Prague named the most kid-friendly vacation city in Europe

Prague was ranked the most kid-friendly vacation destination in a ranking of 43 European cities. The list compared numbers of museums, water parks, child-friendly attractions and other factors.

Prague’s access to water and amusement parks is second to none in Europe, with 15 such attractions per 1 million residents and tourists, according to travel site Ovo Network, which complied the interactive list. Prague’s number of water and amusement parks is five times the European average.

Prague meanwhile has 280 museums per million people, which knocks the European average of 97 out of the park.

Prague was found to be the fourth safest city in Europe, behind only Zurich, Munich, and Zagreb. Its air quality was also fourth-best in Europe, after Copenhagen, Edinburgh, and Helsinki.

The Czech capital lagged behind for kids attractions, though coming in 11th place. Lisbon, Edinburgh, and Athens topped this ranking.

And while Prague is known among locals for its cheap and extensive public transport connections, coming out at just EUR 0.39 a day for people with an annual pass, it's more expensive for visitors who pay full fares. When prices for single-use tickets are compared, Prague comes in 10th place; Zagreb took top honors, followed by Bucharest and Łódź.

The second and third best places to vacation with kids went to two Scandinavian cities: Helsinki, Finland, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Both scored well for air quality and safety. Copenhagen also scored well for museums. They performed less well, though, for water and amusement parks and transportation costs.

Scandinavian counties tend to score strongly in lists covering family and social issues. Both Finland and Denmark ranked highly in the 2021 World Happiness Report, coming in first and second when the figures for 2018–20 are combined. The Czech Republic, on the other hand, came in 18th place.

The fourth-best city for vacationing with kids is Zagreb, which has the cheapest transport costs in Europe. It was fifth for kids’ attractions and third for safety. Edinburgh came fourth, ranking second for both kid-friendly attractions and air quality.

The lower end of the chart has two cities in the UK. “Manchester comes rock bottom with the worst access to museums and kid-friendly attractions of all the cities in the study. Its streets also have the third-highest crime rates,” Ovo stated.

Prague has recently scored well in other international rankings. It was named the third-best city in the EU for student life in a recent study by student portal Campus Advisor. Networking site Internations also recently named it the seventh-best city in the world for expat life.

Prague also topped a list of cities with the most parks, based on area per capita. Time Out ranked Prague as the seventh-best city in the world, based on input from residents. It was ranked top in beauty and second for relaxation.

An analysis by the Global Beer Lovers’ City Index meanwhile placed Prague second for beer culture, though the city is trying to discourage alco-tourism. The city came in fifth for its coffee culture in a ranking by coffee promotion site Brewsmartly.

Prague Castle was recently named the third-most beautiful landmark in Europe, based on a mathematical analysis.