Czechia's narrowest street sparks debate on overtourism

A dispute has broken out between Prague 1’s Restaurant Čertovka and the City of Prague regarding Czechia’s narrowest street – which is found off U Lužického semináře Street – due to overcrowding and mass tourism. 

Owners of the Restaurant Čertovka, which lies at the end of the lane, are unhappy with the number of tourists – hundreds per day – crowding the area and recently put up a sign that the street is only accessible for people who want to go to the restaurant. The area is less than a five-minute walk from Charles Bridge.

“Thanks to social media, the street has become so popular that crowds come to look at it, and maybe even walk through it. But this interferes with our business policy and leads to the loss of restaurant guests,” a representative of the restaurant told Czech Television. 

The City of Prague has said that the sign is invalid, as the land on which the street is built belongs to the municipality. Councilors instructed the restaurant to change the sign, which the restaurant agreed to. The restaurant wants to install a new, modified sign by the end of this week.

Interestingly, the Czech capital’s narrowest street (and one of the narrowest in the world) now displays as “temporarily closed” on Google Maps, which is a new development. However, Expats.cz can confirm that the street is still accessible to the public without restrictions or barriers or any sort.

The city added traffic lights to the street – with a width of only 70 centimeters at its narrowest point – in 1992. The building in which the restaurant is located was built around the 16th century, those the street dates back to the Middle Ages. Its original function was as a passageway to reach the nearby Vltava River, which lies just meters away.