Naplavka Farmers Market
There are different Farmer’s Markets around Prague running on different weekdays but generally they’ll all be open on Saturday. Naplavka (it means “on the embankment”) is a Saturday morning market from 8am although they do stretch it out to late afternoon to catch the “early dinner” crowd. It runs all year and in Czech on a map look for “Rašínovo nábreží”. You have to understand that this is a commercial market and as such will be charging per pitch so you might find the pricing is a little expensive compared with other Saturday markets like Dejvice or Jirího z Podebrad but they maintain at least 30 different stalls in the summer season.
How to get To the Naplavka Farmers Market?
The closest metro is Karlovo Námestí (two stops from Wenceslas Square) and you take the exit for Palackeho Námestí. Or just take any of the trams 3, 4, 7, 10, 14, 16, 17, or 21 (about 7 stops either from Wenceslas Square or the Old Town) and get off at Palackeho Námestí. Either way, you then walk to the river and go down to the embankment. The other way to get to it if walking from the centre is to walk to the Dancing House. You can get down to the riverside here and walk along the river passing various bars on the quayside until you get to the next bridge (Palackeho) and the market is on the other side. Here’s the Rašínovo nábreží Naplavka on Google Maps. Most people will enter the market from the Palackeho Square but my advice is to walk to your left about 200 metres, go down the steps and enter the market from up-river. Less crowds and better prices.
What can you find here?
All year round on any Saturday you’ll have the local residents coming here to do a weekly vegetable shop and having a sweet breakfast (you’ll spot the locals straight away as they’ll be carrying wicker baskets). You’ll also see a lot of cyclists and runners breaking their quayside exercise to enjoy the atmosphere. In the cooler months you have the added extra of the moored barges that are often open for food and drinks (and are heated). So for shopping for fresh stuff at Naplavka Farmers Market then you should get there as early as possible. The other part of Naplavka are the food stalls which start getting popular from mid-morning.
Foodie heaven?
Naplavka is real foodie-tour territory. You could start with pastries late in the morning and move onto fresh bakery items, cold cuts of meat including smoked meat, chilled fish, fried fish, quiche, cheese, meat/fish salads, loads of pickled products (in jars) and fruit. Want a drink with that? well all year round you’ll have a selection of hot and cold alcoholic and non-alcoholic homemade drinks (beer, wine, cider etc). For homemade, the word to look out for is “Domáci” and it will be very visible. Don’t forget that if it’s food you are looking for then Smichovska Naplavka on the opposite side of the river also has Saturday food events.
So really you just have to decide what you want to eat there and what you want to take away with you. Many special Saturday night dinners in Prague 2 are created from food and drink bought in the morning at the Naplavka Farmers Market.
Remember that this area of the river is also popular for food festivals and music festivals which also turn up when you search for “Naplavka” so be sure to check the dates as the festivals are on more than one day.
Find locations, opening times and dates for different Farmers Markets on the Food Festivals post.