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.

We’re back, baby! 

Yes, after two Covid years, the 2022 holiday season finally feels like a real holiday season in Prague - the Christmas markets are on (and not cancelled two hours before their were supposed to start like last year), Prague is full of tourists, and the shopping craze is not hindered by any pesky shutdowns or curfews. Yay?!?

Which also means that if you’re reading this now, frantically trying to find a place to eat out on Christmas Eve, it’s probably too late. But if we were to look for a place to eat out during holidays, it would be one of the ones below. 

So good luck, and here’s our 2022 Prague Christmas and NYE Dining Out Guide.

So after last year’s Christmas lockdown, take-out boxes and a whole lotta eggnog, Christmas dining is back in 2021. We’ve been personally eating out on Christmas Eve for years now, for one simple reason: we can’t be bothered. Spending the special day in the kitchen, alternating between swearing and drinking, and then trying to avoid all talk of politics when the in-laws get in (add more wine) and listen to them talk about how „grandma’s potato salad wasn’t done like this“? (Is there any wine left?) Thank you but no, thank you.

Now, eating out on Christmas Eve means a clean kitchen, a visit to a few relatives in their messy homes, a nice dinner and then getting back to your squeaky clean, fragrant-candle-smelling home to give and get presents. And if you’re visiting Prague as a tourist, it’s honestly the only option.

We’ve been writing Prague Christmas and NYE dining guide for a few years now. But just like with everything else, the guide in 2020 will be different - our current shutdown prevents us from eating outside during the holiday season, so we will be focusing on take-out and pre-made meals for the home.

Now, for the readers abroad: the vast majority of Czechs eat their Christmas Eve dinner at home in the circle of their closest family, and the dinner tends to steer towards fish, especially carp, which is the traditional fish for Christmas that is sold on the streets live in the days leading up to the holiday. Some people opt for salmon or other fish that may be easier to work with (carp is notoriously boney and requires heavy prep work) or for meat (think schnitzels).

But in our household, we began to eat out for Christmas Eve years ago, after a misfortunate Christmas Eve when Zuzi’s just about had it with all the preparations and family members showing up late or not showing up at all. It was a revelation: we realised that many families ate outside and we have thoroughly enjoyed the relaxing and trouble-free experience of Christmas Eve, as opposed to the stressed out and labour-intensive Christmas Eves we remember from our childhoods.

Now, this being 2020, things are obviously different. Restaurants were ordered to shut down about ten days before Christmas Eve and are unlike to open before… well… we’re guessing late January, early February? So eating out for Christmas Eve is out. But do you have to slave over the Christmas Eve dinner, or are there different options? Have restaurants come to the rescue?

We’ve done a bit of research, and the short answer is yes. Below is a summary of the take-out options and meal kits for your Christmas cheer. Enjoy the holidays whatever you do, okay?

Spoiler alert: If you’re spending Christmas in Prague and are reading this in December without a reservation for Christmas Eve dinner, you’re already screwed. Panic and/or stock up on food now.

Prague dining used to be so easy. When we started our Prague food tours back in 2011, we could make reservations for a tour hours before, and restaurants would have a table. While this all has changed and now you need to book sometimes well in advance for the popular restaurants and hours in Prague, even back then there was one exception: Christmas and NYE. That is why, from the very outset of this blog, we have been compiling an annual overview of Prague Christmas and NYE dining options, and this is the 2019 edition.