Prague’s 25 Most Characterful Hotels
A 13th-century monastery, a feather merchant’s house, a Stalinist tower with a red star, and a secret-police prison.
Prague kept everything — a 13th-century monastery, a feather merchant’s house, a Stalinist tower with a red star, a secret-police prison — and turned much of it into hotels. This list has the monastery where monks still live and brew, the cells where Václav Havel was held, and the Cold War bunker museum under a Wenceslas Square hotel.
The list is grouped by character, not ranked. Each hotel’s name links to its own site, where the rate is current and you book direct.
The grand old names
Hotel Paris Prague · Old Town
The Hotel Paris opened in 1904 next to the Municipal House, a neo-Gothic building dressed in Art Nouveau. It is the hotel where the narrator of Bohumil Hrabal’s I Served the King of England trains as a waiter. The founding Brandejs family got it back after 1989 and still runs it.
Grand Hotel Bohemia · Old Town
The Grand Hotel Bohemia opened in 1927, just behind the Municipal House. Its neo-baroque Boccaccio Ballroom survives from the 1920s and still holds classical concerts.
Art Deco Imperial Hotel · New Town
The Imperial opened on Na Poříčí in 1914, and its ground-floor café is lined floor to ceiling with the original ceramic mosaic tiles. Kafka is counted among the café’s early regulars.
Almanac X Alcron Prague · New Town
The Alcron opened in 1932, an Art Deco hotel just off Wenceslas Square. It ran for years as the Radisson Blu Alcron, and reopened under the Almanac group in 2024.
W Prague · New Town
The W is in the 1905 Grand Hotel Evropa, the Art Nouveau landmark on Wenceslas Square, together with the hotel next door. It opened in 2025 after a long restoration, the first W in the country.
Monastery, palace, convent
Augustine, a Luxury Collection Hotel · Malá Strana
The Augustine is set in the St Thomas monastery, founded in the 13th century, and Augustinian monks still live in part of the complex. They brewed beer here from the 1300s, and the old brewery vaults are now part of the hotel. It opened in 2009.
Mandarin Oriental, Prague · Malá Strana
The Mandarin Oriental was a Dominican monastery, parts of it from the 14th century, and opened as a hotel in 2006. Its spa is in a former Renaissance chapel, with a glass floor over the Gothic church remains found during the works.
The Mozart Prague · Old Town
The Mozart is in the baroque Pachta Palace, on the river embankment. By tradition Mozart stayed here as Count Pachta’s guest and composed in the house in 1787. It took its current name in 2020, after years as the Pachtuv Palace.
Four Seasons Hotel Prague · Old Town
The Four Seasons opened in 2001, joining a 1737 baroque house, a Renaissance house, and a 19th-century block to a modern wing. Its baroque rooms look across the river to Charles Bridge and the Castle.
Hotel Questenberk · Hradčany
The Questenberk is a baroque building below the Strahov Monastery, up on the hill, that began in the early 17th century as the Hospital of St Elisabeth. The monastery lists it among its visitor lodgings.
Old houses, long stories
Golden Well Hotel · Malá Strana
The Golden Well is a Renaissance house at the end of a dead-end lane, tied in the records to the court of Rudolf II. By tradition the astronomer Tycho Brahe lodged here. It sits right above the terraced gardens below Prague Castle.
Hotel U Tří Pštrosů (At the Three Ostriches) · Malá Strana
The house was rebuilt in 1597 for Jan Fux, a dealer in feathers, and the ostriches painted on the front gave it its name. One of Prague’s first coffeehouses is said to have opened inside it in 1714. It stands right at the Malá Strana foot of Charles Bridge.
Alchymist Grand Hotel & Spa · Malá Strana
The Alchymist is a listed 16th-century house on Tržiště, below the Castle, with Gothic cellars underneath. It plays on the alchemists Rudolf II kept at his court.
Aria Hotel Prague · Malá Strana
The Aria runs on a music theme, with each floor and room given to a musician or a genre. Guests get private entry to the baroque Vrtba Garden next door.
Le Palais Art Hotel · Vinohrady
Le Palais is an 1897 Belle Époque house in residential Vinohrady. The Czech painter Luděk Marold lived and worked here, and some of his wall paintings survive inside.
Buildings with a past life
Andaz Prague · New Town
The Andaz is in the Sugar Palace, a 1916 building on Senovážné náměstí. It opened in 2022, the first Hyatt hotel in the country.
Century Old Town Prague, MGallery · New Town
The hotel is in the building on Na Poříčí where Franz Kafka worked, at the Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute, from 1908 to 1922. It runs now as an MGallery hotel.
Unitas Hotel · Old Town
The Unitas is a former convent on Bartolomějská. Part of it was used by the Communist secret police as interrogation cells, and Václav Havel was among the dissidents held here. The cells were later fitted out as guest rooms.
Hotel Kings Court · New Town
The Kings Court is in a 1912 building that first housed the Chamber of Commerce and Trades. It faces the Municipal House and the Powder Tower across the square.
Lokál Inn · Malá Strana
Lokál Inn is in a baroque house called At the White Skittle, a block from Charles Bridge. The ground floor is a Lokál pub, pouring tank Pilsner.
Concrete, glass and a red star
Grand Hotel International Prague · Dejvice
The International is a Stalinist wedding-cake tower, built in the mid-1950s under the defence minister Alexej Čepička. Its spire once carried a lit red star. The building is now a protected monument, with its period mosaics intact inside.
Jalta Boutique Hotel · New Town
The Jalta was finished in 1958, a socialist-realist building on Wenceslas Square. Underneath it is a Cold War nuclear bunker, with a secret-police listening post, that now opens as a museum.
Fairmont Golden Prague · Old Town
The Fairmont is in the brutalist riverside tower built in 1974 as the InterContinental. It reopened in 2025 after a multi-year rebuild, with six restaurants and bars.
Dancing House Hotel · New Town
The hotel is in the Dancing House, the curving building Frank Gehry and Vlado Milunić finished in 1996, on a riverside lot left empty by a 1945 air raid. It became a hotel in 2016. The two towers are nicknamed Fred and Ginger.
Hotel Josef · Old Town
The Josef was designed by the London-based Czech architect Eva Jiřičná and opened in 2002. Her glass spiral staircase is the centerpiece of the white lobby.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these hotels ranked?
No. The groups sort them by character, and the order within each group carries no meaning.
What made a hotel interesting enough for this list?
A story. Every entry was a monastery, a palace, an old merchant house, a socialist-era tower, or a building with a past life. Comfort alone did not qualify a hotel.
Why are there no prices?
Rates change daily and a priced list goes stale in a month. Every hotel name links to its own site, where the rate is current and you book direct.
Which hotel puts me closest to the day trips on this site?
Most day trips from Prague leave by train from the main station, Hlavní nádraží, or by coach from Florenc. The New Town and Old Town hotels sit closest.
Do the small hotels book out faster than the grand ones?
Usually. The small Malá Strana houses — the Golden Well, the Three Ostriches — hold few rooms and fill first. Book those well ahead.