What's on in Prague (Praha), Czechia through the year

Peak crowds — Christmas markets, New Year's Eve

• Rule

  City accommodation fee

  1 Jan – 31 Dec

  Every adult guest pays the city 50 CZK a night on top of the room rate. Hotels and flat hosts collect it at check-in or check-out, so it rarely shows up in the price you booked. Source ↗

Still on: Christmas markets (28 Nov – 6 Jan (usually)), New Year's Eve (29 Dec – 1 Jan)

Busy — Spring holidays in Czechia, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Masopust

  8–25 Feb · usuallyCarnival

  The Czech carnival: masked processions and pig feasts in the days before Lent, the Zizkov parade the loudest of them. Smaller and stranger than the Rhineland version, and mostly for locals. Source ↗

Still on: City accommodation fee (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Busy — Easter markets, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Easter markets

  15 Mar – 20 Apr · usuallyEaster & Holy WeekCrowded

  Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square take stalls of painted eggs and plaited willow whips for about three weeks around Easter, and the long weekend brings the first proper crowds of the year. Source ↗

Still on: City accommodation fee (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Busy — Easter markets, school holidays in 6 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Burning of the Witches

  30 AprMajor festival

  Bonfires go up on Petrin, Ladronka and the hills around the city on the night of 30 April to see winter off. It is a residents' evening rather than a ticketed one. Source ↗

Still on: City accommodation fee (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Easter markets (15 Mar – 20 Apr (usually))

Busy — Prague Marathon, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Prague Marathon

  3–10 May · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedClosures

  Starts and finishes on Old Town Square on a Sunday in early May, with the riverside roads and half the bridges closed from the morning. Book a room away from the course or accept the noise. Source ↗

• Festival

  Prague Spring music festival

  12 May – 4 JunMajor festivalBook early

  Opens every year on 12 May, the anniversary of Smetana's death, with Ma vlast at the Municipal House, and runs three weeks. The seats worth having go months ahead. Source ↗

Still on: City accommodation fee (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Busy — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in June.

Still on: City accommodation fee (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Prague Spring music festival (12 May – 4 Jun)

Busy — Summer holidays in Czechia, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: City accommodation fee (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Peak crowds — Prague Pride, Summer holidays in Czechia

• Nature

  Mushroom season

  1 Aug – 31 Oct · usuallyForaging season

  Picking is close to a national sport here. Whole families disappear into the woods outside the city at weekends from late summer, and what they bring back turns up on every menu.

• Festival

  Prague Pride

  3–10 Aug · usuallyCrowded

  A week of events in early August ending with a parade from Wenceslas Square up to Letna park, the biggest in central Europe. Central hotels go early for that Saturday. Source ↗

Still on: City accommodation fee (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Nature

  Burcak and the vineyard feasts

  1 Sep – 5 Oct · usuallyHarvest

  Burcak, the half-fermented young wine, appears on street stalls for a few weeks from early September, and the harvest feasts on the Greboka and castle slopes follow it.

Still on: City accommodation fee (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Mushroom season (1 Aug – 31 Oct (usually))

Peak crowds — Signal light festival, Autumn holidays in Czechia

• Festival

  Signal light festival

  15–18 OctMajor festivalCrowded

  Four evenings of projections and light installations walked as a route through the old town. From seven until midnight the centre is shoulder to shoulder and the trams crawl. Source ↗

Still on: City accommodation fee (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Mushroom season (1 Aug – 31 Oct (usually)), Burcak and the vineyard feasts (1 Sep – 5 Oct (usually))

Busy — Christmas markets, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Christmas markets

  28 Nov – 6 Jan · usuallyChristmas & New YearCrowded

  Stalls fill Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square from the first Sunday of Advent to Epiphany. Central rooms reprice for the fortnight either side of Christmas, and the square is a slow walk after dark. Source ↗

Still on: City accommodation fee (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Peak crowds — Christmas markets, New Year's Eve

• Festival

  New Year's Eve

  29 Dec – 1 JanChristmas & New YearCrowdedRisk

  The city dropped its official midnight fireworks and does a projected show on New Year's Day instead. The private rockets on Charles Bridge and Letna carry on regardless, at head height. Source ↗

Still on: City accommodation fee (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Christmas markets (28 Nov – 6 Jan (usually))