Family food guide for Holesovice in Prague

After having tried living in different parts of Prague, and having eaten out very often, we
came to the conclusion that Holesovice offers the best food for the lowest price tag in Prague. In the beginning and when having visitors here first we accidentally stumbled on a few tourist traps in the touristy areas. Too many experiences with bad quality meat, greasy sauces. under or over cooked food at high prices and served by unenthusiastic staff has forever put us off trying out  those types of restaurants again in the beautiful, central areas of Prague.

There are a few places of course in central prague that are good, but they also come with the more expensive price tag. Having a family with several meals to pay for each time we go out the more upmarket places are not an option, but we do LOVE good food! Eating out delicious meals a nice summer evening or going out when we are simply to lazy to cook are things we do quite often.

So we have since we moved to Holesovice looked at the options here and found out that there is an amazing array of restaurants and cafés that serves excellent food at local prices that many visitors just dont hear about. There are so many places in just Holesovice that we havent ploughed through most of them - even after staying here for soon 6 months. Nearly all of these places are within walking distance from our two family flats that we rent out, and some offers takeaways and deliveries.

So which ones are the best? We will give our best advice for nice places to find delicious food with a good price tag here:

Photo: Benedict Banathy

Avion58

This is a restaurant in the old brewery building by U Pruhonu. It is one of our closest restaurants which is so lucky because we consider it the best one in Prague. When some one comes to visit us we always bring them here, It is a brewery building with beer tanks and very high ceiling so its quite noisy. In the summer there is a pateo on the back where you can eat and where there is plenty of space for children to roam around. They serve very good czech and thai food. So far everything we have had have been super-delicious and we have always been happy. We hope that they wont ever crush that image. The unfilthered american ale here is our favourite beer in Prague. The restaurant offers take away for the beer if you have a large container.¨

Restaurace Pět peněz

This is one of our favourite restaurants. The cellar is cosy but they also have tables outside. They serve the best goulash in town! The children likes the chicken wings and burgers. They have unfilthered Staropramen beer which is so much better than regular beer.

Avion Café

This is little cafe is on the corner of the Komunardo road where there are plenty of restaurants. Its a quiet place that serves cheap good breakfasts and nice lemonades. Its great to work from, internet is good and they have enough power plugs.

7 Tacos Steak and Grill

A mexican restaurant on a busy road. It is one of our childrens favourite and its a nice place that actually have good mexican food and also some czech options. The nachos are the best according to the kids.

Freshland

This is a new place serving super healthy smoothies, soups, salads and other things. Great when you need extra vitamins. Its near BILLA on the map.

Čínské Bistro Fu Da

This is a little chinese takeaway place that we use quite often. Some of the stir fries are average but the sushi is good, and its an easy and cheap place that the kids usually asks to go to. It is on Komunardu street.

Holešovická Kozlovna

This brewery restuarant has a nice pateo and outdoor play ground. The staff is a little rude sometimes but the food, beer and the outdoor pateo are lovely. Its a perfect place to go with a group of friends. The steak is just the best. The children likes the chicken wings and chicken snitzel.

La Bottega Tusarova

An italian restaurant and delicatessen that has cooking classes too. Its a little more pricey but not the lunch deals.

Pivni Galerie

This is not a restaurant, but i thought it needed to be mentioned because its a very good beer gallery that my husband really likes. Apparently there is a room for beer tasting. My husband has bought very nice and unusual types of beer here. The owner is very chatty (in english).

Phill´s corner

This is a nice café / breakfast / lunch place which is located on Komunardu street. They have nice teas and lemonades. They have cheap and tasty lunch offers and very good bread.

Phill´s twenty7

I guess this restaurant has the same owner as above. It has the same style and decor. Our children loves the english breakfast they serve. The lunch is very good too - sort of like they are doing a czech take on posh english food. They have some Gordon Ramsay cook books in czech. This is where the hipsters of Holesovice goes.

Kovadelni

An almost hidden cellar restaurant if it was for the big beer sign. This is a place that serves very cheap czech food that is actually good. The lunch costs about 80-100 czech korunna only which makes it one of the cheapest places we know. Its near the U Pruhonu tram stop.

Restaurant Baterka

This is quite a big czech pub that is really close to one of our family rental flats. Its a place that has good lunch offers and is popular with workers.

Čínské bistro 

A small chinese restaurant that is also close to one of our family rental flats. It is a cheap place that is serving mainly stirfries that is ok.

Paralelni Polis Bitcoin Coffee

This is one of our favourite cafés in Prague. Its unique and only one of its kind so far as it is bitcoin-only. If you are new to bitcoin, the staff is happy to inform and help you change in their ATM. Mostly we like it because of the creativity that is oozing from here. The coffee and tea is good. Unfortunately they dont have hot food there, but some cakes and sandwiches. Its a great place to work from and its kid friendly also. 

ThanhTam Asia Food

This is an asian restaurant that serves vietnamese, sushi and some chinese and thai food. Its a great little find since last week. We ate there 3 days in a row because the kids liked the teriyaki chicken so much. The vietnamese food is excellent. Its so cheap its almost not worth cooking your own meal when you can go to a place like this sometimes. Its on Delnicka, close to one of our family flats for rent.

Pivovar Marina

Located just by the marina with a large outdoor seating area this is a pretty good place for a hot summer evening. Its a brewery with huge beer tanks inside. Its quite noisy and not really kid friendly but still a place worth mentioning.

Tràng An at the Prague market

This vietnamese eatery is located the market. It serves the best Pho soup in Prague and very good vietnamese food at low prices. They have outdoor seating mainly so its good for a sunny day.

Bhojan Indian restaurant

This place serves vegetarian indian food at low prices. I had a Masala Dosa, first time outside of India, and it was surprisingly good. 

Burrito Loco

This is a mexican chain restaurant that serves kid-friendly meals like tacos and nachos. The salad is good.

Capua Italian restaurant

Here you can find very good pizzas and pastas in a nice setting.

Bageterie Boulevard

A baguette chain that has a kid-friendly environment.

Cafe Dos Mundos

This is a cool cafe near Kamenicka tram stop that has swings that you can swing on.

Masala Indian restaurant

They offer delivery which is what we have tried and have been delicious. Generous portions.

Bistro Kavárna Oh La La

A small french cafe that also has a garden on the back. We love the decor and the breakfasts here. Staff are very nice. 

Awesome things for kids in Holesovice

We ended up in Holesovice pretty much because it was easy here and we felt a little lazy after 1,5 years of living as nomads in 26 different countries. Holesovice is a fairly quiet area but rich in things to do near central Prague. It was the first area we stayed in here and after exploring other parts of Prague we decided it was our favourite. There is so many things to do here for families, just outside our door step. Its a surprisingly nice part of the world that is not very well known and often gets missed by visitors. I´ll list our favourites! All of these places are near the two worldschooling flats that we offer to rent when we are travelling.

1) Kralovska Obora / Stromovka Park

The royal park is the largest park in Prague and is great for kids. There are several play parks. Many of them have a pub or restaurant attached. (where else would you find a play park where you also could get some cheap quality beer if not in Prague??) There is a planetarium, exhibition grounds in the stunning Vystaviste Holesovice where there are some interesting exhibitions every now and again, duck ponds where you can feed the ducks and where there are some summer activities, or in the winter where you can skate. There is a fun fair as well, and you can rent pedal cars and do some other things in the summer. When there is snow there is a good hill for toboggans and people also go cross country skiing here. There is plenty of trees which is nice in a big city, and some lovely spots for picknicks and ball games. There are also stables and you can walk to the zoo over the river.

2) DOX arts museum

The contemporary arts museum offers workshops for families and homeschoolers, and you can get an interactive kit in english. There is a huge wooden zeppelin on top.

3) VELETRŽNÍ PALÁC - Narodni Galerie arts museum

This is another arts museum with some impressive paintings that also have events for kids sometimes.

4) Krokodyli zoo

There is a little crocodile zoo in the middle of Holesovice. Its just a stones throw away from one of our worldschooling flats. You can see when they feed the crocodiles at certain times. They have some events and childrens activities.

5) Morsky Svet

This is the biggest aquarium in Czech republic where you can see sharks and exotic fish. It is located just near Vystaviste Holesovice so its a great combination together with the park, or instead of the park if its bad weather.

6) Planetarium

The planetarium is located in the Stromovka park. Sometimes they have events for families.

7) Národní zemědělské muzeum (Agriculture museum)

The Agriculture museum is an interactive museum for kids that is a little more exciting than it may sound! We found farm animals outside the entrance. Lots of old tractors, and some small tractors for kids. It can be good fun for a rainy day.

8) Montessori kindergarden

There is a little montessori kindergarden called Marina academy by the marina in Holesovice. The language is english but the kids come from different countries. Its 100% private which means they dont have to follow the government rules. From 3-6.

9) Pražská tržnice (Prague market)

The big market in Prague is just a short walk from our two worldschooling family homes. Most of the sellers are Vietnamese, so we nicknamed the market "the Vietnamese market". They sell really a mish mash of stuff, everything from clothes to weapons, toys, some indecent stuff, home decor and souvenirs. You can also buy things for cooking asian food there. There is an vietnamese eatery that serves the best pho soup in Prague for about 100 czech koruna. In the summer when it was over 30 degrees celsius and there were so many vietnamese kids playing there late at night, it really felt for a while like we werent in Prague but in south east asia! The big vegetable market is an interesting place to take the kids. The size of some of the vegetables like pumpkins and beetroot are pretty impressive. Its good for getting your vegetables and locally produced milk and eggs.

10) Draw planet arts school

This arts school have drop in kids lessons on saturdays which is great if you dont want to commit to something. There are also workshops and classes for adults. Its located in a giant old communist building.

11) Muddum arts school

This arts school is run by a spanish couple. They do workshops for kids in english and spanish, pottery and african arts for instance.

12) Paralelni Polis

This is a creative place for people interested in a state free society, crypto currency and arts. There is a 3D printing workshop where adults and kids can take lessons. Sometimes there are interesting lectures in english, and once a year there is the hackers congress (hacking applies to worldschooling too as we hack through the school system :) ) Most important, it is bitcoin only and a great place for families and children to learn about how the monetary system works and what the difference is for decentralized currencies like gold and bitcoin. The corrupt czech finance minister made fun of below.

13) Tančírna dance studio

This is a dance studio on Delnicka street near both our worldschooling flats, the lessons are in czech but the staff can instruct in english a little too. You will find lessons for kids, adults and yoga also.

14) Letna Park - Letensky Sady

This is another nice park between Holesovice and Hradcany. You just take a tram to Korunovacni or Sparta. It is quite big, with a couple of play parks, some sports areas and iceskating at christmas. There are play park pubs of course where you can get drinks and hot dogs if you forget a picnic. Walk to the metronome and have a look at the wonderful view over the city of Prague.

15) Mammut climbing centre 

This climbing centre has both courses and you can rent equipment to climb here yourself too. Suitable for both small kids and adults.

16) Vystaviste swimming pool and sports facilities

There are plenty of sports activities and facilities in Vystaviste like indoor iceskating and swimming. We particularly like the small newly renovated pool there. Its very cheap and clean, and just swimming lanes so its perfect for small kids to learn to swim and the adults to get some exercise. You will find the swimming pool and sports centres to the right side of the exhibition halls. Walk or take the tram to Vystaviste Holesovice.

17) Technical museum

This museum is located near the letenske namesti tram stop. Its perfect for a rainy day. There are several floors with interesting stuff and an ok restaurant.

18) Bio Oko 

This is an alternative cinema that shows foreign films, often with english text or in english.

19) Tennis club and lessons

On a little island just south of Holesovice you can find the CLTK tennis club where you can get lessons and play.

20) The Marina and around on the eastern side of Holesovice 

Holesovice is a traditional "workers area" that used to be where the meat packing industry was before in the communist times. It was quite run down and poor. This has changed totally just recently. Today its a cool place with many nice restaurants, clubs and things to do. The eastern area is full of renovated and new buildings, many tech offices, fancy homes  and therefore many nice lunch restaurants and small parks have sprung up. We love living here. The best restaurant in Prague (according to us) is located in the citys old brewery building and around it there are new shops, yoga studios and gyms, places for parents and toddlers and many healthy food options (with czech price tags). The camera shop Megapixel offers photography and studio lessons. We like walking along the river where there are many interesting boats and old run down warehouses. In fact since the last month or so we barely left Holesovice, not feeling the need for it!

Regarding information about our two worldschooling flats, one of them will be available for rent full time, and the other one that we live in will be available when we are travelling. It is free april 6th-may 6th. Please send a message for more info as they are both not listed for rent yet but I will post when they are.

Winter and some news

Due to some personal reasons I havent been able to run the Prague worldschooling after xmas. We were planning to leave czech for 6 months as our feet are itchy again. But something keeps us here now - will tell you another time :) We will do trips when we can this spring though so there will be less regular worldschooling and more go with the flow. This autumn we had worldschoolers getting in touch with us every week - this last month has been very quiet. I guess czech is not that popular for worldschoolers in the winter - but you know what? The mountains here have more snow then when we lived in Sweden! The picture about is taken in the Stromovka Park in the city - we have had snow here for a while but it just melted the other day.

Slowly we will resume activities. The Family yoga is off at the moment - we need more families to join. Its a wonderful opportunity where the whole family is involved. Its great fun with yoga and lots of play - just perfect for homeschoolers.

There is an option to join a math class on tuesdays at Brainobrain. Our kids really liked their private lessons last autumn. Now they start a class which will be extra nice for homeschoolers :)

Id like to start a minecraft club. Our boys really got into it and would love to get to know more kids here that loves it too. If your kid loves minecraft and wants to play with us let me know!

For this February our activities will be spontaneous so keep getting in touch for opportunities to meet up and come to activities.