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Spanish Synagogue
The most beautiful of the museum's synagogues, this boasts an ornate Moorish interior, an exhibition on recent Jewish history and a handy bookshop. Concerts are held here regularly.
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Square
Hradčany Sq, before Prague Castle's main gates, is dominated by the striking black-and-white sgraffito façade of the 18th-century Schwarzenberg Palace (Schwarzenberský palác). From late 2007 this will house part of the National Gallery, although it's going to be hard to upstage the 3D optical illusion of its own exterior. The nearby Sternberg Palace already hosts National Gallery works by Breughel, Dürer, Goya, Rembrandt and Rubens.
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St George's Basilica
Behind a brick-red façade lies the Czech Republic's best-preserved Romanesque church. The original was established in the 10th century by Vratislav I (the father of St Wenceslas), who is still buried here, as is St Ludmilla. All in all, it's quite a sparse venue, popular for small concert performances.
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St George's Convent
Bohemia's first convent, established in 973, now contains yet another branch of the National Gallery. There's an extensive collection of Renaissance and baroque art here.
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St Vitus Cathedral
Although it was begun in 1344 and appears Gothic to the very tips of its pointy spires, much of St Vitus Cathedral was only completed in time for its belated consecration in 1929. The view from the 96m-tall Great Tower is worth climbing 297 steps. And don't miss the Art Nouveau stained-glass window by Alfons Mucha, the baroque, silver tomb of St John of Nepomuk with its draped canopy and cherubs, or the ornate Chapel of St Wenceslas.
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Star Summer Palace
The Letohrádek Hvězda is a Renaissance summer palace in the shape of a six-pointed star built in 1556 for Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol. It sits at the end of a long avenue through the lovely wooded park of Obora Hvězda, a hunting reserve established by Ferdinand I in 1530. The palace houses a small museum about its history, and an exhibit on the battle of White Mountain.
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Sternberg Palace
Tucked behind the Archbishop's Palace is the baroque Sternberg Palace, home to the National Gallery's valuable collection of 14th- to 18th-century European art, including works by Goya and Rembrandt. Fans of medieval altarpieces will be in heaven; there are also several Rubens, some Rembrandt and Breughel, and a large collection of Bohemian miniatures. Pride of the collection is the glowing Feast of the Rosary by Albrecht Dürer, an artist better known for his engravings.
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Story Of Prague Castle
This is one of the castle's newest and most compelling exhibitions, with displays expertly presented in a low-lit, state-of-the-art environment and explained in English. The collection of armour, jewellery, glassware, furniture and other artefacts traces more than 1000 years of castle history. One outstanding sight is the skeleton of the pre-Christian 'warrior', still encased in the earth where archaeologists found him within the castle grounds.
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Strahov Monastery
Apart from magnificent views over Prague, Strahov Monastery's main draw is the baroque Strahov Library (Strahovská knihovna). It's divided into two magnificent book-lined halls - the two-storey high Philosophy Hall (Filozofický sál; 1780-97), with its grandiose ceiling fresco, and the stucco-encrusted Theology Hall (Teologiský sál; 1679). You can only peek through the doors; the connecting hall has a Cabinet of Curiosities full of sea creatures.
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Stromovka
Stromovka, west of Výstaviště, is Prague's largest park. In the Middle Ages it was a royal hunting preserve, which is why it's sometimes called the Královská obora (Royal Deer Park). Rudolf II had rare trees planted here and several lakes created (fed from the Vltava River via a still-functioning canal). It's now the preserve of strollers, joggers, cyclists and inline skaters.
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Stromovka Park
Prague's largest central park, once a medieval hunting ground for royals, is now popular with strollers, joggers, cyclists and inline skaters. A new Mucha exhibition might be built here in coming years.
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Toy Museum
Frivolous but fun, this exhibition runs the gamut from model trains, robots, teddy bears and wooden dolls to colourful German tambourines and tiny tin horses with whistles in their tails. Most strikingly, the upper floor has been invaded and colonised by hundreds of Barbie dolls (including celebrity lookalikes). If taking children, be aware the entire collection is hands-off.
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Troja Chateau
Troja Chateau is a 17th-century baroque palace that now houses the Prague City Gallery's collection of 19th-century Czech art, and modern Czech sculpture (1900-70); the cellars contain an exhibition on the history of wine-making in the Czech lands. There's free admission to the palace grounds, where you can wander in the beautiful French gardens, watched by a gang of baroque stone giants on the balustrade outside the southern door.
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Tunnel
In 2002 an arty new tunnel - red-brick and rather Freudian - was completed by architect Josef Pleskot beneath the castle's Powder Bridge, making a quirky alternative exit route from the castle. Turn west from the bridge's castle side and follow the footpath down into the moat to reach it. If you keep going, you'll reach Malostranská metro.
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Tv Tower
Prague's tallest landmark, and - depending on your tastes, either its ugliest or its most futuristic - is the 216m-tall TV Tower, erected between 1985 and 1992. The viewing platforms, reached by high-speed lifts, have comprehensive information boards in English and French explaining what you can see. There is also a restaurant (at 63m; see for details).
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U Kalicha
A few blocks east of Karlovo náměstí is the pub U kalicha. This is where the eponymous antihero was arrested at the beginning of Jaroslav Hašek's comic novel of WWI, The Good Soldier Švejk (which Hašek cranked out in instalments from his own local pub). The pub is milking the connection for all it's worth. It's an essential port of call for Švejk fans, but the rest of us can find cheaper beer and dumplings elsewhere.
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Veletržní Palace
It takes an hour just to jog through this enormous functionalist building housing the National Gallery's jaw-droppingly impressive collection of 19th-, 20th- and 21st-century Czech and European art. However, if you catch the vertiginous all-glass lift from the Small Hall to the 5th floor you'll get a quick overview of the atrium displays. Otherwise, make sure to circle the 3rd floor for Czech cubist masterpieces and French impressionist works, before popping into the 1958 Expo exhibit on the 2nd.
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Villa Müller
Fans of Functionalist architecture will enjoy this masterpiece of domestic design. It was built in 1930 for construction entrepreneur František Müller, and designed by the Viennese architect Adolf Loos, whose clean-cut, ultramodernist exterior contrasts with the polished wood, leather and oriental rugs of the classically decorated interior. The villa can be visited only by guided tour, which must be booked in advance.
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Vítkov National Monument
This hilltop monument (great views) commemorates 15th-century Hussite commander and independence fighter Jan Žižka with a huge, 9m-tall equestrian statue of the one-eyed warrior after whom Žižkov is named. The embalmed body of Communist president Klement Gottwald once rested in the accompanying mausoleum, until the corpse went a bit mouldy. Now the mausoleum is set to reopen as a history museum in 2009.
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Vrtbov Garden
This 'secret garden', hidden along an alley at the corner of Tržiště and Karmelitská, was built in 1720 for the earl of Vrtba, the senior chancellor of Prague Castle. It's a formal baroque garden, climbing steeply up the hillside to a terrace graced with baroque statues of Greek mythological figures by Matthias Braun - see if you can spot Vulcan, Diana and Mars. Below the terrace (on the right, looking down) is a tiny studio once used by Czech painter Mikuláš Aleš, and above is a little lookout with good views of Prague Castle and Malá Strana.
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Vyšehrad Cemetery
For Czechs, the Vyšehrad Cemetery is the hill's main attraction. In the late 19th century the parish graveyard was made into a memorial cemetery for famous figures of Czech culture, with a graceful, neo-Renaissance arcade running along the northern and western sides.
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Vyšehrad Citadel
The main entrance to the citadel is through the Tábor Gate (Táborská brána) at the southeastern end. On the other side of the brick ramparts and ditch are the scant remnants of the Gothic Peak Gate (Špička brána) - a fragment of arch that is now part of the information office - all that remains of Charles IV's 14th-century fortifications. Beyond that lies the grand, 17th-century Leopold Gate (Leopoldova brána), the most elegant of the fortress gates.
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Výstaviště
If your short trip to Prague is becoming longer, visit the ornate wrought-iron Výstaviště building, erected for the 1891 Jubilee Exhibition. Behind it is the kitsch dancing Křižíkova Fountain which performs to music (hourly - Mar-Oct). In the nearby Lapidarium (adult/child Kč20 / Kč10 , - Tue-Fri, - Sat & Sun) stand ten of Charles Bridge's original statues, among others. The park becomes a funfair February-Easter.
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Wallenstein Garden
One of Prague's tucked-away treasures , this world of formal lawns, fountains, ponds and statues makes a perfect pit-stop en route to or from Prague castle. There are entrances via the Wallenstein Palace and from Letenská, but for that true through-the-looking-glass experience take the gate beside Malostranská metro station. Turn left from the escalators and then right on the steps.
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Wallenstein Palace
Wallenstein Square (Valdštejnské náměstí), the small square to the northeast of Malostranské náměstí, is dominated by a monumental palace built in 1630 by Albrecht of Wallenstein, generalissimo of the Habsburg armies. The palace displaced 23 houses, a brickworks and three gardens, and was financed by the confiscation of properties from Protestant nobles defeated at the Battle of Bílá Hora (White Mountain) in 1620.
