The Julius Prague: Is This Really the Best Hotel in Prague? Our Honest Review

When we travel with our son Jonášek (he’s two), we always try to stay in the city centre, because it’s just so much easier with a toddler — and the premium for a central location has paid off so many times that we don’t even debate it anymore. Prague has no shortage of beautiful design hotels, though, so picking the right one isn’t exactly straightforward. We’d heard that The Julius is often called the best Prague hotel you can book, and since it also holds a MICHELIN Key (the prestigious new distinction Michelin awards only to truly exceptional hotels), we had to try it for ourselves. And I have to say right upfront — this is one of the very few high-end hotels we’ve left thinking we could happily turn around and go straight back. ☺️

Price per night: The One-Bedroom Suite we stayed in starts at around €190 per night, though prices naturally go up during peak season and weekends. You can book directly on the hotel’s website, or check Booking.com for the best available rate including cancellation terms.

First impression: like a Pretty Woman hotel

There are plenty of gorgeous design hotels in Prague, but what truly sets one apart isn’t another minimalist lobby or Italian marble (although The Julius does have marble, and the interiors are the work of Milan-based architects Matteo Thun & Partners). It’s the staff. At The Julius Prague, you feel a bit like Vivian in Pretty Woman — staying at that hotel where everyone takes care of you without having to be asked. Everyone is helpful yet discreet, and what I value far more, they anticipate what you and your children will need before you even think of it.

I don’t just mean help with luggage or a glass of sparkling wine at check-in, though you get both. I’m talking about the small things you don’t even notice until you experience the opposite at another hotel. Case in point: nobody cleared two-year-old Jonášek’s plate, even when there were only a few bites left and he clearly wasn’t interested anymore. At restaurants with a small child, we constantly deal with waiters swooping in with “can I take that?”, while you’re still not sure if your toddler might change their mind about that last cherry. Here, it was immediately obvious that the staff had been trained for exactly this kind of thing — and trust me, for parents of a young child, it makes a world of difference.

One-Bedroom Suite: the first hotel room where we had a dishwasher

We stayed in the One-Bedroom Suite, because with a two-year-old you need a separate bedroom (or at least a different space to retreat to after seven in the evening, so you’re not spending the entire night whispering). A cot for Jonášek was brought to the room as a matter of course — we didn’t have to arrange a thing.

The suite was genuinely spacious, but what really got me was the kitchenette. A fridge, a coffee machine, and a dishwasher. It was the first time in my life I’d had a dishwasher in a hotel room, and suddenly it hit me just how useful that is. When you’re travelling with a small child and don’t finish a room-service meal, you simply clear two plates, two glasses, and a baby bottle from the living room, pop them in the dishwasher, and you’re done. No half-washed dishes balanced in the bathroom sink, no feeling like you’re living in a cave. For a three-night stay, it’s an absolute game-changer.

What matters in a hotel room (and people rarely write about)

The rooms at The Julius aren’t overheated. This might sound like a minor thing, but we’ve had expensive hotels ruined by stifling rooms where the bathroom wouldn’t ventilate properly and we’d wake up at night feeling like we couldn’t breathe. Here the rooms lean cooler, which means you genuinely sleep well. My husband Lukáš (who’s even more sensitive to this than I am) especially appreciated being able to get a proper night’s rest.

The beds are another thing I have to highlight. Not too firm, not too soft — just right for pretty much anyone. We’ve had hotel mattresses that felt like sleeping on a rock and others where you sink in like quicksand, and neither is what you want after a day of walking around Prague. Here, we slept brilliantly.

Breakfast even a two-year-old will love

Breakfast at the hotel was one of the best we’ve ever had, and I say that as someone who’s genuinely fussy about food. Even Jonášek was absolutely thrilled — I can barely describe it. He picked things out himself, pointed at what he wanted, and ate like I’d never seen him eat before. Children are the quickest quality check for any hotel breakfast, because they don’t have that built-in filter of “well, it’s a hotel, so it must be good” — they either like it or they don’t.

Something I thought was brilliant, and you don’t see it all that often at hotel breakfasts: eggs are cooked to order however you like them, and if the machine coffee isn’t enough for you (which is actually decent, by the way), you can order a coffee made by a proper barista. As someone who insists on a quality espresso first thing in the morning, that little bonus made my day.

Brasserie The Julius: celeriac that tasted better than my husband’s gnocchi

The Julius restaurant (officially Brasserie The Julius, run by head chef Milan Dolejš) is the place where I ordered something I’d normally never eat. I figured that if this restaurant is as good as everything I’d read, it should be able to pull off an ingredient I don’t love (actually, one I can’t stand). So I ordered the celeriac.

And I was right. That celeriac tasted better than my husband’s gnocchi, which I genuinely didn’t expect. When a chef can take an ingredient you’ve avoided your entire life and leave you wishing they’d bring you another plate, that’s a sign you’re in very good hands. The ambience is Italian-inspired, calm, beautifully lit — none of that overly loud environment where you hear the table next to you more than your own conversation. You simply want to sit there for hours.

Details that make the difference

Hotel reviews often stop at the room and the breakfast, but I also remember the small touches where it became clear the hotel truly thinks about its guests:

• Umbrellas at the entrance. Raining? No need to grab one from your room or buy a flimsy one from the nearest shop. You simply borrow one by the door. A tiny detail, but Prague gets more rain than you’d think, and we found it a wonderfully civilised touch.
• Quiet rooms. Despite the hotel sitting on Senovážné náměstí (a 6-minute walk from Prague’s main railway station, and just minutes from Wenceslas Square and Old Town Square), we couldn’t hear the street from our room — which is quite a feat in such a central location.
• A central spot that actually makes sense. Senovážné náměstí sits slightly off the main tourist chaos, so you get the location without the crowds. Perfect with a pushchair — but even without one, if you have a toddler who refuses to ride in a buggy but can’t walk far yet, you’re right on the tram line.

Who is The Julius Prague ideal for

We tried it as a family with a small child, and after three nights I can confidently say this is a Prague hotel that would work for a whole range of travellers:

• Families with young children. A kitchenette with a dishwasher, quiet rooms, and staff who don’t throw you or your child off balance. For a three-night stay with two-year-old Jonášek, it was genuinely brilliant that we could make porridge in the morning before breakfast without calling room service.
• Couples on a romantic weekend. The design, the Brasserie, a location that’s central but crowd-free. An ideal base for a city break where you want to see a lot but also enjoy the hotel itself.
• Business travellers and longer stays. Thanks to the kitchenette with Miele appliances (dishwasher, fridge, coffee machine), you can stay longer than three days without going mad from living in a hotel. And you’re a stone’s throw from Prague’s main railway station if you’re arriving by train. If you’re flying in from London, direct flights with British Airways, Ryanair, or easyJet take under two hours.
• Design and food lovers. A neoclassical building in Prague city centre, interiors by Milan-based architects Matteo Thun & Partners, the family heritage of the Julius Meinl brand (which has been around since 1862), plus a restaurant that can prepare even celeriac so well that someone who hates it will ask for more. ☺️

Verdict: is it worth it?

When you’re paying for an upscale Prague hotel in the city centre, you expect a beautiful room, a good bed, and staff who smile. You’ll get that almost everywhere. What The Julius does differently is that combination you don’t find very often: apartment-style comfort (a dishwasher in the room!), a restaurant that genuinely delivers, staff who master discretion even around small children, and a location that’s central without the tourist chaos. For us, it’s one of the best hotels in Prague we’ve ever tried — and the label “best in Prague” isn’t one it carries without good reason.

If I had to sell it to you in one sentence, I’d say this: it’s one of the very few places where we left after three nights with a two-year-old without feeling like we needed another holiday to recover from this one. 😉

You can book The Julius Prague via Booking.com or directly on the hotel’s official website.