Prague Christmas Markets

The markets usually open in the last days of November, around the first Advent weekend, and run through to early January. Old Town Square tends to stay open a little longer than the rest, so if you're in the city in that strange quiet week after New Year, that's the one still standing while the others have packed up.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are the exception. Czech Christmas is an indoor family evening on the 24th, and stalls often close early or don't open at all on those two days — worth checking closer to the date rather than assuming, because the exact hours shift year to year.

New Year's Eve is a different beast entirely. Old Town Square becomes the city's main gathering point for fireworks, which means it stops being a gentle market evening and becomes a very large, very loud crowd. Lovely if that's what you want; avoid it if it isn't.

Old Town Square is the famous one, and it earns the photographs: a giant tree lit against the Týn church, wooden stalls filling the square, and in some years a nativity scene with live animals. It is also by far the most crowded place in the city on a December weekend evening — you will shuffle rather than walk. See it once, ideally on a weekday or before dark, then move on.

Wenceslas Square spreads its stalls out along a much longer stretch, which changes the experience completely. There's more room to actually stop at a stall and look at what's on it, and it's a five-minute walk from Old Town Square, so it works well as the second half of the same evening.

Náměstí Míru in Vinohrady is where I'd send a friend. It's smaller, the crowd is mostly Czech rather than visiting, the mulled wine costs noticeably less, and it sits at the foot of a beautiful neo-Gothic church that looks its best lit up in the dark. Two metro stops from the centre, and a completely different mood.

Svařák — hot mulled wine — is the obvious and correct choice, usually served in a deposit mug you can either return or keep. If you want something less sweet-sharp, ask for medovina, warm honey mead: heavier, richer, and the thing older Czechs quietly prefer on a cold night.

A note on trdelník, the rolled sugar-dusted pastry sold from every second stall and photographed constantly: it is not a Czech Christmas tradition. It arrived commercially from the Slovak and Transylvanian baking tradition and Prague adopted it because it sells beautifully to visitors. It's fine, it's warm, it's fun once — just don't mistake it for local heritage.

For food that actually is Czech, go for klobása, a grilled sausage served with mustard and a slice of bread, or bramborák, a garlicky fried potato pancake. Both cost less than the pastry, both are better in the cold, and both are what people around you are eating.

Bring some cash. Most stalls now take cards, but the smaller ones — and often the best food ones — still prefer coins and notes, and mug deposits are simpler in cash.

Dress for standing still outdoors, not for walking. A December evening at a market means an hour or two barely moving, and a good coat alone won't do it: layers, proper shoes, a hat, and gloves you can still hold a hot mug in.

Timing changes everything. After 6pm on a weekend is peak crush at Old Town Square; late afternoon, when the lights come on around four but the after-work crowd hasn't arrived, is the sweet spot. A weekday visit is calmer again.

And the markets themselves are free. There's no entry ticket for any of them — you're only paying for what you eat and drink, so wandering through three squares in an evening costs nothing but the mulled wine.