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Why Everyone is Leaving Prague

Real Prague Guides

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Prague looks perfect on the surface, but more and more locals are considering leaving. In this video we break down the 7 biggest problems nobody warns you about: unaffordable rent and property prices, weak tenant protection, homelessness and visible drug use, overtourism and Airbnb, extreme weather, and frustrating bureaucracy.

If you’re thinking of moving to Prague or already live here, this honest local perspective will help you understand the real downsides of life in the city and decide what’s best for you.

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Timecodes:

00:00 The uncomfortable truth about living in Prague
00:35 Why are people considering leaving Prague?
00:41 Prague’s expensive rent and property prices
01:05 Why locals don’t want to live in Prague’s historic center
02:05 The best neighborhoods for living in Prague
02:36 How much does an apartment in Prague cost?
03:00 Prague is one of Europe’s most expensive capitals
03:12 The problem with panel housing estates
04:00 Why buying an apartment in Prague is nearly impossible
04:36 Problem #2: Weak protection for tenants
04:53 Prague renting horror stories
05:20 Why long-term rental contracts are difficult
05:56 Important advice before signing a Czech rental contract
06:33 Why foreigners may struggle to rent in Prague
07:16 A useful tip about utility bills
07:37 Problem #3: Homelessness and visible drug use
08:19 The strange Prague “gingerbread” joke
08:54 Homelessness is a real human tragedy
09:31 What homelessness looks like in everyday Prague
10:00 Problem #4: Overtourism and commercialization
10:17 How many tourists visit Prague?
10:45 What happened to Prague’s historic center?
11:21 How Airbnb affects people living in Prague
11:49 A personal Airbnb story
12:28 Are short-term rentals causing Prague’s housing crisis?
13:34 Problem #5: Prague’s extreme weather
13:57 Problem #6: Bureaucracy and slow administration
14:06 Why Prague bureaucracy feels “Kafkaesque”
14:51 The frustrating reality of Czech bureaucracy
15:14 The 1541 fire that destroyed Prague’s records
16:01 Final thoughts: Is Prague still worth living in?

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20 Comments

@RealPragueGuides Creator 1 month ago Pinned

If you had to choose, which of these is the worst part of living in Prague?
1⃣ Rent / housing prices
2⃣ Tenant rights / landlords
3⃣ Overtourism / Airbnb
4⃣ Bureaucracy
5⃣ Weather
Comment your number and why.

@federicomauri6208 1 month ago (edited)

Italian living and working in Prague who bought a flat in the city.
Unfortunately, many of these problems are the same for the whole West (both Europe and North America): stagnating salaries, welfare cuts, rising cost of life, housing crisis.
Sometimes I ask to myself if I did a good choice moving here, and immediately the counterargument comes: "What is the alternative?"
P.S. Czech bureaucracy is mild compared to the Italian.

@MajklShon1976 1 month ago

That's why I live in a small town just 45 minutes outside of Prague. The cost of living in Prague is ridiculous.

@deancain9387 1 month ago

this is the problem when places become popular with tourist, they get far too expensive for local wages to keep up with and it ends up changing the whole charm of the city. i understand this because i have the same problem where i live as well. the over crowding is crazy.

@josephranker5716 1 month ago

I heard a saying, not about Prague but similar situation, "No one who works in Venice can afford to live in Venice, it's a ghost town at night".. same for a lot of popular tourist cities i

@hdfiuhl 1 month ago

The thing is, that in Prague especially, there are hundreds of thousands of people who do not need years long contract. Students, young people after school and their first job... However completely agree, that longer the tenant lives in the flat, longer the contract. However people are changing flats sometimes within few months and the biggest real problem for tenants I have seen over and over again was three months notice period. Sometimes tenants want to leave within 14 days or month, but they are legally bound to pay for 3 full months since the notice. That was always a problem, and as landlord I have agreed with all the tenants, that I am fine with 14 days of notice, as I was sure I can find replacement and did not want to financially torture them...

@Claudio-x8d6m 1 month ago

Hello from Brazil, beautiful Prague!

@chrishutchison5031 1 month ago

WOW!!! RPG's great info for anyone planing on a longer stay in Prague. Burocracy! I have a son in Dublin, and one in Wales, also good friends in Valencia, Milan, London, Amsterdam, and Munich. In Texas we are very minor league compaired to the burocracy in Europe. The worst I am awar of is Italy, but the Germans and English try to make a strong showing. Local help is always good. If you don't know where to start, always start with a local guide. They may not have your answer, but they will know where to go to get it. Keep up the great work!!!

@beatursli1315 1 month ago

Thank you very much for the interesting facts of living in Prague. I had friends in Prague - they lived in the 1980's until the beginning of the 1990's in Nové Mešto (Spálenà). When I visited them in 1988 and 1989, I had to go with my friend to a registration office. There a woman of the office told my friend, that he makes a lot of problems to the state by inviting me and others into his appartment!
He lives now outside of Prague and his former girlfriend now lives in Switzerland.

@Rafael.Slatinsky 1 month ago

Moved to Prague last year, being also a Czech citizen helps a lot. But the housing prices and rents are insane, besides it, Czech bureaucracy is easy in comparison of Brazilian one.

@richardgillespie4118 1 month ago

My first trip to Prague as a US tourist was in 2002. Much has changed

@chrisdtownsend 1 month ago (edited)

8:29 It’s unfortunately very popular where I live, too. Especially in rural areas. It’s normal out here in the city to see someone walking down the street pushing a grocery store cart screaming their head off and talking to themselves. 😵‍💫 You learn to ignore it. Which is terrible, because it means that there are tons of people out in the wild not getting the help/care they need.

Also, yay! My Czech vocabulary is growing. 😂 Now I will know what someone outside the train station at night is talking about 😂 Which is where I’ve definitely seen someone eating gingerbread before. It was the first thing I saw as soon as I stepped off the train on my first time in Prague. It didn’t change my opinion of the city, though. That kind of stuff is everywhere, all around you, most people are just not aware of it!

@sakalaka9061 1 month ago

Guys best place for foreigners in Prague is for sure Vršovide around Krymská Area. It's beautiful, a lot of Americans living there, grocery stores, cafes and restaurants also great. I lived both old town and new town and while its fun to live there I have always made time to go Vršovice. It is more like a community there as well, locals do street festivals etc. Price for what you get is much more reasonable then both Vinohrady and Hradčany combined.

@teopaf7657 1 month ago

I am a foreigner living in Prague for 7 years. I moved here from a much warmer country, so I can definitely feel the impact of the long and dark winter, but I think that the summer is not that hot in general. This year was hotter than usual, but regardless, in my opinion the real problem is that we are not well prepared for hot weather in Prague. Apartments and very often trams don't have air-conditioning, there is no proper heat insulation in buildings, especially old ones around the city center. So its really not that horrible, it just feels like that on the few days that is really hot because we are not ready to deal with it.

@lenkaa.9955 1 month ago

I am local and dont know anyone who wants to move out. True rent is extremely expensive but everyone is moving in because of the highest wages

@pawemielech8623 1 month ago

so true!

@lukasmadr1843 1 month ago

Ahoj, děláš skvělá videa.... 🙂👍

@TheNinjkabat 1 month ago

Czech bureaucracy is truly awful. I've immigrated to Japan, Canada, and now the Czech Republic, and although the procedure is about the same for each, the process in the Czech Republic has been the worst because of one thing: secret information. Every time I have gone to deal with visa issues, there's always one piece of secret information that is not posted anywhere online, and then they act like it's my fault and tell me to come back later. My visa type didn't require proof of accommodation to get the visa, but then when I went to the foreigner police, I had to come back four times to get my residence card because it turns out I needed an apartment contract; then they told me they couldn't accept electronic signatures; then they said my contract with the real estate company wasn't enough because it wasn't a contract with the owner. They could have told us all of that the first time, but they chose to mete out that information like bread crumbs, requiring me to get there another day at 7:30 am to get the next piece of information on why my paperwork was wrong. I think the quintessential example is when my spouse went to the Czech consulate in Chicago to apply for her family reunification visa, they said that the marriage certificate needed an apostille. When she said "that's not listed on your website" their response was "well, it's not written on our website, but it's written on the Los Angeles consulate's website." So, once again, secret information makes Czech bureaucracy uniquely awful in a way not even Japanese bureaucracy can hold a candle to.

@MarkStewart-k9w 1 month ago

I really feel for you Valery and every local, air bnb are driving up rent here in the UK so it is or will be happening in Prague, ban them, and jail greedy land Lords!!
Yes i don't blame people for moving away, very sad😢