasons To Visit Prague in The Winter

The winters are not bitter cold. But because it is humid even -5 degree Celsius (23 Fahrenheit) seems cold. It is the kind of cold that you feel in your bones. It seeps under the skin and only a warm soup will heat you up again.

During the winter the sun does not come out much. The sky is always covered with a blanket of clouds and the air is grey. The constant greyness of the city is my biggest complaint about the city in winter. If you wake up in a bad mood the winter sky will only make your day worse.

But there are many good reasons to come visit Prague in the winter. The best is the lack of tourists. Winter is when the locals take back the city. Tourist are still here but no where near the amount that swarm around in the summer. In the winter you do not need to get up at 5am to have room to breath on the Charles Bridge, in winter, even at noon you might be able to take a picture of the Bridge with only a few people on it.

No lineup, no screaming kids, no pushing and shoving. The city is all yours. And it is not like there is nothing to see and do in the winter. Everything is open. all the museums, the buildings, the opera shows and you can even get on the tour bus and listen through your headphones as the guide spouts facts.

Normally it does not snow too much so the street are not covered in snow enabling you to walk up to the Prague castle and see the view - just like in the summer.

If you do decide to come in the winter you might want to plan your trip around the Christmas festival or the winter festival. The Christmas festival is everything you want Christmas to be - Prague turns into a old style market place where merchants setup little booths and sell hand made arts, crafts and toys. Stands sell sweet Bohemian treats and hot steamy wine. With the backdrop of a big Christmas tree and carolers signing songs of lore merry times are had by all.

The winter festival is usually near the beginning of January. This world famous festival is all about the Opera, classical music, fine wine and elegant dining. The festival is for those who enjoy the indoors of a 400 year old cathedral and want to be treated with nights of violins, high painted ceilings, sculptures of baby Jesus, and sip wines from all around the world.

Reasons To Visit Prague in The Summer

You cannot go wrong by visiting Prague in the summer. Especially if you like being around people - lots and lots of people. Charles Bridge in the summer is like a meat grinder - hordes of people entering the bridge on either end are pressed and ground together at its center. All the little narrow streets are bulging at the seams. You will see all types of amusing people from all over the world walking around with maps in their faces and camera’s over their shoulder. Most of them are in a good mood and happy to be where they are.

The nice thing about summer in Prague is that besides all the old castles and churches which provide a cool break from the hot sun, the outdoors also have a lot to offer. There are benches all over the city for you to just sit and watch the people walk by. There are lawns, parks and even the King Garden for you to just lay down and rest your cobble stone weary feet. Nothing better on summer day they walking up the little hill toward the castle, finding a patch of grass, laying back with your arms behind your head and enjoying majestic view of the entire city.

And don’t forget the beer. Compared to North American beer which is heavily carbonated, Czech beer is not so it goes down really smooth. With a little sweat on your forehead and under the armpits nothing makes you feel better then holding a frosty glass in your hand and letting the beer flow over your pallet and cool the insides. Sit back, let the sun shine down, listen to the music, let the mind wonder and have a Pilsner. Prague in the summer can’t be beat.

Music shows, opera shows, festivals, river boat rides, beaches on the river, gardens, restaurant patios. Basically, one big party - a Disneyland for adults.

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