Channel 04

Music & Nightlife

Clubs, concert halls, night trams and how to get home in one piece.

26 guides4 min average read

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  1. Prague nightlife explained: pub first, club after midnight4 min read
  2. Prague night trams and buses: how to get home after midnight4 min read
  3. Staying safe at night in Prague: what actually goes wrong4 min read

Every guide

All Music & Nightlife guides

  1. 4 min readAbsinthe in Prague: the myths, the flaming spoon and the real storyNo hallucinations, no legal loophole and a burning-sugar ritual that is more marketing than tradition. What Czech absinthe is and how to drink it sensibly.
  2. 4 min readClassical music in Prague: how to find a real concertThe city that premiered Don Giovanni still hears Dvořák every week. Which halls to trust, how to spot a tourist-trap concert and when the festival starts.
  3. 5 min readCzech folk music and brass bands: polka, dechovka and Moravian songThe Beer Barrel Polka has a Czech original, and so does the circus march. How dechovka and Moravian folk music work, and where to hear them.
  4. 4 min readCzech hip-hop and rap: a short introduction to the local sceneCzech has consonant clusters that should defeat any rapper. It did not. Where the scene came from, who to try first and how to follow the words.
  5. 4 min readCzech metal and punk: from the underground to the festival fieldsLong hair could cost you your school place in communist Czechoslovakia. How metal and punk grew under pressure, and which names and festivals matter now.
  6. 5 min readCzech rock and indie: the bands that shaped the sound, decade by decadeA rock band went on trial in 1976 and helped set off a human rights charter. A short route through Czech rock, and why the words matter.
  7. 4 min readDrink spiking in Prague: spotting the signs and getting helpIt is rare, it is serious, and the best defence is dull: watch your glass, watch your friends. What to do if someone seems far drunker than they should.
  8. 4 min readDrinking age in the Czech Republic: 18, plus the rules people missBeer is cheap and everywhere, but the law is stricter than the reputation. Age limits, ID, public drinking, driving and what the bar can refuse.
  9. 5 min readDvořák and the New World Symphony: the Czech heart of an American hitA homesick Czech composer wrote his most famous symphony in New York. Where the Czech sound hides in it, and where to find Dvořák in Prague.
  10. 4 min readEnglish-language comedy nights in Prague: how to find a stand-up showA Prague comedy night in English can be an open mic of nervous newcomers or a line-up night with a polished headliner. How to tell which, and where to look.
  11. 4 min readEstates Theatre: the stage where Mozart conducted Don GiovanniOn 29 October 1787 Mozart stood in this Old Town theatre and conducted a premiere. The building, the story and how to get a seat.
  12. 4 min readForum Karlín: the Prague concert hall that fits the middleToo big for a club, too small for an arena: how Karlín's big hall works, how it differs from the O2 Arena and how to get home afterwards.
  13. 4 min readJazz in Prague: from Ježek to the clubs that kept it aliveFrom Ježek to the banned Jazz Section, Prague jazz has outlived its censors. The history, how to find a live night and what to expect at the door.
  14. 4 min readLucerna Palace: Havel's Art Nouveau arcade and its upside-down horseA passage off Wenceslas Square built by the president's grandfather, with a great hall, a cinema and David Černý's dead horse hanging from the ceiling.
  15. 4 min readMunicipal House: inside Prague's Art Nouveau showpieceOpened in 1912 beside the Powder Tower, it holds a famous concert hall, a café and the room where the Czechoslovak National Committee met in 1918.
  16. 4 min readO2 Arena Prague: how to get there, and home againMetro line B does most of the work, but the real test is the exit. How to reach Vysočany and beat the crowd after a big show.
  17. 4 min readPrague club entry and dress codes: how the door really worksMost Prague clubs care more about your attitude than your shoes, but doors can say no. ID, queues, guest lists, cloakrooms and how to avoid an argument.
  18. 4 min readPrague gigs this month: how to find live music and get inThe best Prague gig is rarely the one you were sent a link to. Where the listings live, how doors and start times work, and how to buy a ticket safely.
  19. 4 min readPrague night trams and buses: how to get home after midnightThe metro sleeps, but the city does not. Night trams 91 to 99, night buses in the 900s and the central meeting point where the lines fan out.
  20. 4 min readPrague nightlife explained: pub first, club after midnightA Prague night has a shape: beer early, a bar later, a club after midnight and a night tram home. How to follow it without overpaying.
  21. 4 min readPrague pub crawls: what the booking page does not tell youUnlimited drinks, free shots and a group of strangers. What a pub crawl is, what to read before you pay and how to do the same thing for free.
  22. 4 min readPrague State Opera: Viennese gilt by the main stationBuilt in 1888 for the city's German-speaking audience, now part of the National Theatre family. How to see it and how to book without overpaying.
  23. 4 min readRudolfinum: the neo-Renaissance hall that once housed parliamentHome of the Czech Philharmonic since Dvořák raised his baton in 1896, and in the interwar years the seat of the Czechoslovak parliament.
  24. 5 min readSmetana's Má vlast: Czech classical music's national symphonic cycleA composer who could no longer hear wrote a love letter to his country, and Prague still opens its main music festival with it. What the six pieces describe.