Get ready for some real autumn goodness.
I
visited Prague in mid-October, and before I got there, I expected a
lot of autumnal landscapes - needless to say, I got exactly that, and
more! Prague is a beautiful city, and a big one too, and I really
enjoyed discovering the prettiest spots there.
Because
my boyfriend and I did not visit that many tourist attractions, I
thought I would dedicate this blogpost to the beauty of the city and
where you can find the most Instagrammable areas to take your
souvenir pictures! I have never done one of these posts, so yay for
trying something new!
Without
further ado, here are the Prague spots that I took my favourite
photos in. You get head over to my Instagram @julia_ds25 to see all my Prague (and Poland) pictures!
VYSEHRAD: PEACEFUL NATURE OUTSIDE OF THE CITY
We
explored Vysehrad on a quiet weekday afternoon, and it was one of my
favourite moments in Prague. To get there, we took the tram to the
south of the city and climbed up a hill, through paths covered in
autumn leaves. Once you reach the top you are at Vysehrad: an old
fortress turned park, where you will find beautiful views over the
city, the gorgeous St Peter and Paul Basilica, and a wide area of
greenery. If you love autumn photos, Vysehrad is your spot: there
were very few people there, leafing you with a lot of
freedom to play around with photography.
GARDENS BELOW PRAGUE CASTLE: THE BEST PLACE FOR DREAMY, WHIMSICAL PICTURES
These
gardens are exactly what the name suggests: gardens hidden underneath
the castle. They are tucked away in a small street, but you will find
them easily through Google Maps. These gardens are terraced,
Italian-style garden, where you will find a variety of levels adorned
with flowers and plants, as well as my favourite view over the centre
of Prague. You have to pay a small fee to enter, but trust me: the
price is well worth it. I don't think this place has made it into the
tourist hotspot list yet, and that makes them really special. In the
autumn, the leaves on the walls turn orange and make the dreamiest
background for photos. I really felt like we hit a jackpot with this
place. Just see for yourself...
THE OLD TOWN: THE CLASSIC PRAGUE SHOTS AND COLOURFUL BUILDINGS
The
Old Town is an unmissable spot in Prague. Even though it is far more
touristy than the two I mentioned above, it is also a beautiful
setting for your travel photos. Getting up early means that you will
have fewer people around, so if you're planning to shoot in the Old
Town Square and expecting tourist-free shots, set up your alarm and
get going! I really enjoyed the buildings around the square, they are
all different colours and shapes, and make for fun pictures. On the
other side of Charles Bridge, you can also find some old colourful
streets where there are few cars and you will be able to stand on the
road to take pretty pictures. My tip would be to steer away from the
main streets and get lost in the smaller alleys: they may be narrower
and harder to capture in photos, but worth it if you have those
skills because there won't be any crowds at all.
AROUND THE RIVER & PRAGUE'S BRIDGES
You
may know that Prague is cut in half by the Vltava River. I love a
good river, it can create beautiful photos with the perspective of
the buildings on either side, or the reflection of the landscape in
the water. The river in Prague goes a long way, so it is pretty easy
to find a spot devoid of tourists where you can get beautiful
pictures. My favourite view is the view of Charles Bridge from the
left side of the city, as you will see in the photo below. Another
great river view is when the night starts falling and the lights are
turned on: this will create beautiful reflections of the lights and
the buildings on the water. Go out there and walk around the river,
and it will give you plenty of opportunities to shoot.
NOT WORTH THE HYPE...
Not
trying to be a party-pooper here, but there are some spots that are
definitely not as spectacular as they appear on Instagram. Not that
places are not relevant when you can't take a good picture (hey, I'm
not that superficial!) but we have been to some places that seemed
like great spots, but turned out disappointing. So in a few words,
here are why these spots disappointed me!
CHARLES BRIDGE: I
was expecting the coolest, prettiest bridge - I found a plain stone
bridge overcrowded with street vendors and with the only difference
from the other bridges being that there are some statues here and
there. It is quite hard to take a good photo of the bridge while
you're on it, obviously. I'd recommend getting away from the bridge
and looking at it from either side of the river. Much better!
PRAGUE CASTLE + ATTRACTIONS (ST VITUS, GOLDEN LANE, ETC.): Talk
about a tourist trap! I'd read quite a few not-so-great reviews about
the attractions around Prague Castle (the castle itself, Golden Lane,
the various museums there etc.) but we still went, curious to learn
more about the History of Prague and see some of its key monuments.
It turned out to be too expensive for what we saw, and packed with
other tourists and poor in photo opportunities. St Vitus Cathedral,
for example, is a gorgeous building which you can see peaking above
the other buildings from everywhere in Prague - but once you get
close to it, it is surrounded by walls and buildings, so much so that
you can barely take a shot with the whole building in. The hyped
Golden Lane, a medieval street full of colourful houses (including
one in which the writer Franz Kafka lived) has turned into a crowded
and gimmicky area, where you queue up to get into children-sized
houses to get a glimpse of how the houses were decorated back in the
day they were inhabited. Impossible to take a single good photo
there, and not even worth it for the historical value. A double no
from me!
KAMPA: Not
talking about the Kafka museum here as we did not visit, but the
Kampa area was a small disappointment as I had heard it had great
views over the city and good photo ops. I found the area pretty
bland, apart from the notable (and slightly disturbing) modernist
statues. The only good thing I found there was a beautiful autumnal
doorway covered in green and red leaves. Check out my recommended
spots above for the most picturesque views of Prague instead!
Have you ever been to Prague? Would you want to visit there?
