Free self-guided walking tour of Prague

What this free audio tour is

It's a whole route, not a taster. A guide's voice talks to you, stop by stop, while you look at what it's describing: ten stories, plus an introduction and a closing piece, in English or Spanish. Everything can be heard from the street, so you don't need tickets or bookings.

There's no meeting point and no departure time. If you fancy a coffee between the Ungelt and the Týn Church, you stop. If you like a story, you listen to it again.

As well as the route, Podtour has a free audio introduction to Prague, which you can listen to wherever you like before you set off.

The route: from the Powder Tower to the Astronomical Clock

The route is called "The Old Town: from the Powder Tower to the Astronomical Clock", and it asks one question: who really held power in Prague, the kings, the merchants or ordinary people? It follows the old coronation route and ends in front of the city's most famous clock.

It's about 900 metres, almost flat, with around thirty minutes of audio. It starts by the Powder Tower and finishes in Old Town Square. It's designed for a first visit, by day, with no previous knowledge needed.

1. Municipal House. This was the site of the palace where six kings lived, and in the building that replaced it the law creating Czechoslovakia was signed in 1918.
2. Powder Tower. The grand gateway on the road to Kutná Hora was left half-finished when the kings moved out, became a gunpowder store, and at one point someone proposed knocking it down.
3. The Ungelt. The enclosed courtyard where foreign merchants declared their goods and paid duty on them.
4. Týn Church. A huge Hussite chalice crowned its façade until it was taken down one night in 1623; in 2018 a new one went back up.
5. The market square. Expensive cloth, fish, and Romanesque houses that ended up buried beneath your feet.
6. Jan Hus. A monument that grew out of an insult and was unveiled in 1915 with no ceremony at all, under a heap of flowers.
7. The Marian Column. Torn down in 1918 and put back up, as a replica, in 2020.
8. The twenty-seven crosses. On 21 June 1621, twenty-seven leaders of a failed rebellion were executed here.
9. The Old Town Hall. Founded in 1338, it lost a wing in May 1945 that was never rebuilt.
10. The Astronomical Clock. The machine that, in the 18th century, very nearly ended up sold for scrap.

What Prague's free walking tours usually cover

The most common free walking tours in Prague cover the Old Town and the former Jewish Quarter, sometimes adding the Charles Bridge or Malá Strana. They last between two and three hours, leave at a set time from a meeting point and run on voluntary tips. There are plenty in English and in Spanish.

They tend to take in the Powder Tower, the Astronomical Clock, the Týn Church and the synagogues of Josefov; the Josefov interiors are generally left to paid visits with tickets. Other free tours specialise in the Castle, in the New Town and the Second World War, in Vyšehrad, or in legends and mysteries, often after dark. Those tend to share a similar repertoire: the Golem, the headless Templar knight, the alchemists.

Our free route covers the same ground as many of them. What's different is the question: rather than a list of monuments, it's a story about who held power, taking in the Hussites and the executions of 1621, two subjects the usual walks don't spend much time on.

Where Podtour's other routes go

Besides the free route, Podtour has paid routes in Prague, and several of them head for subjects that most tours only touch on:

• Josefov as the story of a neighbourhood, not just a list of synagogues: the plan that demolished the ghetto, the Holocaust memorial and Kafka from start to finish, on "Josefov, Prague's Jewish Quarter: the Golem, Memory and Kafka". Kafka walks are usually paid tours or audio guides, and free tours tend to mention him in passing.
• Legends with a date of birth: the same tales that are told after dark, with the year each one first appears and what lies beneath it, on "Prague Legends: from the Old Town to the Charles Bridge".
• The 20th century beyond the war: 1968, Jan Palach and the march of 1989, on "Wenceslas Square: from Národní Street to the National Museum".
• The first defenestration, in 1419, alongside the paratroopers' crypt, on "Charles Square and the Paratroopers' Crypt: from Faust House to the Dancing House".
• Neighbourhoods and everyday life, with residents, convents and embassies, on "Malá Strana: from the Charles Bridge to the Foot of the Castle" and "Upper Hradčany: from Strahov to Castle Square".

What a free walking tour does better

A good guide in person offers things no audio can. You can ask them anything that comes to mind. They adjust the pace to the group and tell you where to eat, and you share the walk with other travellers. If you're travelling on your own and fancy some company, or if you'd rather chat than listen, a free walking tour is a great plan.

An audio route suits you better when you want to go your own way: if you arrive at an odd hour, if you're travelling with children who set their own breaks, if you'd rather stop wherever you like, or if you want to hear a story twice. And they're not mutually exclusive. You can join a free walking tour one day and listen to another route the next.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to pay anything? No. The free route is complete, with no charge and no tip. Podtour's other Prague routes are paid.

How long does it take? Around thirty minutes of audio over a little under a kilometre on foot. How long you take is up to you: stop, look, and carry on whenever you're ready.

Do I need to book or turn up at a set time? No. You start whenever you like. If you reach the clock on the hour during the day, you'll see its figures move.

Do I have to go inside any buildings? No. The whole route can be heard from the street. Interiors are optional and you don't need them to follow the stories.

What languages is it in? English and Spanish.