Tourism in the Czech Republic

There is a long history of tourism in the Czech Republic. Prague is one of the most visited cities of the world, with 6–8 million visitors per year.

Charles Bridge in the historic centre of Prague

Tourist regions

For the needs of tourism, the Czech Republic is divided into 17 tourist regions, further divided into 40 subregions. The regions partly overlap with the administrative regions, but natural areas of tourist importance are set aside. The subregions further distinguish natural and cultural areas.^[1]

• Prague
  • Prague
• Středočeský kraj
  • Střední Čechy – west
  • Střední Čechy – south
  • Střední Čechy – northeast – Polabí
• Jižní Čechy
  • Jižní Čechy
• Šumava
  • Šumava
• Plzeňsko and Český les
  • Český les
  • Plzeňsko
• Západočeské lázně
  • Západočeské lázně
• Severozápadní Čechy
  • České Středohoří and Žatecko
  • Krušné hory and Podkrušnohoří
  • České Švýcarsko
• Českolipsko and Jizerské hory
  • Českolipsko
  • Jizerské hory
• Český ráj
  • Český ráj
• Krkonoše and Podkrkonoší
  • Krkonoše and Podkrkonoší
• Královéhradecko
  • Kladské pomezí
  • Hradecko
  • Orlické hory and Podorlicko
• Východní Čechy
  • Pardubicko
  • Chrudimsko-Hlinecko
  • Králický Sněžník
  • Českomoravské pomezí
  • Orlické hory and Podorlicko
• Vysočina
  • Vysočina
• Jižní Morava
  • Znojemsko and Podyjí
  • Pálava and Lednicko-Valtický areál
  • Slovácko
  • Brno and surroundings
  • Moravský kras and surroundings
• Východní Morava
  • Kroměřížsko
  • Zlínsko and Luhačovicko
  • Valašsko
  • Slovácko
• Severní Morava and Slezsko
  • Beskydy – Valašsko
  • Těšínské Slezsko
  • Ostravsko
  • Poodří – Moravské Kravařsko
  • Opavské Slezsko
  • Jeseníky – east
• Střední Morava and Jeseníky
  • Střední Morava
  • Jeseníky – west

Visitors

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, residents made up 50.5% of guests who spent at least one night in accommodation facilities (a total of 11,107,866 visitors). In 2024, the share of domestic guests was 54.0% (in absolute numbers 12,330,012 visitors, which was the second most in history).^[2] In 2022, the share of tourists from Asian countries decreased significantly due to long-term anti-pandemic measures in these countries, canceled direct flights and the political situation in the world.^[3] Most non-residents arriving to the Czech Republic and staying overnight are from the following countries (countries with at least 200,000 visitors per year):^[4]

Rank	Country	2024	2019
	Total	10,488,342	10,890,500
1	Germany	2,377,682	2,075,460
2	Slovakia	899,174	749,631
3	Poland	841,541	671,857
4	United States	562,578	584,627
5	United Kingdom	530,442	495,728
6	Italy	435,446	409,731
7	Austria	347,152	285,457
8	Ukraine	340,750	272,082
9	France	276,867	306,875
10	Spain	271,014	261,910
11	Netherlands	256,789	248,898
12	South Korea	255,424	387,563
	Mainland China	173,814	609,727
	Russia	40,764	564,083

Prague is by far the most visited Czech city. In 2018, it was the 28th most visited city in the world.^[5]

Number of visitors in 2024 by regions^[2]

Region	Total	Non-residents	Residents
Czech Republic	22,818,354	10,488,342	12,330,012
Prague	8,079,195	6,506,081	1,573,114
Central Bohemian	1,362,921	292,591	1,070,330
South Bohemian	1,750,407	515,149	1,235,258
Plzeň	899,304	313,201	586,103
Karlovy Vary	1,390,692	754,421	636,271
Ústí nad Labem	634,283	210,121	424,162
Liberec	1,172,695	206,751	965,944
Hradec Králové	1,543,362	326,286	1,217,076
Pardubice	529,479	68,678	460,801
Vysočina	685,619	88,748	596,871
South Moravian	2,178,788	736,927	1,441,861
Olomouc	750,056	137,530	612,526
Zlín	817,876	116,263	701,613
Moravian-Silesian	1,023,677	215,595	808,082

Tourist attractions

In 2023, the most visited tourist destinations in the country were:^[6]

Rank	Destination	No. of visitors (in thousands)	Region
1	Prague Castle	2,191.8	Prague
2	Petřín funicular	1,915.7	Prague
3	Prague Zoo	1,358.4	Prague
4	Aquapalace Prague	1,105.0	Central Bohemian
5	Lower Vítkovice	891.7	Moravian-Silesian
6	Aqualand Moravia	837.1	South Moravian
7	Zlín-Lešná Zoo	770.7	Zlín
8	Safari Park Dvůr Králové	673.0	Hradec Králové
9	Petřín Lookout Tower	643.1	Prague
10	Ostrava Zoo	612.5	Moravian-Silesian
11	Old Town Hall	560.8	Prague
12	Pilsner Urquell Brewery	527.9	Plzeň
13	Plzeň Zoo	496.7	Plzeň
14	Adršpach-Teplice Rocks	488.0	Hradec Králové
15	iQ Park & iQ Landia science center in Liberec	484.9	Liberec
16	Olomouc Zoo	417.0	Olomouc
17	Prague Botanical Garden	412.9	Prague
18	Liberec Zoo	409.6	Liberec
19	Petřín Mirror Maze	378.5	Prague
20	Jihlava Zoo	354.7	Vysočina
21	Lednice Castle	349.1	South Moravian
22	Aquapark in Uherské Hradiště	335.7	South Moravian
23	Mirakulum amusement park	320.8	Central Bohemian
24	Království železnic Smíchov	320.2	Prague
25	Lysá hora	320.0	Moravian-Silesian
26	Svatá Hora in Příbram	310.5	Central Bohemian
27	Chairlift in Prague Zoo	305.6	Prague
28	Wallachian Open Air Museum	305.1	Zlín
29	Sedlec area in Kutná Hora	290.9	Central Bohemian
30	Zoopark Chomutov	289.1	Ústí nad Labem

The Czech Republic has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including two transnational. One of them is natural, the rest is cultural.

References

1. "Mapa turistických regionů a oblastí, kontakty" (in Czech). CzechTourism. Archived from the original on 2018-12-24.
2. "Occupancy in collective accommodation establishments". Public Database. Czech Statistical Office. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
3. "Češi loni po Česku cestovali nejvíc v novodobé historii" (in Czech). CzechTourism. 2023-02-15. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
4. "Occupancy in collective tourist accommodation establishments by country". Public Database. Czech Statistical Office. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
5. "Praha je 28. nejnavštěvovanější město na světě. Letos v ní přespí rekordních 7,1 milionu lidí, tvrdí Mastercard" (in Czech). Hospodářské noviny. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
6. "Návštěvnost turistických cílů 2023" (PDF) (in Czech). CzechTourism. Retrieved 2025-02-03.

External links

• #VisitCzechia – National tourist portal
• UNESCO World Heritage List – Czech Republic
• Popular tourist destinations and attractions in the Czech Republic