The cruises compared here
The Vltava through central Prague is short. The buildings people want to see from the water sit along a couple of kilometres between Štefánik Bridge and the weir by Charles Bridge. A one-hour boat covers that, turns round and comes back.
So the real question is what a longer cruise does with the extra time. In the catalogue we checked, there is no plain two-hour sightseeing cruise. The longer boats are a two-hour dinner cruise and a 75-minute ride each way to the zoo.
1What one hour covers
The big boat from Pier 17 sails for about 55 minutes according to its operator. The listing names Prague Castle, the Rudolfinum, the National Theatre and Charles Bridge with the Old Town Bridge Tower. The 1927 boat from Pier 16 lists the same core sights and adds the towers of Malá Strana and St Nicholas Church.
Both return to the pier they left from. Prices start at €18 and €21. For a first visit this is the full classic view, and the hour is short enough to slot between a morning at the castle and an evening in the Old Town.
2What the two-hour dinner cruise adds
Distance, a little. Its listing goes on to Vyšehrad, further upstream than the one-hour boats mention. It also sails in the evening, when the listing describes the river as illuminated.
Most of the extra hour is dinner, though. You are at a table for a served meal with a welcome drink, and the price starts at €64. The cruise is rated 6.6, below both one-hour boats. If you want two hours on the water for the views alone, this is an expensive and unconvincing way to get them.
3What the zoo boat adds
The most river of any option. It is 75 minutes each way, starting from the Rašín embankment south of the centre, passing through the Smíchov lock and under Charles Bridge, then on past Letná, Holešovice and Libeň to Císařský Island by the Troja Bridge. No other cruise here uses a lock or leaves the historic centre.
The catch is that it is a transfer with a zoo ticket attached, from €46. It sails three times a day in season, at 9 am, 12 pm and 3:30 pm, with returns at 10:30 am, 1:30 pm and 5:15 pm, daily in high summer and at weekends in the shoulder months. Outside those times there is no boat.
4How to decide
If your only goal is to see Prague from the river, book one hour. Pick between the two boats on comfort and access, not on route, because the routes are close to identical.
If you are travelling with children and the zoo is already on your list, the zoo boat turns the journey there and back into two and a half hours on the water. If you want an evening event with food, read the dinner cruise guide before paying for it.