by Dalma Bakai

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is the fourteenth-largest city in the European Union. It is also the historical capital of Bohemia proper. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its larger urban zone is estimated to have a population of nearly 2 million. The city has a temperate oceanic climate, with warm summers and chilly winters.

Prague is home to a number of famous cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence and destruction of 20th century Europe. Main attractions include the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, the Jewish Quarter, the Lennon Wall, and Petřín hill. Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

During the thousand years of its existence, the city grew from a settlement stretching from Prague Castle in the north to the fort of Vyšehrad in the south, becoming the multicultural capital of a modern European state, the Czech Republic, a member state of the European Union.

 Prague's economy accounts for 25% of the Czech Republic's GDP making it the highest performing regional economy of the country. According to the Eurostat, as of 2007, its GDP per capita in purchasing power standard is 42,800 €. Prague ranked the 5th best- performing European NUTS two-level region at 172 percent of the EU-27 average.  The modern economy of Prague is largely service and export-based and, in a 2010 survey, the city was named the best city in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) for business.

The public transport infrastructure consists of an intensely used integrated transport system of Prague Metro (its length is 59 km with 57 stations in total), Prague tram system, buses, the Petřín funicular to Petřín Hill, and six ferries: PID, (Prague integrated transport system). Prague has one of the highest rates of public transport usage in the world with 1.2 billion passenger journeys per annum.

Almost one-half of the national income from tourism is spent in Prague. The city offers approximately 73,000 beds in accommodation facilities, most of which were built after 1990, including almost 51,000 beds in hotels and boarding houses.

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Prague has become one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. It is the sixth-most- visited European city after London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Berlin.

Prague also hosts the Czech Beer Festival, it is the biggest beer festival in the Czech Republic, held for 17 days every year in May in Prague. The festival features around 120 different beers, including 70 Czech brands and foreign brews from the United States or United Kingdom, with up to 10,000 seating capacity and service provide around 200 girls and boys dressed in Czech traditional costumes.

There are hundreds of concert halls, galleries, cinemas and music clubs in the city. It hosts music festivals including the Prague Spring International Music Festival, the Prague Autumn International Music Festival and the Prague International Organ Festival.