Ghost Tour Prague

The Four Kinds at a Glance

The table gathers the listings into four kinds. Lengths and prices are ranges read from the tour listings, and the last column records whether you go inside any building. Use it to jump to the kind that suits your evening, then read the detail below.

Night Walks with a Storyteller

This is the classic ghost tour in Prague: streets, squares and stories, with nobody going inside. The Ghosts and Legends Night Walk costs $21, runs 100 minutes to 2 hours from Old Town Square and is led by a costumed storyteller in English, German or Italian, finishing at the Old Jewish Cemetery. The Ghosts and Legends of the Old Town Evening Tour from McGee's Ghost Tours costs $23 for 1.5 hours behind Týn Church, with no actors and no jump scares, and the listing says it is not suitable for children under 10. The Ghost Walk Where Legends Come To Life costs $26 and adds live ghost characters, with a museum ticket option. The Ghost Tour with a Costumed Storyteller costs $25 for a 90 minute walk from the Old Town Hall and hands out a PDF of tips for the night. None of these tours enters a building on the plain ticket, so if you want cellars and dungeons, look at the underground kind instead.

Underground and Dungeon Tours

These are the tours that go down. Street level in the Old Town rose after repeated floods, so Romanesque and Gothic ground floors survive as cellars, and the listings include the entry fees. The Ghosts, Legends, Medieval Underground and Dungeon Tour costs $30.92 for 70-85 minutes: a lantern ghost walk, the medieval underground, a hidden alchemy laboratory and a dungeon of torture instruments, with a group capped at 26 and children under 6 not allowed. The Old Town, Medieval Underground and Dungeon Historical Tour is the most reviewed listing here at 5,848 reviews, $30.92 for 90 minutes, adding a 12th century Romanesque palace underground and the same dungeon, with groups capped at 25 and the same age rule. The Medieval Underground of the Old Town Hall Guided Tour costs $28 for 2 hours and is history rather than ghost stories, with entry to two undergrounds included. None of the underground tours suits wheelchair users, and the dungeon tours do not suit claustrophobia.

Alchemy and Mysteries at Prague Castle

Rudolf II moved his court to Prague in 1583 and kept alchemists such as Edward Kelley and John Dee at the castle, and these walks follow that story after dark. The Alchemy Legends and Mysteries Walking Tour shares the lowest price on the page, $20.61, for 105 minutes, meeting at Malostranská metro and walking Nový Svět and Malá Strana past Tycho Brahe's residence and Kelley's laboratory tower, with groups up to 32 and a 30-minute public transport ticket included. Mysteries and Alchemy at Prague Castle also costs $20.61 for 90 minutes from the Pohořelec tram stop, led by a storyteller in a gothic outfit, with the tram ticket included and a minimum of 4 people. The Alchemy and Mysteries of Prague Castle Walking Tour is the longest evening tour at 3 hours for $32.07, covering the Golden Lane and castle grounds. All three are exterior only, so no interiors are entered, and the castle walk leaves the tram ticket to you.

Night History with a Costumed Guide

The night history walks trade ghosts for costume and history, and both rate 4.9. The Plague Doctor Old Town History Walking Tour costs $27 for 90 minutes with a guide in a full 17th-century plague doctor costume, covering the 1713 plague, quarantine and a tasting of a sugar-based anti-plague pill, ending with a group photo at St Agnes Convent. It walks roughly 1.5-2 km and runs in English, German or Spanish. Medieval Prague Through a Nightwatchman's Eyes costs $27.49 for 90 minutes from the Powder Tower to Charles Bridge with a licensed guide carrying a halberd and lantern, groups capped at 15. It covers the 27 executions on Old Town Square in 1621, plague and fire rules, and ends with the nightwatchman's horn call.

Neither enters buildings, and the nightwatchman walk is wheelchair accessible.

Free Tip-Based Ghost Tours

Two operators run tip-based ghost walks of 1.5 hours with no fixed price. GuruWalk lists a Ghosts and Legends of Prague Old Town tour starting at the Powder Gate under a green umbrella, and Walkative offers a pay-what-you-wish Prague Ghost and Legends Tour of the same length. What you trade is certainty.

There is no booking guarantee of the kind a paid listing gives you with free cancellation up to 24 hours before, and neither operator states a group size, so a summer evening can mean a large crowd around one guide. If you want the smallest outlay first, they are a fair trial run, and the paid listings above start from $20.61.

Compare the Night Walks

These ghost walks in Prague all stay above ground and last 90 minutes to 2 hours. Prices come from the GetYourGuide listings on the tour cards, and all four offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure. None of them enters a building on the plain ticket, so you see the squares, lanes and facades where the legends are set.

Mysterium Tours: The Pick

The Mysterium Tours night walk is among the top rated street walks on this page, at 4.7 from 1,775 verified reviews for $21. A costumed storyteller guide leads the route from Old Town Square past the Church of Our Lady before Týn, into the Týn yard (Ungelt), then a secret stop, past the Old-New Synagogue and a second secret stop, finishing at the Old Jewish Cemetery. It runs in English, German or Italian, rain or shine, and the listing says it is likely to sell out.

Nothing is entered. Food, drinks and entry to buildings are not included, and luggage, large bags, alcohol and recording are not allowed. A reviewer who gave 4 stars wished the group could enter one of the sites, which tells you what a walk-only format means in practice.

McGee's Ghost Tours: The Quiet Lane Route

The McGee's Ghost Tours evening tour costs $23 for 1.5 hours and starts at Týnská 627/7 behind Týn Church. It walks a quieter, once-poor corner of the Old Town: Dlouhá, Saint Castulus Church, the Convent of St Agnes, Na Františku Hospital, the Spanish Synagogue, Salvator Church and the Church of Our Lady before Týn. The operator says no one jumps out to scare you and the focus is storytelling, not effects.

It is wheelchair accessible and runs in English or German, with a private option. The listing marks it as not suitable for children under 10. Hotel pickup and drop-off is listed as not included, so you make your own way to Týnská.

Fun in Prague: Ghost Characters and the Museum Ticket

The Fun in Prague ghost walk is the most reviewed listing in this category, 4.5 from 5,682 reviews, at $26 for 1.5 hours. It starts on Křižovnické náměstí by Charles Bridge and passes the Clementinum and Mariánské náměstí to Old Town Square, where the guide tells the story of the skeleton on the Astronomical Clock. Live costumed ghost characters appear along the way and the tone is lighter and laughing.

You can book in English, German, Italian, French, Russian or Spanish. Twelve options exist, and the museum options add an entry ticket to the Museum of Alchemists and Magicians of Old Prague at Jánský vršek 8, open daily 10:00 to 20:00. Check the museum's own listing for its admission price.

The plain group options include no entry anywhere.

Prague Articulate: Early 1900s Costume

The Prague Articulate ghost tour meets at the Old Town Hall on Old Town Square for a 90 minute English walk at $25, rated 4.7 from 490 reviews. The guide wears an elegant historical costume with props inspired by the early 1900s and keeps fact and fiction apart. The route covers Old Town Square, two hidden-corner stops, Saint Castulus Church, the Convent of St Agnes, a monastery, the Old-New Synagogue, the Old Jewish Cemetery and the Astronomical Clock, then returns to the start.

Entrance into buildings, jump scares and special effects are all listed as not included. Children are welcome, but the listing warns the tour contains blunt descriptions of violence, so judge that against your own children. Afterwards the guide hands out a PDF of tips for the rest of your night.

The operator says rain makes the streets emptier and the tour better.

What the Night Walks Tell

The routes name a consistent set of stories. On Old Town Square, the Astronomical Clock legend of the clockmaker Hanuš, blinded so he could not build a second clock, is told on the Fun in Prague walk. The Mysterium Tours route and the Prague Articulate route both pass the Old-New Synagogue, where the legend places the Golem of Prague asleep in the attic, and finish at or near the Old Jewish Cemetery, where Rabbi Loew is buried.

The Týn yard and the churches around it supply the medieval backdrop. All tours tell these as legends, not as documented events. The story of the Golem is generally regarded by historians as a German literary invention of the early 19th century, and the synagogue attic was explored again with no trace of a golem found.

Why the Old Town Has a Second Ground Floor

Secondary sources say the city raised street level after repeated floods, so Romanesque ground floors became cellars from the 13th century, and around 70 houses in the Old Town were originally built below today's street level. The clearest example is the Old Town Hall. Prague.eu says the cellars keep the layout of the original merchants' houses, with Gothic ribbed vaults from the 13th and 14th centuries and a Romanesque ground floor from about 1200.

This is the space the underground tours use. It is history rather than haunting, but it is the same dark, vaulted setting that ghost stories borrow.

Compare the Underground and Dungeon Tours

The underground tours go below street level. Prices come from the GetYourGuide and Viator listings on the tour cards, and all three include the entry fees in the ticket. None of the three suits wheelchair users.

Same Operator, Two Stories

The ghosts version and the history version come from the same operator, Prague Tours, and cost the same $30.92. Both go into the medieval underground and finish in a dungeon with medieval torture and execution instruments. The difference is the telling: the ghosts version adds a costumed guide with a lantern telling ghost stories, a hidden alchemy laboratory with the Golem and the executioner Jan Mydlář story.

The history version drops the costumed ghost stories and adds the 12th century Romanesque palace underground instead. It is also the most reviewed listing on this page at 4.7 from 5,848 reviews. Both meet at a ticket office inside the passage at Malé náměstí 459/11, about 20 meters from the Black Angel Bar-Hotel U Prince and 1-2 minutes from the Astronomical Clock.

Groups are capped at 26 and 25, arrive 5-10 minutes before the start to check in, and once the group leaves you may not be able to join.

The Official City Underground Tour

The Prague City Tourism tour is the official city tour of the Old Town Hall underground, at $28 for 2 hours with a licensed guide. Entry to the Medieval Underground of the Old Town Hall and to the underground of the Angels College is included, through Romanesque and Gothic houses and the original street level. It runs in English, French or Italian and is not suitable for wheelchair users.

It is a heritage tour, not a ghost walk. You can also visit the Old Town Hall underground on your own: Prague.eu says the hall is open January to March 10:00 to 19:00 and April to December 9:00 to 20:00, with a 100 CZK surcharge for Circuit B, the underground-only circuit, and tower admission at 350 CZK basic.

Rudolf II, Kelley, Dee and Brahe

Rudolf II moved the imperial court to Prague in 1583 and reigned as Holy Roman Emperor from 1576 until his death on 20 January 1612. He brought alchemists including Edward Kelley and John Dee to his court and kept a private laboratory, and he supported the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. Dee and Kelley had audiences with Rudolf II in Prague Castle, and Kelley worked as Dee's scryer from 1582 to 1589.

Kelley was later imprisoned by Rudolf II, first at Křivoklát Castle and then at Hněvín Castle in Most, where he died in 1597 or 1598. Tycho Brahe died in Prague on 24 October 1601 and is buried in the Church of Our Lady before Týn on Old Town Square. The tours on this page tell these lives as stories on the streets where they happened.

Compare the Castle and Malá Strana Tours

The castle tours cover the alchemy theme around Prague Castle and Malá Strana. Prices come from the Viator listings on the tour cards, and all three offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure.

What Differs Between Them

The McGee's castle tour is the longest evening tour at 3 hours, and it is exterior only, so no buildings are entered. Viator shows an extra charge of $1.69 on top of the listed $32.07 and the listing does not say what it covers. It covers Prague Castle, the Golden Lane and stories of Rudolf II, alchemy, the Golem and the Devil's Bible. The Real Prague Guides walk is joint cheapest at $20.61 and the only one rated 5.0, from 318 reviews.

It meets at Malostranská metro, where the guide holds a red umbrella with a white 100 logo, and walks Nový Svět and Malá Strana past Tycho Brahe's residence and Edward Kelley's alchemy laboratory tower. The price includes a 30-minute public transport ticket and groups are capped at 32. The Mysterium Tours walk starts from Pohořelec, and the tram ticket on the way up to the castle is included in the $20.61. A guide in a gothic outfit with a lantern covers Charles IV's astrologers and Charles Bridge legends over about 2.8 km, with a minimum of 4 people and no actors trying to scare you.

Alchemy Museums You Can Add On Your Own

You can visit the alchemy sites in daylight without a tour. Speculum Alchemiae at Haštalská 1 is a discovered alchemist workshop found during renovation of the house U Rabbiho Loewa. It opens daily 10:00 to 18:00 with 30 minute guided tours every half hour, and basic admission is 200 CZK.

The Museum of Alchemists and Magicians of Old Prague sits at Jánský vršek 8, in the House at the Donkey in the Cradle where Edward Kelley is said to have lived. It opens daily 10:00 to 20:00. Check the museum's own listing for its admission price.

At the castle itself, Golden Lane was built in the 16th century to house Rudolf II's castle guards, takes its name from the goldsmiths of the 1600s, and connects to the Dalibor tower, a former dungeon.

Compare the Costumed History Walks

These tours tell history in costume rather than legends, and both both rate 4.9. Prices come from the GetYourGuide and Viator listings on the tour cards.

The Plague Doctor and the 1713 Epidemic

The plague doctor tour walks about 1.5-2 km in small groups from the Klementinum through the Old Town and Josefov, past Mariánské náměstí, Old Town Square, the Franz Kafka Monument, Na Františku Hospital, the Convent of St Agnes and Saint Castulus Church, where the itinerary ends. The listing also names the St Agnes Convent as the finish. It covers the 1713 outbreak and how quarantine was enforced, and includes a tasting of a sugar-based anti-plague pill, a lavender oil demonstration and a group photo with the guide.

The 1713 to 1715 plague was the last major plague epidemic in Prague. The Plague Column on Malostranské náměstí was completed in 1715 and still stands. The tour runs in English, German or Spanish, is wheelchair accessible, and 94 percent of English-speaking travelers gave it a perfect score.

The Nightwatchman and Who These Suit

The nightwatchman tour takes groups of up to 15 from the Powder Tower to Charles Bridge, covering the 27 executions on Old Town Square in 1621, the stand where Mozart's Don Giovanni had its world premiere, plague and fire safety rules. It ends with the nightwatchman's horn call, and medieval handcuffs are demonstrated on willing volunteers. It is wheelchair accessible and runs in all weather.

These walks suit travelers who want history over scares. There are no ghost stories, no jump scares and no haunted houses. If you want the legends and the dread, pick one of the night walks or an underground tour instead.

If you want to know what actually happened on the streets you are standing on, told by a guide in a beaked mask or under a halberd, these are the better buy at around $27.

Three Ways to See the Sedlec Ossuary from Prague

The day trips below leave Prague and include the Sedlec Ossuary and St Barbara's Church in the price. The figures come from each listing.

Which Day Trip Suits You

The train day with Sandeman's is the most reviewed, 4.6 from 2,539, and its train tickets, the local bus and both entries are in the $77. The coach day is the lowest price at $73 and drives you there in about an hour each way. The 7 hour day gives the most time and rates 4.6 from 404. Photography is not allowed inside the ossuary on the listings that state it. The history, the tickets and the train on your own are in the Sedlec Ossuary guide.

The Legends and Their Places

The table below gathers the stories the guides tell most often. The places column shows where the legend is set, and most of these buildings are on a night walk route. The stories below are legends, not proven events, and the guides tell them that way.

The Golem of Prague: Story and History

Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, known as the Maharal, was the late 16th century rabbi of Prague and the figure tied to the Golem legend. The story says he made a man from Vltava river clay and brought him to life with Hebrew Kabbalistic incantations, to defend the Jewish community from antisemitic attacks. The legend places the golem's body in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue, ready to be restored to life if needed.

The history is more sober. Rabbi Loew died on 17 September 1609 and his grave and tombstone survive in the Old Jewish Cemetery. The synagogue attic was renovated in 1883 and no physical trace of a golem was found, and it was explored again later with the same result. The earliest written accounts of the Prague golem appear in German in the early 19th century. Historians generally regard the story as a literary invention of that time, and Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg's 1909 book, which claimed eyewitness accounts, is recognised in academic circles as a literary hoax. The lowest three metres of the outside stairs to the attic were removed, and the attic is not open to the public.

The Astronomical Clock and the 27 Crosses

The Prague Astronomical Clock was first recorded on 9 October 1410 and was made by clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and mathematician Jan Šindel. It is the third oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest still working. In the told legend, councillors hired hooded men to blind the clockmaker Hanuš with a hot poker, and the blind Hanuš tore a vital part from the mechanism and died.

Historians say this is a misreading of records, and a clockmaker named Jan Růže around 1490 is the likely basis. On the pavement of Old Town Square, twenty-seven crosses mark the spot where twenty-seven Bohemian nobles were beheaded after the Battle of White Mountain. A plaque naming all 27 victims dates from 1911.

Several night walks pass both spots, including the Ghost Tour with a Costumed Storyteller.

Rudolf's Alchemists and Tycho Brahe

Rudolf II moved his court to Prague in 1583 and brought alchemists such as Edward Kelley and John Dee to Prague Castle. Rudolf II also supported the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. Tycho died in Prague on 24 October 1601 and is buried in the Church of Our Lady before Týn on Old Town Square.

The castle district keeps this legacy, and the alchemy and mysteries night walks trace it after dark. Kepler recorded that Tycho held back from leaving a banquet out of etiquette and died eleven days after the onset of urinary trouble.

Sunset Month by Month

The figures below come from published Prague sunset data for the 15th of each month. Tours set their start times on their booking listings, and the times show when you check availability.

Winter or Summer on a Night Walk

Prague daylight ranges from about 8 hours at midwinter to about 16 hours 23 minutes at midsummer. In June and July the sun sets after 21:00, and families with children may find the winter evenings easier. Winter brings real cold on a two hour outdoor walk, so dress warmly.

If the cold is too much, the underground tours are the indoor option: the Ghosts, Legends, Medieval Underground and Dungeon Tour and the Old Town, Medieval Underground and Dungeon Historical Tour spend much of their time below street level. The listings that state weather terms run rain or shine, so check the cancellation rules before you book.