Absinthe & Art-Nouveau Nights: A 2-Day Artsy Cocktail and Nightlife Itinerary in Prague

Steam rises from your first coffee of the day like incense, curling against the white walls and canvases of Vinárna 2 deci in Vinohrady. Outside, Americká is still half-asleep, just dog walkers and the occasional tram bell drifting up from Náměstí Míru. The morning stretches out as a literary thread—words and stories stitched into Prague’s streets by a guide who treats Karlovo náměstí and the riverfront like a living bookshelf. By lunch, you’re deep in a wine bar where the interior is all texture: wood, stone, soft upholstery, a swing at the center table if you’re lucky. Afternoon slows the tempo at Vyšehrad, that ancient fortified hilltop Lonely Planet quietly praises as the city’s less-touristed soul. You walk along the fortress walls, the river glinting below, the air cooler and carrying the smell of damp stone and grass. As dusk moves in, you slip back into Vinohrady for dinner and cocktails at Bar GINGER, where the lighting is low and the bartender treats seasonal infusions like a painter’s palette. The night ends underground at Bar Hidden near the river, a den of foosball clatter, laughter and strong drinks that makes the rest of the city feel like it’s happening somewhere above your head. Tomorrow, the focus shifts north to Žižkov’s sharper edges and Old Town’s theatrical heart.

The day starts with caffeine and velvet—literally—at Dark Velvet Cafe Bar, where the walls absorb sound and the first espresso cuts through any lingering fog from last night. Outside, Husitská is all tram lines and street art, Žižkov doing its usual trick of feeling slightly scruffy and deeply lived-in at the same time. A quick hop north and you’re in Holešovice at DOX, wandering through concrete galleries and a rooftop airship that make clear why every serious Prague neighborhood guide name-checks this district for contemporary art. By midday, you’re back on foot in the Old Town, letting a food tour peel back the clichés of goulash and dumplings with ten small, precise tastings. Afternoon slides into color at POP ART STUDIO PRAGUE, where Warhol and Lichtenstein prints glow against white walls, and then into a more theatrical mood at The Secret Gallery café, hidden just off Karlova, where the smell of coffee and eggs mingles with the rustle of tourists outside. Evening is a slow, deliberate descent: dinner of refined Czech-Slovak plates on Újezd, a walk past the river and over cobbles, then Bugsy’s Bar and Beyond The Bar—two very different temples to cocktails and nightlife that leave Old Town Square’s mass-market shots looking painfully flat. Tomorrow there is no script; tonight, the city feels entirely yours.