Our 2025 Prague Christmas and NYE dining guide is out.
Christmas dining can be difficult in Prague - first, the city can be flooded with tourists, so the capacity is strained. On top of that, many restaurants close or at least shorten their opening hours, so finding a seat, especially for Christmas Eve dinner, can be a challenge.
If you’re reading this now, you don’t have a reservation for your Christmas meals, and want to eat a meal that makes sense within the context of Christmas in Prague, you should read the following and act quickly. Some places listed below may already have very limited capacity, or accept bookings on their wait list only.
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING… TO DINE OUT ON CHRISTMAS IN PRAGUE
Czechs celebrate Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day, and the city stops to a halt on Christmas Eve at about 4pm. Most restaurants and businesses will shut down for the day in the early afternoon. So if you don’t have a reservation for a Christmas Eve dinner, act now.
The traditional Christmas dish for the Czechs is a schnitzel made of carp with potato salad. Escargots are also a popular Christmas treat. Fish soup is common, as well as „kuba“, barley risotto with mushrooms. Czechs, one of the least religious European countries, still follow some Christmas traditions rooted in Catholicism, so we not supposed to eat meat on Christmas Eve, and fish and escargots apparently don’t count.
That said, some Czechs ditch that tradition and have meat instead. We’re talking schnitzels, maybe duck or goose, and „wine sausage“ (white pork and beef sausage that needs to be grilled or roasted) is quite common, too. And most restaurants open on Christmas Eve will probably let you choose between fish and meat.
Dining on Dec 25 and 26 is easier - many (but not all) restaurants will reopen for these two days, so there’ll be more options. Retail will still be mostly closed for Christmas, though.
New Year’s Eve is not a bank holiday in the Czech Republic (unlike 1 January), so everything should stay open. Here the choices should be based on your very own style of celebrating NYE - a quiet, fine-dining dinner? Or a wild party at a bar? Somewhere near or above the river to watch the midnight festivities? Only you know the correct answer, and you should do you on NYE. There are options.
WHERE TO EAT IN PRAGUE ON CHRISTMAS EVE & NYE
Enough chit chat, let’s get to it. (Or scroll down for coffee.)
Christmas Eve (Dec 24) dinner:
All restaurants of the Ambiente group, a ubiquitous restaurant in Prague that runs anything from the Lokál pubs to La Degustation Michelin-starred restaurants, are shut down for December 24. As a result, Dec 24 is also the only day of the year when we do not run food tours in Prague.
Here’s what the good restaurants we know have in store for Christmas Eve dinner:
CAFÉ IMPERIAL/NEXT DOOR
Café Imperial is a classic Belle Epoque restaurant headed by Chef Pohlreich, a celebrity TV chef (he ran the Czech version of Kitchen Nightmares). Don’t expect hipster fermentation utopia - this a trip down the Austro-Hungarian memory lane.
What’s good about their Christmas menu, served on 24 through 26 December, is that’s it’s all a la carte, which is great if you don’t want to commit to a full tasting menu with or without restless kids. The menu includes Czech Christmas classics like fried escargot, fish soup, pike perch with mushroom kuba, or goose. What’s bad is that they seem to be fully booked for Dec 24, but you may try your luck.
They may recommend Next Door, their other location… ahem… next door, that also serves Czech classics a la carte, but adds saddle of deer as an option.
Both restaurants add goose to the menu on Dec 24 and 25, and both restaurants offer their own (very similar) flavor of NYE dinner buffet: Café Imperial charges CZK 3990 but adds lobster Thermidor to the menu, while Next Door charges CZK 3500, sans the lobster.
LE PETIT BEEFBAR
The beautiful, renovated Grand Café of the W Hotel on Wenceslas Square is a feast for the eyes, if your eyes like Art Nouveau interiors restored to absolute splendor. They are open from 6pm to 11pm and offer an a la carte dinner.
Their Noël brunch runs from noon to 4pm on Dec 25 and 26 and costs CZK 2,900 per person. We like the brunches at this place. Finally, their doors open at 6pm for the NYE dinner: a 3-course sharing menu and an oyster bar and glass of Champagne will set you back CZK 7500 per person. It might be nice to watch the craziness of Wenceslas Sq on NYE from the comfort of Belle Epoque luxury: like watching a flight erupt in a plane’s economy class over a reclining seat… from the comfort of your business class bed. (Okay, I may have gotten carried away a bit here.)
420
Another great choice for Christmas dining is 420. Despite the double-entendre name (the international dialing code for Czechia is +420), this is actually a pretty conservative-cooking place owned and run by Chef Kasparek who runs the Michelin-starred Field. The main benefit is of course its location, right across the Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Square. Another benefit, especially over the holidays, is the size: this is a big restaurant. So if you’d like Czech comfort food with some modern touches, 420 is definitely an option. (Its sister Field is closed for the holidays.)
Mlýnec / V Zátiší
Let’s star with Mlýnec. While closed on 24 December, they will have some XMas specials. First, their XMas brunches on Dec 20, 21, 25, 27 and 28 start at 11:30 and go until 3pm. Expect proseccos, kulajda, a Czech classic potato and mushroom soup, Prague ham, beef, cod and much more.
They do offer a NYE menu for CZK 12,000, which includes Champagne, a 6-course meal with wine pairing (CZK 8500 without the booze), live music, open bar, post-midnight buffet and, of course… a great view of the Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle. (Please note that not all the tables in the restaurant get that view, so ask for them in advance if you can.)
V Zátiší is also closed on Dec 24 but will reopen on Dec 25 with a 7-course tasting menu for CZK 2295. This will include some Czech classics, like sauerkraut soup, fried escargots with Prague ham and parsley, or catfish, suckling pig belly or veal schnitzel. This honestly sounds like a steal - V Zátiší is a beautiful, fancy restaurant.
Their NYE menu is a 5-course affair with a glass of good Champagne (Legras) that will set you back CZK 5450. You start with a snack bar and carpaccio, followed by sturgeon and veal tenderloin, finish with cheeses and chocolate mousse. Sounds lovely.
U Matěje
The beautiful pub U Matěje - a recent Bib Gourmand - in the neighborhood where the rich and famous live, is closed on December 24. Other than, they will be open with their regular a la carte menu. Worth the bus/Uber drive any time, and especially during the holidays. Good stuff by one of the most famous Czech chefs, Chef Punchochar.
ZLATÁ PRAHA
If fancy fine dining is your jam for your Christmas meal, you might have a look at Zlatá Praha, the absolutely stunning restaurant on the top floor of the Fairmont Hotel, Prague’s only recipient of two Michelin keys in the current guide. They are famous for their unparalleled view of the Old Town (it does take your breath away when the sliding door to the restaurant opens, revealing the vista), and their chef has excellent credentials (as a former sous-chef of NYC’s Eleven Madison Park).
The dinners on Dec 24 and 25 include a live jazz band on site. The 6-course menu (Arctic char, pumpkin custard, Czech wagyu beef, desserts, canapés etc.) will set you back CZK 5990, the wine pairing is another CZK 2900.
Sounds pricy? Well, strap yourself in for their NYC dinner: the 9-course NYE dinner from 6pm (that includes Krug champagne as a welcome and midnight drink) costs CZK 16990 per person, with wine pairing for another CZJK 3990. And that’s just the start: the Golden Eye bar next door has a NYE menu that includes a lot of food and unlimited Ruinart champagne. Prices start at CZK 16990 for standard seating and ends at a whooping CZK 24900 for „VIP“ window seating with the best views of the city. All of these dinners include access to the afterparty at the hotel’s Grand Ballroom with a live concert and a DJ later on.
La Collezione group
If you can’t find a place for Christmas Eve dinner, there’s always the restaurants of La Collezione group, the veterans of introducing Italian cuisine to Czechs. They have always been open over Christmas, offering a mix of Italian and local experiences.
Bottega Linka is a beautiful restaurant neat the Marriott/Hilton Old Town hotels, and has a 4-course Xmas Eve dinner menu with foie gras paté, ravioli with escargots and cheeks, beef main dish and semi-freddo for CZK 2000 per person. Amano nearby has a more comprehensive 6-course tasting menu with lobster, cod or veal for CZK 3450. The cool, and the youngest, member of the group, Finestrina, is incredibly well located, and has a simple a la carte menu for Christmas Eve. This is actually our very own choice this year, so come say hi if you happen to be there. La Finestra next door offers an a la carte XMAs menu with stuff like grilled lobster Thermidor, veal Rossini or veal schnitzel, white truffle risotto, octopus, or a whole lotta different fish and steaks. Finally, Aromi, La Collezione’s flagship, offers a tasting menu for CZK 3450 that includes fallow deer, turbot and others. Good stuff!
Casa de Carli
If you crave more Italian, Casa de Carli, which has received its first Michelin star a week ago as arguably the best Italian restaurant in the city, is open on both Dec 24 and NYE (but closes for Dec 25 and 26). No special Christmas menu - they stick to their standart a la carte and tasting menus on both days.
ALCRON
Alcron, the famous restaurant of the Almanach X hotel in New Town, has a lot in store for this holiday season.
On Dec 24, they will host both a lunch and a dinner, both with classics like Zander and carp but also vegetarian and vegan options. The 3-course lunch will go for CZK 1590, and the 4-course dinner will set you back CZK 3290 (includes a glass of Veuve Cliquot.
On Dec 25 and 26, their lunch is a 3-course affair that included beef or turkey for main, at CZK 1750, and their dinner is a 4-course meal for CZK 3290, with Champagne.
Finally, their NYE dinner costs CZK 6500 and includes the likes of caviar, truffle choux, scallops, pumpkin tortellini, lobster, beef, with vegetarian and vegan options available.
NYE dining in Prague
We’ve already included many NYE options above, but here’s a few more restaurant that may not offer much over Christmas, but have something special for NYE:
Alma
Alma, one of our favorite restaurants in Prague that we visit nearly on a daily basis with our Prague food tours, and a recent Bib Gourmand recipient, has a NYE tasting menu that starts at 7pm and consists of either a regular or vegetarian 6-course menu. The dinner in this beautiful and modern restaurant will set you back a measly CZK 4 395, which we think is great, and the low-intervention wine pairing, with a midnight drink, will cost CZK 1995. The manager said they might actually offer an early-bird, shorter 5pm seating at a cheaper price. Call them to find out.
Taro
The nearby Taro - the world’s best modern Vietnamese restaurant in our view - offers two seatings for their NYE menu: the first seating from 5:30pm to 9pm for EUR 190, and a second seating that includes a rooftop midnight Champagne toast from 9pm to 0:30am for EUR 290.
All options include a welcome drink, an amuse-bouche, a tasting menu (4, 6 or 7 courses) and petit fours. The menu is created by our chef Khanh (he recently won the „Young Chef Award“ by the Michelin guide, a running joke in the restaurant and the family - Khanh is 39 years old but the proud owner of an incredibly smooth baby face), featuring festive ingredients such as aged meats, lobster and truffles, balanced with the bright and expressive flavours of Vietnamese cuisine. It will served in a carte blanche style — the full menu is revealed course by course at the table.
Štangl
Štangl, a fantastic casual fine dining restaurant and Prague’s only holder of both the regular star and the green star by the Michelin guide, is closed on Dec 34, but offers a 6-course NYE dinner that will include oysters, mushrooms with bone marrow, potatoes with caviar, halibut, duck with foie gras, and quince. The price? Nearly CZK 6000, with low-intervention wine pairing at 3988. Štangl is an amazing restaurant, and a well-deserved new Michelin star in the city.
The Eatery
The Eatery, a popular casual fine dining restaurant in the Holešovice district, used to be a staple for Christmas dining. Not anymore - they will close for Christmas. That said, they do offer a NYE menu: a 4-course menu at CZK 2399 or 2599 (depending on seating) with carpaccio, foie gras/pumpkin soup, beef tenderloin or zander, and laskonka dessert. The Eatery is a minimalist restaurant with bar seating (excellent for solo travelers) and great, light take on Czech cuisine, and very much a local favorite.
COFFEE IN PRAGUE AROUND CHRISTMAS
We have a coffee routine for Dec 24, because it has become a tradition that a lot of Prague’s food scene meets in the line for Christmas Eve coffee to exchange wishes and sometimes even edible gifts. If you want to be a part of it, or at least be there, make sure you visit any of these coffee shops before or around noon on Christmas Eve: onesip coffee, Kafemat, Solo bakery, format, hrnek café, and kiosek. All of these serve excellent coffee on Christmas Eve.
For specialty coffee over the holidays, you should just download the European Coffee Trip and check the opening times there, or find a place that is convenient for you, and check their opening times on their websites or google.