Prague

Prague genuinely feels like stepping into another era. That is not a figure of speech, it is what actually happens when you walk through the Old Town. Gothic churches with spires that seem to puncture the sky. Baroque buildings with ornate facades that take ten minutes to properly look at. Cobblestone streets that have been walked on for seven or eight centuries without significant change. Incredible detail around almost every corner, on almost every surface, in almost every direction you look.

The city has a very distinct atmosphere, particularly early in the morning and once the streets start to quieten in the evening. These are the hours to be out. Before the tour groups and the stag parties and the day-trippers arrive, Prague is an extraordinarily beautiful and extraordinarily quiet city. The Old Town Square at seven in the morning, with the Týn Church catching the first light and the Astronomical Clock ticking toward the hour, is one of the finest things a European city offers to anyone willing to get up for it.

The architecture rewards the visitor who pays attention slowly rather than moving fast between highlights. There are details, carved stonework, painted house signs, baroque doorways with ironwork handles worn smooth by centuries of hands, that you only notice if you stop walking and actually look. Prague teaches you to look. It is one of the city's great gifts.

The specific moment that stayed with me most vividly from Prague was walking across Charles Bridge early in the morning and seeing Prague Castle looking over the city from its hill above the Vltava. It is one of those views that feels almost unreal, even when you have seen photographs of it a hundred times, the real thing is still surprising. The castle, the bridge with its thirty Baroque statues lining both sides, the river below, the morning mist if you're lucky. At the hour when the city is still relatively quiet and you have the bridge largely to yourself, it feels like being inside a painting.

I'd recommend getting up earlier than feels comfortable to be on Charles Bridge before the crowds. The difference between Charles Bridge at seven in the morning and Charles Bridge at ten is the difference between a genuinely moving experience and a busy tourist attraction. Both are the same bridge. The hour makes them completely different places.

Beyond the obvious sights, Charles Bridge, the Astronomical Clock, the Castle, some of my favourite moments in Prague came from wandering away from the busiest areas and discovering smaller streets, churches, cafes and historic buildings that felt like genuine finds. Malá Strana, the Lesser Town below the castle, is quieter and more residential than the Old Town and rewards unhurried exploration completely. And for food, be honest with yourself and use Lidl. It is everywhere, it is excellent, and the money you save is better spent on coffee in a beautiful cafe.

The advice I would give any friend planning Prague is simple: give yourself at least three or four days and be prepared to walk. The best way to experience Prague is on foot. Stay somewhere central so you can reach the historic heart of the city easily, ideally in Malá Strana or the Old Town itself, but do not spend the entire trip in the immediate vicinity of the main tourist sights. Prague's best moments are consistently around a corner from the obvious ones.

Get up early. Explore before the crowds arrive. Make time to experience Prague after dark, when the architecture takes on a completely different atmosphere, the Gothic towers lit against the night sky, the bridges reflected in the river, the castle looking down over everything from the hill. Prague is two cities: the daytime city and the night-time city. Both are extraordinary and they look almost nothing alike.

The thing about Prague that surprises almost every visitor who does it properly is just how much there is beyond the famous three. Charles Bridge, the Astronomical Clock, Prague Castle, these are all extraordinary and absolutely worth your time. But they are the surface of a city that has extraordinary depth.

Vyšehrad, the ancient fortress on the southern edge of the city, is where Prague's history actually begins, older than the Castle, quieter, with views over the river that are among the finest in the city and almost no crowds even in high season. Žižkov, east of the centre, is the most authentically working-class neighbourhood in Prague and has more pubs per capita than anywhere else in the world, which tells you something useful about its character. Vinohrady has the most beautiful Art Nouveau apartment buildings in the city and the atmosphere of a neighbourhood that has been doing the same things, coffee, wine, slow Sunday afternoons, for a very long time. These are the places that make Prague more than a collection of Gothic spires.