WHERE TO MEET OTHER TRAVELLERS IN PRAGUE

Prague is full of travellers, but standing in a packed Old Town street does not necessarily mean you are going to meet any of them.

The places where people actually connect are usually much simpler: a hostel garden, a BBQ, a walking tour, a sunset on Vítkov, a beer garden or a night out that starts with a few people and develops from there.

Travelling solo does not have to mean spending the whole trip alone. And this is not a guide to small talk or making friends. If you have packed a backpack and travelled to Prague on your own, you probably know how to talk to people.

This is simply a guide to the places and situations where meeting other travellers happens naturally.

Stay in a social hostel, not just somewhere with cheap beds

For solo travellers, choosing the right hostel can completely change the trip.

Some hostels are basically accommodation: you check in, sleep and leave again in the morning. Others have gardens, lounges, kitchens, bars and events where people actually spend time together.

That is where groups start forming without anyone having to organise them.

At Hostel ELF, the social spaces are a big part of the hostel. There is a garden terrace, common room, shared kitchen and hostel bar, so people do not disappear into their rooms immediately after sightseeing.

You can stay in a dorm if you want the full backpacker experience, but you do not have to. Plenty of travellers prefer a private room and still spend their evenings in the garden or join hostel events.

The important part is having somewhere to come back to where other travellers are doing the same thing.

Join whatever is happening at the hostel

You do not need a complicated social programme. One good hostel event is often enough to get the evening moving.

At Hostel ELF, the programme changes with the season but can include BBQ nights, shared dinners, hot dogs, happy hours, games, pub crawls and sunset walks to Vítkov.

The point is not compulsory entertainment. You can join for food or a beer, see who is around and decide what happens afterwards.

A few people might stay in the garden. Others may walk up to Vítkov, find food in Žižkov or head out for the night. By the next morning, the same group might already be planning the rest of the day together.

This is probably the easiest way to meet other travellers when you have just arrived in Prague: start where you are staying.

Take a walking tour on your first day

Walking tours are touristy in the best possible sense: most of the people joining them have just arrived, want to see the city and have not made many plans yet.

That makes them particularly useful for solo travellers.

You spend a couple of hours walking through Prague with the same group while also learning where everything is. Afterwards, people often continue for lunch, a beer or more sightseeing.

For your first visit, an Old Town or Prague Castle tour gives you a basic orientation. If you already know the centre, look for tours focused on modern history, architecture or neighbourhoods outside the classic tourist route.

A “free walking tour” normally means there is no fixed ticket price and you tip the guide afterwards.

We would not plan an entire trip around organised tours, but one on your first day can be a good start.

Prague gets more social when everyone moves outside

From spring to early autumn, a lot of Prague life moves outdoors.

Beer gardens, parks, riverside areas and viewpoints fill up in the afternoon and stay busy well into the evening. These are particularly good places to continue the day with people you have already met at the hostel or on a tour.

Vítkov Hill

Vítkov is the obvious one for Hostel ELF guests because it is right next to us.

Walk up with a few beers, sit on the hill and watch Prague change as the sun goes down. You get views towards the centre, Karlín and Žižkov without travelling across the city.

We also organise sunset walks there during the season.

Letná

Letná is one of Prague's classic outdoor meeting areas.

There are huge lawns, views over the bridges, beer gardens and plenty of space to sit outside. On warm evenings it attracts students, locals, internationals and travellers without feeling like an organised tourist attraction.

It is also an easy place to continue towards Holešovice if the evening develops into something louder.

Riegrovy Sady

Riegrovy Sady sits between Žižkov and Vinohrady and is another easy option for summer evenings.

Grab something to drink, find a place on the grass and stay for sunset. Afterwards, you have both Žižkov and Vinohrady within walking distance.

Náplavka

If you want the river instead, head to Náplavka.

During warmer months there are boats, bars, occasional events and groups sitting along the Vltava. It can get busy, but you do not need to book anything or have a particular plan.

These places are not some kind of outdoor speed dating for travellers. They simply work well when a few people meet earlier in the day and need somewhere easy to go next.

Go out together — but skip the generic tourist party circuit

Prague has plenty of nightlife, but there is a big difference between going out in Prague and spending the entire night inside the tourist party bubble around Old Town.

For something more local, start in Žižkov.

There are pubs and bars all over the neighbourhood, and the atmosphere is generally more relaxed and less polished than in the centre. If you are staying at Hostel ELF, you also do not need to plan transport or cross half the city just to get your first beer.

If you want clubs, live music or something more alternative, continue towards Holešovice, Letná or some of Prague's smaller venues instead of automatically choosing the biggest club advertised in the centre.

We have a separate guide to the alternative clubs we actually like, including places for electronic music, concerts and less mainstream nights.

The advantage of meeting people at the hostel first is that the night does not need to be organised around a pub crawl. Sometimes a pub crawl is exactly what you want. Other times four people leave the hostel for one beer and come back six hours later.

Both count.

Do something together instead of only going for drinks

Not every good backpacker plan needs to involve a bar.

Some of the easiest group plans in Prague start because someone simply wants to go somewhere and other people join.

In summer, that could mean going swimming, spending the afternoon beside the river or finding one of Prague's outdoor pools and swimming spots.

See our article: Best Swimming Spots in Prague

Football is another good option. Prague has several clubs and very different stadium experiences, from bigger matches to smaller grounds with a much more local atmosphere. Going to a game with people from the hostel can be considerably more memorable than another afternoon walking around souvenir shops.

See our article: Football in Prague: Clubs, Tickets & How to See a Match

If you have more time, take a train somewhere.

Karlštejn, Kutná Hora and hiking destinations around Prague are easy enough to turn into an informal day trip. You do not necessarily need an organised coach tour — sometimes the better version is buying train tickets with a few people you met the night before and working it out yourselves.

And on a slower day, even the basic backpacker combination works: cheap lunch, a walk through a neighbourhood, a viewpoint and a beer somewhere afterwards.

Prague gives you plenty of options without having to schedule every hour.

Staying longer? Look beyond the hostel too

If you are in Prague for more than a few days, there is also a large international community outside the hostel scene.

Language exchanges, pub quizzes, concerts, board-game nights, sports and international meetups happen around the city throughout the year.

Check current events rather than relying on a recommendation from a two-year-old travel article. Programmes and venues change constantly.

For most backpackers staying two or three nights, the hostel, walking tours and nightlife are probably enough. If you are here for a week or longer, local events start to make much more sense.

Why Hostel ELF works for this kind of trip

Hostel ELF has been welcoming backpackers in Prague since 2000, and the social side of the hostel has always been part of what we do.

We are in Žižkov rather than directly inside the most touristy part of the centre. Old Town is still easy to reach, but when you come back to the hostel you are already in a neighbourhood with local pubs, cheap food and Vítkov Hill just behind us.

During the day, people head out and explore Prague however they want.

In the evening, the garden, common room, bar and hostel events bring everyone back together again.

Sometimes the night ends there. Sometimes everyone heads into Žižkov. Sometimes it becomes a club night or a pub crawl. And sometimes a group that met over dinner is on a train somewhere outside Prague the next morning.

That is the kind of social hostel we want ELF to be.

Social, but easy.

Final tip

If you are travelling solo, choose places where people actually do things together.

A social hostel, BBQ, walking tour, sunset, football match, day trip or night out gives people a reason to end up in the same place. The rest usually takes care of itself.

Come to Prague with your own plans — and leave enough space for them to change.

Stay at Hostel ELF and meet other travellers before heading out to explore Prague together.