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U Černého Vola
Being the sort of bar where locals stare at new faces (ie yours), the wonderful 'Black Ox' has managed to maintain an authentic atmosphere right on a tourist strip. The long tables, coats of arms and drinkers staring into their delicious Kozel beer make it feel ancient; in fact, it was built after WWII. The major pity is it closes so early.
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U Fleků
A festive warren of drinking and dining rooms, U Fleků is a Prague institution, though usually clogged with tour groups high on oompah music and the tavern's home-brewed, 13-degree black beer, known as Flek. Purists grumble but go along anyway because the beer is good, though tourist prices have nudged out many locals. You might still find an empty seat at 7pm on a weekday, but probably not.
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U Kocoura
'The Tomcat' is a long-established traditional pub, still enjoying its reputation as a former favourite of ex-president Havel, and still managing to pull in a mostly Czech crowd despite being in the heart of tourist-ville (maybe it's the ever-present pall of cigarette smoke).
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U Malého Glena
'Little Glen's' really is - little that is, so get here early. Yet it's the intimate size that makes this American-owned jazz/blues venue (and restaurant) so vital. Performers like Stan the Man put their heart and soul into entertaining an audience mere centimetres away. Amateurs are welcome at the regular jam sessions (as long as you're good!).
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U Medvídků
At first glance the food is merely average and the oom-pah music flows as freely as the cheap Budvar beer. But 'At the Little Bear' has a few tricks up its sleeve. There's a 45-seat bar above - go to the very back and up the stairs. It also boasts two homebrews, Old Gott (delicious) and malty, 11.8-percent X-Beer (the strongest Czech pivo ). Bottles of the first should be available in the beer hall. However, if low stocks mean otherwise, both are still usually available to go from the shop.
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U Pinkasů
Allegedly Prague's oldest Pilsner pub (1843), this was another haunt of writer Bohumil Hrabal's and it's a darn sight more local-feeling (particularly upstairs) than the more famous U zlatého trygra. Also to its benefit is that it's a 'tankovna' pub selling particularly tasty unpasteurised Pilsner, which is called 'hladinky' by regulars.
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U Rudolfina
A rare Old Town pivnice that doesn't woo tourists but gets them, regardless. It's just that in the better, downstairs bar you might find more Czechs than usual. The waiters speak enough English and the food is quite decent. Our one reservation is that they're liable to charge more than they should. Check your bill or shrug it off as still cheap.
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U Sadu
Another great neighbourhood pub popular with old locals, expat students and gruff staff, this has a smoky ground-floor room bedecked with communist-era public notices, helmets, gas masks and other bizarre knick-knacks.
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U Vejvodů
Like U Sudu, this place is much larger than it initially seems, and has a cavernous rear. You only have to read the drinks menu to understand where beer tastes in Prague are heading. After Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus and Tmazý ležák dark beer, there's a nonalcoholic Radegast, Heineken, and Corona! The touristy menu keeps a traditional section, though, with pork knee cooked in that dark beer.
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U Vystřeleného Oka
You've got to love a pub that has vinyl pads on the wall above the gents' urinals to rest your forehead on. 'The Shot-Out Eye' - the name pays homage to the one-eyed Hussite hero atop the hill behind the pub - is a bohemian (with a small 'b') hostelry with a raucous beer garden where the cheap food and beer pulls in a typically heterogeneous Žižkov crowd, ranging from art students and writers to lost backpackers and tattooed bikers.
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U Zavěšenýho Kafe
This is a superb little drinking den barely five minutes' walk from the castle. Head for the cosy, wood-panelled back room, quirkily decorated with weird art and mechanical curiosities by local artist Kuba Krejci (all for sale), and an ancient jukebox crammed with Beatles, Stones and Czech rock. Foaming Gambrinus is only 20Kč a half-litre, and the coffee is damn fine too.
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U Zlatého Tygra
It's all in the timing, or perhaps sheer luck, whether you find the 'Golden Tiger' full of tourists or having an authentic moment. Weekday evenings are often best. This was novelist Bohumil Hrabal's favourite drinking hole - there's a bust of him on the wall - and where Václav Havel took fellow president Bill Clinton in 1994 to show him a real Czech pub.
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Vagon
Old Czech rockers never die; they just go to Vagon ('wagon'). But they're joined by plenty of youngsters in this long, narrow venue, where stencils of heroes like Mick Jagger watch from the walls while folk-punk groups, Red Hot Chilli Pepper cover bands or crusty old Velvet Revolution legends the Plastic People of the Universe take the stage for the nightly gigs. Look for the passageway beside KFC.
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Valentino
Prague's one true gay super-club, Valentino boasts three floors, two dance floors, four bars and two dark rooms; and it's particularly packed and sweaty on the weekends. The music alternates between cool house and cheesy Czech pop, depending where exactly in the complex you drift.
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Vinárna U Sudu
The small demure winebar through the front door gives way to an enormous underground warren of seven different dimly lit cellar bars and lounge spaces. Increasingly legendary among young expats and travellers, but still also popular with Czechs.
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Wakata
There's no designer chic or style statements in this small, laid-back DJ lounge, full of colourful urban wall murals and some interestingly welded barstools. Enjoy inexpensive beers and cocktails as you bop along to a nightly soundtrack of funk, latin, dub, ambient, jungle, reggae or hip hop.
