How to plan a trip to the Czech Republic? What are the best escape rooms in Prague? What should you consider when booking rooms? Here is a short guide on preparing yourself to conquer Czech escape rooms!
Have you ever visited Czechia? If not, perhaps this article will convince you to visit the Czech Republic. If a trip there is not new to you, maybe you will learn something new about the country and the escape room industry there. Here is another article in the series of European escape room trips!
This article was written in cooperation with two escape room companies from Prague - The Chamber and MindMaze, who know a lot about the Czech escape room market and their own country, and decided to share their insights with us.
What does the escape room market look like in the Czech Republic?
The Czech Republic has more than 300 escape rooms with the obvious center of industry being Prague with over 80 games in the city. Other cities with significant amounts of games are Brno and Ostrava (the 2nd and 3rd largest cities). In recent years the Karlovy Vary and Ústí nad Labem regions also became significant with especially horror games opening up in Karlovy Vary and other cities in the area near the border with Germany.
In Prague, most games are located close to the city center taking advantage of the fact that Prague is a favorite tourist destination at all times of the year.
“I cannot speak for other companies but in the case of our company, The Chamber, tourists make up roughly 30 % of all yearly visitors to our games, making it necessary to have all our games playable fully in English, as well as having staff with good knowledge of the language. Unfortunately, visitors from abroad must be careful when booking games in the Czech Republic, especially when booking outside of Prague. While the grand majority of games in Prague are playable in English, there are still rare exceptions, and outside of the capital there is a real chance some games are only playable in Czech.” says Vincenc Straka, The Chamber
According to data that MindMaze shared with us, the escape room industry in the Czech Republic, particularly in Prague, is flourishing, though it has faced significant changes in recent years. Initially, the concept of escape rooms quickly gained popularity due to the Czech people's active lifestyles and interest in recreational activities.
"At MindMaze about 45% of our customers are tourists - pre-pandemic this number was even higher: 50-60%.” says András Gál from MindMaze.
Life around the world changed in 2020 after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, this also affected the escape room industry - in Poland, in 2019 there were over 1000 escape rooms, and now there are over 530. It was similar in the Czech Republic.
“The pandemic impacted the industry significantly, reducing the number of escape rooms. Despite this downturn, the industry continues to thrive, especially in Prague, where most of the escape rooms are concentrated. Smaller cities also host escape rooms, reflecting the widespread appeal of the concept across the country. Prague remains a hub for escape room enthusiasts, partly due to a few exceptionally well-designed games that have garnered international recognition, drawing both locals and tourists to the industry. Running escape rooms in Prague involves catering to a diverse audience, including both domestic players and visitors seeking high-quality, immersive experiences.” says András, Mind Maze
How to get to the Czech Republic?
Getting around the Czech Republic is not difficult - you can choose from several modes of transport to reach the country, such as car, motorbike, bus, train or plane. The Czech Republic has 6 international airports, which you can get to from most European countries. These include airports in Brno, Karlovy Vary, Ostrava, Pardubice, Uherské Hradiště, and, of course, Prague.
To get to smaller towns, you can use long-distance buses such as Flixbus or trains.
“If you want to move from one city to another, a good option is to travel by train, which is usually pretty cheap. On weekdays they leave very frequently and will get you to most cities as fast or faster than driving by car.” says Vincenc, The Chamber
How do you get around the cities?
Due to traffic jams, getting around the city by car is not optimal. The next disadvantage of choosing a car is the parking space problems in the centers and the paid parking zones (in the center of Prague it is as much as 15 PLN/hour). Most city parkings use phone apps to pay for parking spots. In Prague, the app for parking is Citymove. If you are still considering traveling by car, better google it before the arrival!
It is better to leave the car on the outskirts or near the hotel and choose public transport - buses, trams or metro (Prague). Public transport in Czechia is cheap, frequent and with a little research you can easily buy a day ticket so you don't have to worry about it expiring. A great advantage of choosing public transport is the possibility to take a break at any time for the golden, fizzy drink for which the country is famous.
For walking enthusiasts, we recommend hiking around the city. In Prague, this can be a real challenge, but in smaller cities such as Brno or Ostrava, the distances between attractions and escape rooms are not so great.
Which escape rooms to book in the Czech Republic? Notable games and companies
The best-rated Prague companies according to various foreign rankings, including TERPECA (Top Escape Room Project Enthusiasts Choice Awards), are The Chamber, Mind Maze, The Padlock, and Lost Exit. Their rooms are top-rated and recommended by reviewers from all over the world. Another large company in Prague is Questerland. Enthusiasts also mention the Escape Bar game from EscapeTheRoom company as definitely worth a visit, the scenario is less known but surprising.
But what rooms in Prague to choose?
“The following games have been recognized by the TERPECA escape room awards during the last couple of years: The Haunted House and the Poltergeist by the Chamber, the Galactic Pioneers and the Nautilus games by MindMaze Prague, and Safe - The Secret of Jack Daniel and Mission53 by Padlock.” adds András from MindMaze.
When it comes to other cities in the Czech Republic, it is worth mentioning Brno, which offers older-generation rooms, which are still popular among Czech players. Ostrava is another large city in the Czech Republic, closer to the border with Poland, and it hides two prominent ER businesses – The Chamber Ostrava and Escape Games. The Chamber Ostrava is a franchise of the Prague company with copies of several of their games from Prague. Escape Games has seven games in their roster with the best-reviewed being King Arthur and School of Magic. Both companies offer games in English.
“Near the northern border with Germany, another prominent company is Escape Karlovy Vary, which focuses mainly on horror games. Their games Mors Certa Monastery, Madhouse, and Sara’s Lost Soul are well-reviewed by horror-loving Czech enthusiasts. These games are available in English.” lists Vincenc from The Chamber.
