First the décor. Here you can enjoy first-class balcony seats for the price of a coffee. Large bay windows offer a mind-blowing view of Prague, its high-perched castle, the warm colors of Malá Strana, Charles Bridge and the Vltava, the National Theater... It almost makes you forget to notice the beautiful Functionalist interior, highlighted with Art déco wall decorations, conferring to the place a discreet elegance. The staff wears old-style tailcoats, an adjective we could also use for the cloakroom by the entrance: tradition rules here.

The café exist of course thanks to the National Theater that faces it: it was founded a few years after the theater, in 1884, and ever since has been welcoming its audience during interludes and actors after rehearsals and shows. It became, just as the theater, a symbol of the National Revival that took place in the 19th century. It is thus not surprising that the café’s name, Slavia, is inspired by the mythical mother of all Slavs.

Intellectuals and artists never left its inspired premises, even at the darkest hour of the communist normalization period: the poets Jiři Kolář and Jaroslav Seifert, the Symbolist painter Jan Zrzavý, theater actors and authors such as Václav Havel were among some of its most renowned regulars. It keeps attracting those in search of inspiration...
National café, historic café, arts café, Slavia is also the vivid reflection of a welcoming city, whose inhabitants are eager to participate in debates and discussions and to make encounters.

Café Slavia - Kavárna Slávia
Národní 1
Prague 1 - New Town
www.cafeslavia.cz

How to get there: Subway Yellow line B station “Národní třída”.
Open everyday from 8am to 11pm.