Prague in one page: castle side, old side, real side

Prague splits at the Vltava. Old Town (Staré Město) and the Jewish Quarter pack the medieval headline sights into a walkable knot — beautiful, and heaving from 10:00. Malá Strana across Charles Bridge is baroque lanes rising to the Castle. Real-life Prague — Vinohrady, Žižkov, Karlín — starts one tram stop east and is where the good restaurants price for locals.

Getting around: trams are the joy of the city; a 24-hour ticket costs less than a tourist-trap beer. Validate on board.

Money: Czechia uses the koruna, not the euro. Never exchange cash at street kiosks (the 'zero commission' scam is institutional); use bank ATMs and always decline dynamic currency conversion.

Rhythm: dawn belongs to photographers on Charles Bridge; tour groups own 10:00–16:00 in the core; evenings the crowds evaporate into restaurants and the bridge is yours again.

Skip / instead: skip the Astronomical Clock scrum at noon — see it at 08:00, then spend the saved hour at Vyšehrad.