Sketching out a Prague travel budget and curious about how much a trip to Prague costs? We can help!
For a major European city, this beautiful Central European city remains somewhat of a bargain–though thanks in part to its increased popularity in the last couple of decades, you won’t find prices as low as some places in, say, far Eastern Europe or some of the Balkan countries here.
The Prague trip costs outlined here represent our time spent backpacking Prague on what we would consider a flashpacker budget.
Basically, no to dorm rooms, (mostly) yes to a/c, and no to major luxuries.
Here’s what we spent on our first trip to Prague!
How Much We Spent on Our First Trip to Prague
We spent 4 full days in the Czech Republic’s capital city (excluding the days that we arrived in and left Prague), averaging a total Prague travel budget of $141.39/day for two people, or $70.69 per person, per day.
This added up to a total cost of $565.57 for our four-day trip.
All prices for our trip to Prague costs are listed in USD unless otherwise noted, and, as usual for our travel budget roundups, we don’t include the costs of entering or leaving the city here, as those expenses can vary so dramatically depending on your starting point.
I would like to note that this trip did take place several years ago at this point, and travel costs have continued to fluctuate in Prague and around the world (especially post-2020).
Some things, particularly popular tourist attractions like tower climbs, have increased noticeably in price (the updated late 2024 prices are reflected in this blog post), while things that locals also use, like public transportation, cost virtually the same.
Overall, Prague remains an affordable getaway as far as major European capitals in Western and Central Europe go.
I’ve kept the numbers in this blog post intact to reflect our actual expenses on our first trip to Prague.
Our General Impression of Travel Costs in Prague
Many first-time visitors to Prague start with the assumption that Prague is cheap… and while that is certainly not true on a global level (or to the locals who live and work there), from a travel perspective, Prague is more affordable than many capital cities in Europe.
Personally, we aim for our time in European cities to involve a reasonably priced Airbnb or hotel, a few entrance fees to points of interest, and perhaps an occasional splurge of an excursion, and a food budget split between groceries or street food and sit-down restaurants.
As we worked through our Prague itinerary we did well with the first two… and not so well with the last.
We spoiled ourselves by eating out twice a day, every day in Prague–and our travel budget for Prague paid for it.
Luckily, this delightful city is still a bargain for Central Europe and that didn’t dent the daily budget too badly–here’s how we fared.
Our Lodging Costs in Prague
Total: $265.51 for 5 nights, $53.10/night.
We loved the location of the Airbnb flat that we rented in Prague!
There are tons of excellent hotels in Prague, but for this trip, we were looking for something a bit homier.
Our Airbnb was in the quiet Vinohrady neighborhood, close to restaurants and an easy walk to the tram and metro to get downtown.
It hit all of our must-haves when we were deciding where to stay in Prague, and we’d be happy to stay there (both the apartment and the neighborhood) again.
Our Transportation Costs in Prague
Total: $43.22
Public transportation tickets in Prague are very affordable and start at a little over $1.00 for a ticket that’s good for 30 minutes.
Uber is also prominent in the city and inexpensive (especially compared to the NYC Uber prices that we experienced just a couple of days before arriving in Prague–yikes), averaging $3.50-$4.50 for a 10-15 minute journey.
Our Restaurant Travel Budget for Prague
Total: $159.60
… And, this is where our attempt to experience Prague on a budget went off the rails.
We enjoyed getting back to the eating outside, soaking-in-the-atmosphere dinner culture of European cities a little too much upon arriving in Prague.
We also added a few more desserts and drinks to our bills than usual in the process–but at least there’s a lot of delicious local food that we got to enjoy!
It was definitely a reminder that to stick to the flashpacker budget we prefer, we need to be cooking at home more.
… But then again, at 8 meals out for two people, our $159.60 cost averages out to less than $10/person/meal. Hardly the end of the world!
Our Grocery Expenses in Prague
Total: $1.82
… Raspberries. Our grand total of groceries in Prague consisted of a delicious carton of raspberries.
Clearly, checking out the bill from above, we should have bought more groceries and eaten at home more, but alas.
Our Tour + Excursion Prague Travel Budget
Total: $72.66
We loved getting out and exploring Prague!
Seeking out the best views in Prague was a generally affordable experience, with tickets to climb most of the towers running under $5.00 (2024 note: the same experiences tend to run around $8-10 today).
Visiting Prague Castle was a bit more expensive than we anticipated–the “small” tour cost about $11.00/person, plus an extra $7.00/person to climb the Great South Tower at St. Vitus.
Looking back, we would have skipped the self-led castle tour (the grounds are free), and just paid to climb the tower of the cathedral.
When we arrived, though, we were confused and ended up thinking that we could only climb the tower after already purchasing our tour tickets, which was inaccurate.
Our total trip to Prague cost doesn’t include many museum entrance fees, but we loved our time at the Kafka Museum!
They did an amazing job putting you into Kafka’s head while in there, I almost felt like we were stepping foot into The Trial
That is, admittedly, not an altogether pleasant feeling, but it was definitely an interesting museum, and worth visiting if you’re a Kafka fan.
At around $9.00/ticket, the museum was a bit more expensive than we expected, but worth it–they obviously put a lot of effort into putting the experience together.
If you’re trying to decide what to do in Prague, be sure to check out some Prague travel tips before you go to make sure you pick the right experiences for you!
Miscellaneous Prague Travel Expenses
Total: $22.76
The only miscellaneous expense we had in Prague was purchasing our SIM cards, which are still serving us well as I write this blog post from Slovakia.
Final Reflections on Traveling Prague on a Budget
There’s no denying that we spent more than we intended to on our daily budget for Prague.
A combination of excitement at being back in Europe and adjusting to planning our days around Jeremy’s work schedule (he works typical US East Coast business hours) caused us to spend more than we would have liked.
We won’t sweat it too much, though–we definitely feel like we are back in our groove in Slovakia now, and expect to see our total costs fall to around $50/person/day in most European destinations–perhaps less in some spots.
There’s no doubt that traveling during Europe’s offseason would have helped these costs, as well–landing in August meant that we were still in the thick of summer travel.
For us, our Prague travel budget also serves as a great example of the financial benefits of traveling slowly.
A combination of it being our first destination back in Europe and only having four days scheduled in the city incentivized us to run from one place to the next checking off as many things to do in Prague as we could find, which we all know is an expensive way to travel.
Had we spent two weeks in Prague, or slowly traveled through more of Czechia and visited places like Brno or Karlovy Vary instead of just the capital, I would expect to see our daily cost drop significantly.
Read More About Visiting Central Europe
Planning a trip to Central Europe soon?
We’d love to help you research your trip here on Our Escape Clause!
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The Kafka Musuem sounds very interesting, and for that price, I would spend a good amount of time to get my money’s worth! I guess you don’t realise how much you spend when travelling, it’s pretty scary when you break it down! Still Prague is a pretty city, and really worth the money by the looks of your photos.
It was definitely interesting! Yes, Prague is totally worth the price–and could definitely be done cheaper than this!
This is such an useful guide.. Prague has been in our bucket list for long now.. this will definately help us to plan our trip in our budget.. Great post.
Glad to hear it, Krupa!
We loved Prague but went on a cruise so we didn’t have to find a place to stay. It seems like you got a lot for your money and did a good job budgeting. I’d love to go back and spend more time in the city.
Cruising sounds like such a beautiful way to see the city! I can only imagine how magical it was to approcah from water. Hope you get to go back and explore more one day!
That is a budget-friendly trip indeed. Considering that you were there for 4 days, I would expect the travel cost to go up than that. But thanks for inspiring me that you can definitely explore cities known to be expensive for an affordable budget.
Funny how perspective works, right? We felt like we spent a lot of money in Prague, but it still wasn’t too bad! You could definitely do the city much cheaper or much more expensively.
Wow this is such a useful guide. I am living a few hours away from Prague and hope to go back soon. I will definitely use some of your tips. Especially liked the view with the bridge.
Oh, I hope you have so much fun! That bridge view is a must.
Prague is surely a beautiful and yet a budget friendly city. On my trip we stayed at AirBnb but at just 2mins walk to town hall and I paid the price for location as the flat was just average. Its nice to have apartment little outside of city to reduce costs. Being in center gave me advantage of saving my transport costs and I roamed around the city on foot(literally) – this may sound childish but it was fun 😀 I missed Kafka museum and the cathedral in the castle because of cost, but looking at your story I think I should have had. Great post 🙂
It doesn’t sound childish at all–on foot is our favorite way of exploring walking-friendly cities like Prague. 🙂
You budgeted well in Prague, it can be secretly expensive for an Eastern European city. Your airbnb accommodation sounds like great value for Prague prices though. You’ll definitely find Bratislava and Budapest cheaper, I’m looking forward to seeing how you get on there!
Oh, they definitely are cheaper! Budapest, anyway–didn’t spend enough time in Bratislava to get a great read. 🙂
Wow what a helpful post! I’ve seen ones with estimated budgets but not one that includes actual spending. That’s a smart idea and really helpful as a reader. Isn’t it crazy that beer is cheaper than water there?! That blew my mind!
So glad it helped! The budget breakdowns are some of my favorite posts to write, and I love reading others when I find them.
Hi there – thank you for sharing this useful guide! It definetely gives me a picture of how much on average to spend when visiting Europe. Like yourselfs, I also try to look to the budget traveling but sometime spoil myself a bit too. Eating twice out per day sounds a little bit too much but other than that looks like a great travel budget plan 🙂 – Mariella
Yes, definitely take advantage of a kitchen if you can get your hands on one! Lol. But Prague is beautiful–you can’t help but pay to take in some of the best sights.
Hi,
Which company SIM card did you buy in Prague? Does it work in Slovakia and Hungary? I am specifically looking for data packages. Please let me know. Thanks
Hi Poonam! I’m pretty sure it was Vodafone, but to be honest I’m not 100% sure. Ours worked in Slovakia, and we bought a new one by the time we got to Hungary (we actually went to Slovakia and then Hungary right after leaving Prague, too!). Not sure if it would have kept working there or not, though it’s supposed to.
Prague is amazing. One of our favorite destinations. Beer is cheap and really good, so clearly can be a beer drinkers paradise. I find that spending gets out of hand for me when I come home with a crystal chandelier. Funny how we learned to economize each trip. The funicular up to the tower for those view was so wonderful and so cheap. The best city to walk around in and those trams, cannot beat it. We took a bus from Prague to Dresden, Germany for 24.00 round trip and spent the day there, which was very nice and certainly different.
Prague is incredibly beautiful! It’s on our list of cities that we need to visit again–preferably not in the middle of August next time!
Prague is my dream city, I wish to visit there soon.
Your travel guide is really awesome and informative.
Thanks for sharing and photos are really awesome.
Hi Kate, you blog is great and have helped me during my trips.
Quick question :
Best to carry Euro/CHK/USD?
Hi Vignesh! The only currency we’d recommend carrying in Prague is the Czech koruna (CZK). You can definitely keep some Euros or USD on you for safety as well if it makes you more comfortable, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessary.
You may occasionally run into a touristy business that accepts Euro, however, the exchange rate is usually very unfavorable and you’ll pay less for the same product if you just use the local currency.
Hi Kate, Great report on your trip. I’m wondering for 4 days with my granddaughter if I need to arrive with czk currency and how much to be safe. I heard the exchange rate is really bad. Were you able to use your credit card in most places, including taxis?
Thank you
Hi Ada,
Our typical method of getting local currency is to withdraw it from an ATM upon arrival, which is what we did during this trip to Prague!
You’ll definitely want to have cash on you when traveling! Some smaller restaurants, cafes, etc, will almost certainly be cash-only, though you will most likely be able to pay with your card for larger purchases like hotels.
Hi Kate.
This is a really great insight. I am travelling to Prague next week and just had a few questions:
– Was it easy for you to get a local sim card? Where did you get one from? What would you recommend?
– In terms of bars, what would you say a drink would cost on average?
Many thanks.
Hi Mish,
Yes, very simple–I believe we picked ours up from the airport. That’s our usual strategy when we need to buy one. There will be plenty of options in the historic center too, though.
I can’t remember specific menu prices off the top of my head, but I do have a screenshot saved from an IG story I posted one night we went out. It’s a picture of a large beer + glass of white wine and I captioned it with “this is what $3.50 USD worth of drinks looks like in Prague.”
That was a few years back, but hopefully it gives you an idea!