Get ready for some real autumn goodness.
I visited Prague in mid-October, and before I got there, I expected a lot of autumnal landscapes – needless to say, I got exactly that, and more! Prague is a beautiful city, and a big one too, and I really enjoyed discovering the prettiest spots there.
Because my boyfriend and I did not visit that many tourist attractions, I thought I would dedicate this blogpost to the beauty of the city and where you can find the most Instagrammable areas to take your souvenir pictures! I have never done one of these posts, so yay for trying something new!
Without further ado, here are the Prague spots that I took my favourite photos in. You get head over to my Instagram @juliaspeaks_ to see all my Prague (and Poland) pictures!
VYSEHRAD: PEACEFUL NATURE OUTSIDE OF THE CITY
We explored Vysehrad on a quiet weekday afternoon, and it was one of my favourite moments in Prague. To get there, we took the tram to the south of the city and climbed up a hill, through paths covered in autumn leaves. Once you reach the top you are at Vysehrad: an old fortress turned park, where you will find beautiful views over the city, the gorgeous St Peter and Paul Basilica, and a wide area of greenery. If you love autumn photos, Vysehrad is your spot: there were very few people there, leafing you with a lot of freedom to play around with photography.
GARDENS BELOW PRAGUE CASTLE: THE BEST PLACE FOR DREAMY, WHIMSICAL PICTURES
These gardens are exactly what the name suggests: gardens hidden underneath the castle. They are tucked away in a small street, but you will find them easily through Google Maps. These gardens are terraced, Italian-style garden, where you will find a variety of levels adorned with flowers and plants, as well as my favourite view over the centre of Prague. You have to pay a small fee to enter, but trust me: the price is well worth it. I don’t think this place has made it into the tourist hotspot list yet, and that makes them really special. In the autumn, the leaves on the walls turn orange and make the dreamiest background for photos. I really felt like we hit a jackpot with this place. Just see for yourself…
THE OLD TOWN: THE CLASSIC PRAGUE SHOTS AND COLOURFUL BUILDINGS
The Old Town is an unmissable spot in Prague. Even though it is far more touristy than the two I mentioned above, it is also a beautiful setting for your travel photos. Getting up early means that you will have fewer people around, so if you’re planning to shoot in the Old Town Square and expecting tourist-free shots, set up your alarm and get going! I really enjoyed the buildings around the square, they are all different colours and shapes, and make for fun pictures. On the other side of Charles Bridge, you can also find some old colourful streets where there are few cars and you will be able to stand on the road to take pretty pictures. My tip would be to steer away from the main streets and get lost in the smaller alleys: they may be narrower and harder to capture in photos, but worth it if you have those skills because there won’t be any crowds at all.
AROUND THE RIVER & PRAGUE’S BRIDGES
You may know that Prague is cut in half by the Vltava River. I love a good river, it can create beautiful photos with the perspective of the buildings on either side, or the reflection of the landscape in the water. The river in Prague goes a long way, so it is pretty easy to find a spot devoid of tourists where you can get beautiful pictures. My favourite view is the view of Charles Bridge from the left side of the city, as you will see in the photo below. Another great river view is when the night starts falling and the lights are turned on: this will create beautiful reflections of the lights and the buildings on the water. Go out there and walk around the river, and it will give you plenty of opportunities to shoot.
NOT WORTH THE HYPE…
Not trying to be a party-pooper here, but there are some spots that are definitely not as spectacular as they appear on Instagram. Not that places are not relevant when you can’t take a good picture (hey, I’m not that superficial!) but we have been to some places that seemed like great spots, but turned out disappointing. So in a few words, here are why these spots disappointed me!
CHARLES BRIDGE: I was expecting the coolest, prettiest bridge – I found a plain stone bridge overcrowded with street vendors and with the only difference from the other bridges being that there are some statues here and there. It is quite hard to take a good photo of the bridge while you’re on it, obviously. I’d recommend getting away from the bridge and looking at it from either side of the river. Much better!
PRAGUE CASTLE + ATTRACTIONS (ST VITUS, GOLDEN LANE, ETC.): Talk about a tourist trap! I’d read quite a few not-so-great reviews about the attractions around Prague Castle (the castle itself, Golden Lane, the various museums there etc.) but we still went, curious to learn more about the History of Prague and see some of its key monuments. It turned out to be too expensive for what we saw, and packed with other tourists and poor in photo opportunities. St Vitus Cathedral, for example, is a gorgeous building which you can see peaking above the other buildings from everywhere in Prague – but once you get close to it, it is surrounded by walls and buildings, so much so that you can barely take a shot with the whole building in. The hyped Golden Lane, a medieval street full of colourful houses (including one in which the writer Franz Kafka lived) has turned into a crowded and gimmicky area, where you queue up to get into children-sized houses to get a glimpse of how the houses were decorated back in the day they were inhabited. Impossible to take a single good photo there, and not even worth it for the historical value. A double no from me!
KAMPA: Not talking about the Kafka museum here as we did not visit, but the Kampa area was a small disappointment as I had heard it had great views over the city and good photo ops. I found the area pretty bland, apart from the notable (and slightly disturbing) modernist statues. The only good thing I found there was a beautiful autumnal doorway covered in green and red leaves. Check out my recommended spots above for the most picturesque views of Prague instead!
Have you ever been to Prague? Would you want to visit there?
