Top 10: the best five-star Prague hotels
An expert guide to the best five-star Prague hotels, including the best places to stay for opulent interiors, luxurious bedrooms, elegant restaurants, sumptuous spas and stellar service, in locations close to the Old Town Square, the Charles Bridge and Prague Castle.
Prague’s Boscolo hotel oozes Italian-style panache: housed inside a neoclassical palazzo, the hotel makes a big impression on the inside too: think a huge, high-ceilinged foyer, grand staircases and original chandeliers. There’s also more ornate stucco, polished marble and fine woods than you can shake a Venetian artisan at, but also lots of modern touches and sleek restaurant décor. Facilities include a spa, which houses one of the largest indoor pools in Prague (at 20m long), a striking blue mosaic floor and a Turkish bath and sauna. You can also get full-body massages or hop in one of the whirlpools.
A musical theme runs throughout this opulent city centre hotel: floors are themed by genre and each of the plush 51 rooms and suites is dedicated to a musician, with books and art related to them inside, plus sound systems and iPads loaded with the house selections. The Mozart suite, in peach tones, overlooks the garden where ceremonies are booked every summer weekend. Staff musicologist Ivana Stehlíková will advise on which Rudolfinim seats have the finest acoustics and who’s the hottest Prague Philharmonic conductor.
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Arguably one of Prague’s most impressive accommodation options, the five-star Augustine merges a historical location (the 13th century buildings once served as a monastery) with some seriously sharp 20th-century design. Modernist furnishings and artworks pepper the public areas and rooms, tastefully combined with nods to the monastery’s history, such as religious statues and symbols subtly sewn into curtains and cushions. Amenities include a comprehensive spa, quite magnificent cocktail bar and courtyard restaurant with terrace and glass ceiling.
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One of the city’s plushest and best-located hotels, the Four Seasons comprises several separate structures from different eras, lending plenty of character to the interior and rooms. Décor and furnishings are a reliable mix of classic and modern, with rich woods, marble floors and a particularly vast and ornate lobby, complemented by lovely flourishes like decorative cornices, tromp l’oeil and crafted stucco. Aside from the restaurant and bar, the hotel has a fifth-floor terrace used for dining as well as occasional classical concerts.
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The Mandarin Oriental reputation for sophisticated tranquility is, if anything, amplified here by the historical aura of the host buildings, which span the gothic, baroque and renaissance eras. The hushed, sand-coloured interior, all stately vaulted ceilings and arched doorways, is strategically punctuated with modern artworks and designer furnishings to create just the right balance of historical reverence and contemporary flair. As well as a swish restaurant and bar, there’s also a state-of-the-art fitness centre and a jaw-dropping spa that’s set in a 14th-century convent (you can see the foundations through the lobby’s specially built glass floor) and offers a comprehensive range of treatments.
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Originally constructed in the 12th-century, the building that houses Hotel U Prince is acutely historical, even by Prague’s standards. The labyrinthine interior is actually a World Heritage listed site. In aesthetic terms, that means exposed beams and stone masonry throughout, as well as parquet floors, ceilings featuring restored frescoes as well as a wealth of antique furnishing; the overall feel is of an incredibly elegant renaissance home. Comfortable and romantically attired rooms and apartments, a couple of restaurants, a lively cocktail bar, and an ideal location slap-bang on Old Town Square round it off.
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With parts of the stunning Baroque villa dating back to medieval Prague, and interiors bedecked with antique sedans, Bohemian crystal, leather-backed tomes, princely writing desks and decorative nautilus shells, the Alchymist Grand Hotel could well be a museum but for its warmth, sunny terrace, posh dining room, cheerful chocolatier and youthful, international staff. The hotel's Ecsotica spa, a veritable grotto of saunas, whirlpools, calming aroma therapies, fitness rooms and Asian temple sculpture, is a major bonus.
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The feel of a royal retreat runs throughout these 19 cosy-yet-classic guest rooms, laid out in a labyrinth that ascends the Hradčany hill. Architecture and character trump consistency in room size and shape, but touches such as Renaissance-style clay wall sections, in-room iPods and iPads, and whirlpool baths which blend remarkably well with the historic setting. Make sure to enjoy seafood and Bohemian game dishes at the hotel's top-floor restaurant, which boasts magnificent views and welcomes both hotel guests and Prague's elite.
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The Emblem has worked with a dizzying number of interior and furniture designers (local and international) to ensure plenty of unique eye-candy, including specially commissioned copper lamps in the rooms and hand-picked wallpaper along the corridors. Facilities-wise, the hotel packs a lot into a relatively small space. Downstairs is an elegant multi-roomed complex that features a members’ club with private fumoir, games room with PlayStation and a relaxation lounge with a huge TV. Upstairs is The M Spa, with treatment rooms, sauna and steam room, as well as a small gym and rooftop whirlpool tub.
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This luxurious five-star boutique enjoys a stellar location right opposite the town hall in Old Town Square. Set inside a former Art Nouveau palace, the hotel is characterised by high ceilings, a lobby decked out ostentatiously in Italian marble and hung with Swarowski crystal chandeliers, antique oil paintings and a handsome stone staircase. The main communal area is the handsome library, whose comfortable sofas and attractive coffee tables made from African wood, plus a selection of curated reading literature, make it a great spot for relaxing and meeting.
