Fairmont Golden Prague – Brutalism reborn on the Vltava

Fairmont Golden Prague stands where Pařížská Street meets the Vltava, a nine-storey concrete tower that once announced Western luxury inside the Eastern Bloc and has returned as one of the city's most discussed reopenings. Built between 1968 and 1974 to designs led by architect Karel Filsak, it rose on the riverfront at the northern end of Pařížská Street. It opened in December 1974 as the first American investment made in Communist Czechoslovakia, a show of modernity in a country still under Soviet influence, and for years welcomed Pan Am crews, foreign dignitaries and visiting stars including Ray Charles, Richard Nixon and Elton John. Decades of wear and a clumsy 1990s refit dulled its edges before new owners committed to a five-year restoration, reopening the building in April 2025 under Fairmont's flag with 320 rooms, suites and residences. The MICHELIN Guide now awards it Two MICHELIN Keys, for an exceptional stay.

01The house

Architect Karel Filsak led the team behind a monolithic reinforced-concrete structure clad largely in ceramic and metal, built for the state travel agency ČEDOK in partnership with the InterContinental Hotels Corporation. Its vertical façade panels were designed by sculptor Zbyněk Sekal — fifty-two ceramic strips in total, of which forty-eight had decayed so badly they had to be recreated during the recent rebuild. Years of use and an insensitive 1990s renovation had blurred the building's original clarity, and by the time three Czech entrepreneurs, Pavel Baudiš, Eduard Kučera and Oldřich Šlemr, bought the property in 2018, it was deteriorating badly. Rather than demolish a building many regard as one of Prague's most significant post-war structures, they ran an architectural competition that led to a five-year restoration under Marek Tichý of TaK Architects.

Tichý's team worked within the building's original material triad of concrete, glass and wood, rebuilding whatever had become technically obsolete while keeping everything of artistic worth. The ceiling of the former conference hall, once lit by René Roubíček's chandeliers, was reconstructed to recreate its dialogue between concrete and light, and in the lobby a new commission, Jan Kukla's six-hundred-rod glass installation Heavens, now greets arriving guests. A new glazed extension opens the hotel toward Dvořák Embankment and the river, loosening the relationship between the once-closed 1970s building and the city around it.

02Rooms and suites

The hotel holds 320 rooms, suites and serviced residences spread across nine floors and two linked wings. Interiors pair warm wood and mid-century detailing with Czech glass, running from entry rooms up to Fairmont Gold rooms with their own lounge access and to multi-bedroom residences built for longer stays. Fairmont Gold Deluxe rooms measure around 35 square metres, while One-Bedroom Residences extend to roughly 67 square metres of living space. Many rooms and suites face the Vltava and the Old Town's UNESCO-listed rooftops, with others looking across Pařížská Street toward the Law Faculty and the green sweep of Letná park beyond.

Insider tip

Staroměstská metro is 300 metres away; Old Town Square and Charles Bridge are both within easy walking distance.

03Where to eat

Dining runs across seven restaurants and bars, crowned by Zlatá Praha on the ninth floor. MICHELIN's own notes on the hotel point to hand-blown glass, sculpted wood and gilded fixtures running through the interiors, with the rooftop restaurant offering some of the widest views in the city. Zlatá Praha traces its own history back to 1974, now under chef de cuisine Maroš Jambor, whose seasonal, produce-led tasting menus have earned the restaurant three toques from Gault&Millau Czechia 2026; the dress code is smart elegant and tables are set Tuesday to Saturday, from 17:30 to 23:00. Elsewhere, Greenhouse celebrates Czech beer culture on a terrace built for long afternoons, Kafka Brasserie handles breakfast, and Tilia Garden serves poolside refreshments named for the linden tree, the Czech national symbol.

04The bar

Golden Eye, the rooftop bar, looks out over the Vltava and the Old Town skyline, a natural spot for an early-evening drink before dinner upstairs. Down in the lobby, Coocoo's Nest takes its name and its mix of 1970s and contemporary artwork from the Czech-American film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, trading on the hotel's Cold War-era history to create a relaxed setting for coffee, light meals or evening cocktails.

05Spa and wellbeing

Fairmont Spa occupies around 1,400 square metres and centres on what the hotel describes as Prague's only year-round indoor-outdoor pool, a heated L-shaped basin that runs from inside the building out into a garden with its own jacuzzi. Five treatment rooms include two interconnected suites with private terrace access for couples, alongside three separate-sex saunas, a steam bath and a shared infrared sauna beside the pool. Treatments use Kerstin Florian and Dr Barbara Sturm products, and the wellness areas open daily from 7:00 to 22:00. A 176-square-metre fitness studio runs a programme of yoga, Pilates and mobility classes. The spa was named Czech Republic's Best Hotel Spa 2026 by the World Spa Awards, a title it has now held two years running.

06The neighbourhood

The hotel sits in Staré Město, at the gateway to Pařížská Boulevard, Prague's grandest shopping street, with the Jewish Quarter and the Old-New Synagogue a five-minute walk away and Staroměstská metro station roughly 300 metres from the door. Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock are within a few minutes on foot, Charles Bridge a little further along the river. Just outside, the surrounding Miloš Forman Square is being reworked into a greener public space, part of a wider effort to soften the area around this stretch of the Vltava embankment.

07Making the most of a stay

Beyond its MICHELIN Two Keys, the hotel also holds Green Key 2026 certification and a 2026 Robb Report Best of the Best recognition. Guests with an interest in design should set aside time to walk the public areas: the hotel describes itself as a living gallery of Czech art and design, mixing pieces from the building's 1960s and 1970s construction with new contemporary commissions. Book Zlatá Praha well ahead, particularly for its occasional guest-chef dinners, and note that a spa treatment of 60 to 90 minutes includes three hours' complimentary access to the pool and saunas — worth timing a visit around.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.