There is a moment, it happens most evenings around the 20th of June, when the sun sets over the Vltava at 9.12pm, the light turning the stone of the Charles Bridge from grey to a colour that does not have a name, somewhere between amber and honey and the glow of a candle through alabaster, when Prague becomes the most beautiful city in Europe. The tourists, who have filled the bridge since 8am with selfie sticks and the clatter of wheeled suitcases on the cobblestones, have thinned. The buskers, the jazz saxophonist, the classical guitarist, the accordion player who seems to have been there since 1989, are packing their instrument cases. The castle on the hill, the largest ancient castle complex on Earth, 70,000 m² of palaces, cathedrals, and courtyards, is catching the last of the light on its roof. And the city, for a few precious minutes, belongs to itself. If you have not stood on the Charles Bridge at sunset, with a trdelník in one hand (the cinnamon-sugar pastry that is a tourist cliché and, honestly, delicious) and a bottle of Pilsner Urquell in the other, you have not experienced Prague. Here is your guide to basking in this extraordinary city.

Prague, The Essential Guide

• The Charles Bridge, but better: The bridge is the most famous sight in Prague and, for six hours of the day, the most crowded. Arrive at dawn, 5.30am in the summer, and you will have it almost to yourself: the thirty statues (the oldest and most famous, St John of Nepomuk, was thrown from the bridge in 1393 on the orders of King Wenceslas IV, touch the bronze plaque at the base of his statue and, according to the legend, you will return to Prague), the Vltava grey-green beneath you, and the castle rising from the mist. The alternative: climb the Old Town Bridge Tower (the 14th-century Gothic gate, ~€8, 138 steps) for the best view of the bridge itself, the curve of the river, the dome of St Nicholas Church in the Lesser Town, and the bridge stretching away towards the castle. The tower is open until 10pm in the summer; the view at sunset is the most beautiful panorama in Prague. More Czech Republic →
• Beyond Old Town Square: The Astronomical Clock, the oldest working astronomical clock in the world, 1410, is beautiful, the hourly show of the apostles is the most disappointing three minutes in European tourism, and the square is a shoulder-to-shoulder scrum between the hours of 10am and 6pm. Do the clock (you must) and then leave the square. Walk five minutes in any direction and Prague opens up: the quiet streets of the Jewish Quarter (the Old-New Synagogue, the oldest active synagogue in Europe, 1270, and the Old Jewish Cemetery, the gravestones so densely packed that they lean against each other like a crowd of stone ancestors. The Jewish Museum ticket, ~€20 for all the sites, is worth it for the Pinkas Synagogue alone, the walls covered with the names of the 77,297 Czech and Moravian Jews murdered in the Holocaust, each name hand-painted, the silence in the room heavier than a cathedral), the peaceful courtyards of the Clementinum (the former Jesuit college, now the National Library, the Baroque Library Hall, the meridian hall, and the astronomical tower. The guided tour, ~€12, is essential, the library alone is worth twice the price), and the Letná Park beer garden (a 15-minute walk from the Old Town Square, across the river, up a flight of stairs, and into the best view in Prague: the beer garden on the Letná plateau, the Vltava below, the bridges, including the Charles Bridge, stretching to the horizon, and the castle on the opposite hill. The beer is cheap, the atmosphere is a genuine mix of locals and visitors, and the view at sunset is the reason you came to Prague)
• Prague Castle and the Golden Lane: The castle is a city within a city: St Vitus Cathedral (the Gothic masterpiece, 600 years in the construction, the stained glass by Alfons Mucha, the Art Nouveau master whose Slav Epic, a series of 20 enormous canvases telling the history of the Slavic peoples, is sometimes on display in Prague and is one of the most extraordinary artistic achievements of the 20th century), the Old Royal Palace (the Vladislav Hall, the largest secular hall in medieval Europe, the vaulted ceiling a masterpiece of late Gothic engineering, the hall used for indoor jousting tournaments in the 15th century), and the Golden Lane (a street of tiny 16th-century houses built into the castle walls, Franz Kafka lived at number 22 in 1916–1917, writing the stories that would become A Country Doctor. The lane is now a row of shops and a museum, and it is, frankly, a tourist trap, but a charming one, and the Kafka connection is real). Castle ticket: ~€16 for the full circuit. Allow 3–4 hours. Go early, the castle opens at 9am, the tour buses arrive at 10am
• The beer, the food, and the new Prague: Prague is a beer city, the Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world (142 litres per person per year, ahead of Austria, Germany, and every other nation on Earth), and the experience of drinking a tank-brewed Pilsner Urquell in a Prague pub (the tankove Pivo, unpasteurised beer delivered directly from the brewery, the freshest lager you will ever taste) is the essential Prague experience. Essential pubs: U Fleků (1499, the oldest brewery-pub in Central Europe, the dark beer, the accordion player, the long wooden tables. A tourist institution and, for once, worth it), U Zlatého Tygra (the Golden Tiger, the favourite pub of Václav Havel, the dissident playwright who became the first president of the post-communist Czech Republic. Simple, unchanged, and the pub where the Velvet Revolution was, in a sense, plotted), and the Strahov Monastery Brewery (the St Norbert beer, brewed by the monks, the view of the castle, the terrace, the most beautiful beer garden in Prague). Food: the roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut, the svíčková (beef in a creamy root-vegetable sauce, served with cranberries, the Czech national dish, much better than it sounds), and the smažený sýr (a fried block of Edam cheese, the Czech answer to the mozzarella stick, the perfect beer food), expect to pay ~€6–10 for a main course in a traditional pub. The new Prague, the Karlín district (the post-industrial neighbourhood east of the centre, the cafés, the galleries, the Vietnamese restaurants that reflect the Czech Republic’s large Vietnamese community), the Vršovice neighbourhood (the Krymská Street, the craft beer bars, the coffee shops, and the atmosphere of the Prague that the tours do not reach), and the Náplavka farmers’ market (Saturday mornings, the embankment of the Vltava, the food stalls, the live music, and the river, the best Saturday morning in Prague)