Prague Nightlife Tips by yooperprof

Nightlife Spot: Friends

Cheerful cellar bar that attracts a mixed crowd - locals, expats and tourists. Great location, close to the heart of Old Town. Wednesdays seemed to be an especially big night - Czech music played all night long. (Local tunes, and international favorites sung in Czech - Petulia Clark's "Downtown" was clearly a special favorite) Not recommended for anyone with claustrophobia - it can get really crowded, and the ceiling isn't exactly high. Incidentally, I ran into a friend from the USA here - someone I hadn't seen for two years. It's a small world after all.

Leave a Comment

Theme: Eating and Drinking
Address: Naprstkova 1, just up from the River
Directions: open daily till late (3 a.m.?)

Nightlife Spot: Karlovy Lazne

You have to like crowds - but four floors of dancing in a converted bathhouse makes Karlovy Lazne - the Charles Baths - an interesting spot in the center of Prague. Not all the floors are open every night, but weekends witness maximum attendance at this very popular destination for Prague's discobunnies. Each floor has its own sound: the ground floor hip-hop, the first floor commercial pop from the eighties to the present, the second floor classic eurodisco, and the fourth floor edgier trance sounds the hippest dj's. Karlovy Lazne attracts all types, ages, and nationalities - I heard ten different languages when I was there. The dance floors are in former swimming pools; tons of re-inforced concrete insure that no sounds "bleed" from one level to the next. It seems that the management consciously keeps the cover charge fairly low so that locals can afford to come, but on a warm summer night, it seemed like a "United Nations" of nightspots. (About the age thing: Fortysomething Yooperprof was comfortable enough on the third floor - Eurotrash disco - but felt out of place among the hip-hoppers on ground level. It is a youth-oriented spot, but those of us who are over thirty shouldn't necessarily let the young exclude us.)

Leave a Comment

Theme: Dancing
Address: Smetanovo nabrezi 198, Praha 1
Directions: About 200m from Old Town end of Charles bridge.
Website: http://www.karlovylazne.cz/

Nightlife Spot: U Stare Pani

Prague has a great jazz scene that rivals that of any North American City (except for New York.) Jazz is to be heard any night of the week here, in basement clubs ranging from the dowdy to the elegant. U State Pani has a classic, sophisticated atmosphere and a fantastic location in the center of the old city. It attracts some of the best players in the city, as well as outstanding musicians passing through on the central european circuit. One night I was there I was fortunate to catch an incredibly talented Brazilian bassa nova singer who happens to live in Prague.

Leave a Comment

Theme: Live Music
Dress Code: A little dressy, but not formal - I got the feeling that local people do like to dress up a little bit when going out to a jazz club
Address: Michalska 9
Directions: Michalska runs south from Old Town Hall in the center of old Prague