Bartolomejska 11, 11000 Prague 1
Phone: 226 211 920
(Metro Narodni trida; Tram 4/9/14/17/18/22/23; Night tram 56/59; Close to National Theatre, Tesco shopping center)
Bar, Club, Gay, Lesbian
Friends Bar is one of the longest-established and famous gay venues in Prague. Originally situated in Naprstkova Street, Friends moved to its new home at Bartolomejska in May 2004. Friends is the ideal place to spend your first night Prague and then come back again and again. The new venue takes the original atmosphere of the old Friends Bar and adds it to a modern, comfortable and larger setting. With over 200 sqm of space, Friends is a major gay venue situated in Prague's down town area and is close to all the main tourist attractions such as Charles Bridge and the National Theatre. Excellent air conditioning and ventilation. Cute and friendly waiters. Extensive and inexpensive drinks menu. A state-of-the-art sound and video projection system, new dance floor and private lounge area. DJ parties Wednesday to Saturday. And remember, Friends make better lovers...! No more free wifi internet access anymore.
October 2010: The owner did not renew the domain friends-prague.cz. Domainer catched and parked it. Website moved to friendsprague.cz (no dash).
Open Daily 6pm to 3am, Friday and Saturday 6pm to 5am; Wed to Sat DJ Parties starting at 10pm
No cover charge, no minimum consumption.
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Comment by Mike who visited in June 2005: When I visited Praha I found it quiet at Friends Bar, compared to the former location, where it seemed to draw a lot more guys. Part of the reason probably relates to the opening up of a lot of new gay venues in Praha 2, such as TERmix. It is clear that the consolidation of gay venues in Praha 2 is helping all of the bars/clubs there. At the expense of those not located in Praha 2.
- Comment by Mike who visited in July 2005: Still fabulous. Friendly staff. Very reasonable prices. We indeed went back every night.
- Comment by Henk, who visited in January 2006: I'm not sure if it's so friendly. And they serve the weak kind of beer for the normal price to unsuspecting foreigners. Not a good sign.
- Comment by Sreve, who visited in February 2006: I really loved this bar. The staff were very friendly and cute. The atmosphere was relaxed and the music was very good.
- Comment by Peter, who visited in March 2006: Nice place, but the guys weren't that friendly. So i left;-(
- Comment by Philippa and Kat, who visited in August 2006: We visited on the first night of our holiday. It was somewhat more subdued than we were expecting, with only a handful of people in the bar on a Friday night (us making up 20%). It had a comfortable atmosphere, however state of the art it was not. And where are all the girls? It was nice for a quiet drink, not for an all nighter.
- Comment by Elliot, who visited in Septemer 2006: Across the street from the old secret police headquarters, still a police station. Creepy. Friendly bar, mostly locals. The 'dancefloor' was an afterthought. Decor included inexplicable ribbons of cloth hanging from ceiling, plastic foliage and plastic bananas. That said, it had lots of seating and was a comfy place to chat and have a pivo.
- Comment by Honza, owner of Friends, October 2006: We get busy mostly on Sundays and weekdays. Then of course we host Freedom night every month which gets bigger and bigger every time, with about 1/3 boys and 2/3 girls coming. We also do, every week or two, a special party. Generally we play pop on Wednesdays, latino, house and oldies on Thursdays; Fridays usually a party and Saturdays some really good house djs. The staff that worked at Friebds in March 2006 was fired.
- KT wrote in March 2007: Went of a Sunday nite with my partner. About 20 guys there. Friendly staff. Chill out venue more than anything else. Did not do dark rooms etc/ Just a few drinks. Moved on to Valentino's after before heading over to Alcatraz. If you need a taxi after as you exit turn left and then the first right. Here you will see a taxi rank outside Tesco to take you on wards. Two bank machines also at the junction.
- Cemal wrote in March 2008: Though it was not weekend I had a short visit to this place. It was wonderful. The atmosphere was great and the film on the ancient wall was a fantastic idea. I will surely reccommend this place to my gay friends all over.
- Ricky wrote in April 2008: If you like going down into caves its ok but do not get pissed otherwise you wont get out its so deep and I never found it friendly. I am a Liverpudlian, we talk to almost any one and usually get a response even if its piss off but there well not even that. Need I say more.
- Michael wrote in April 2008: Definitely a fun place for a few drinks. We were there on a Thursday night where the DJ was spinning some funky chill house groovy kinda tunes. There is a small dance floor. Lighting is fun. Music video projection on a wall. The general ambiance is relaxed. Red velour couches with carefully stitched 'rips' give the place a 'shabby chic' feel. It was fun. Reasonable prices. Friendly and sexy bartenders too!
- Alan wrote in April 2008: Interesting medium sized cozy neighborhood-bar located sub-basement across the street from the Praha Criminal Police Investigation Complex. Very safe street! Down the two-flight wooden steep staircase you enter into a world of music and drink. Converse with an eclectic mix of singles, couples and groups, just say hello. no attitude. On all sofa coffee tables and bar is a lengthy well-developed drink menu. Courteous service with a smile (bartender corrected the tab when pointed-out). Flimsy small folding gay guide full of ads with little info available (other than a tiny central Praha map with some gay establishments shown) for 70 Crown (should be only free). Euro Video Music Songs projected on curved cellar ceiling, free sax player performance substituted on my one visit, Thursday 10 April 08. Opened later than it's scheduled 6pm, no crowd early. Prices mostly in line with average Tourist Menus, and still going higher in Praha (Wait till the Euro hits in a few months!) Owner and staff friendly, bar is relaxed and comfortable. The beer, Budvar 10 Light, 0,5lt, 30 Crowns (less than a Cola), was perfect on Draft. Daylight arrival not recommended. Grest central location. No kink, sex, s/m, hustlers etc. To be seen, your mom can come with you and be right at home. I saw no cover, entrance, door, minimum fees, but always check yourself, days and events do change.
- Emil wrote in August 2008: Very quite but very nice place. Bartenders are very nice and friendly. I had few drinks and got to talk to bartender about usually issues of Czech society. It was interesting. Was not that busy but overall nice atmosphere and very cool music. Reminded me of my college days. The best nights according to bartender are during karaoke night and DJ nights. Recommended.
- Ted wrote in August 2008: We visited Friends, we went there on a Friday night, myself from melbourne and two friends from Germany. Before paying the cover charge l asked if we could go down into the Dungen to see the place. They only let myself down. l got to the bottom of the strairs looked arround and turned back straight out. l said to my friends Girls lets go! What a hole. l think there would have been more fun at a country womens meeting or bingo. We walked the streets looking for other clubs that we had taken notes down of. On our walk we where offered everything form sex with a female prosotute with a dog. l dont know what the dog did or if it was in the price! Or come to thing of it, it was hard to work out who was the dog. So after finding these sleezy little hell holes arround Prague we decided to go back to our hotel and forget about the amazing gay night life of Prague. l dont know in whose imagination that was dreamed up in, but we found it almost like the back streets of Moscow.
- Bill wrote in August 2008: Friends is just around the corner from the apartment we rented in Prague. Honza, the owner, and all the staff made me feel very welcome. It's a comfortable bar (just be careful negotiating the staircase, especially after a few pints) with good prices and a nice crowd. When I was there it was a Budweiser bar, but don't let that discourage you if you don't like American Budweiser - the Czech version is light years better.
- Vesku and Jussi wrote in November 2008: Friends was very nice place. Ne and my boyfriend visit 3 times! We like karaoke and people. We live in Finland and i hope we came back soon? We was Prague in August 2008. If you remember us and we like thank you and friends very nice bartender (his t-shirt, amator porn-star was very nice). Have nice time from prague.
- Alejandro wrote in November 2008: I visited Friends in November 2008 on a weekday. It was a karaoke night full of nice local people. Guys were friendly, some of them very handsome. Bar staff speak English and they accept Euros. Not cruisy but a good place to meet locals and go to other parties. Very central and close to sauna Babylonia.
- Fuse wrote in December 2008: Karoke night on Monday: The Czechs get crazy. Definately recommended.
- Martyn wrote in April 2009: We visited Friends last week. The place was empty with just two people in there. We turned around and came straight back out.
- Martin wrote in May 2009: I just got back from Prague with my partner. We were really excited to go back to Friends because it used to be the only place to go in the city. However, it seems that unless you're Czech and friends with Honza the owner and his gang of irritating friends, then you're just not welcome. I remember when Michael used to own the bar and he made everyone feel really welcome, regardless of age, sex, sexuality or nationality, then some other guys took over for a while and it was really pleasant and fun. But I guess everything changes. It seems that now it just means Honza's Friends, so unless you're Czech, only drink beer, work at Cafe Erra, and are drinking buddies of the owner, don't bother. This used to be a great tourist and expat bar, now it's just cliquey and unpleasant. Try one of the other clubs like Termix or Valentino, or Bar 21. Also, thanks Jean, for such a great site.
- Michael wrote in May 2009: Visited Friends the evening of May 28. My first night in Prague was a visit to Friends where I though I would begin my orientation. They were out of draft beer, which was OK. I was alone and, as the bar began to fill up with boys mostly young, I sat along and during an hour or so, had no one speak to me except the bartender who only took my order. I asked for a gay guide (a pamplet) and was charged for it. Perhaps if you are very young and handsome and with a group, this might be the best place. For anyone else, not such a good place from my experience.
- Ross wrote in September 2009: Visited July 2009. Bizarre place, it was dead at midnight! There was a large screen showing the men's synchronised diving from last years olympics, and some strange material hanging over the ceilings. The staff are not that friendly, its quite expensive. The DJ was awful, jumping from one song to another mid-tune, no idea about mixing it would seem. The seating is comfortable and you can sit and have a good chat with friends here, but I wouldnt recommend staying for more than one drink.
- Guy wrote in November 2009: I visited Friends on the Thursday of my arrival at around 9pm. My friend and I felt welcomed by the bar staff who were all very attractive. The bar is dark with plenty of seating and on that night was completely gay. Having had such a nice time we returned on the following night (Friday) to find there was an admission charge, and an atmosphere that seemed not to be gay at all with lots of young straight girls on the dance floor. We left disappointed, thinking the bar had become straight.
- Peter wrote in September 2010: Summer of 2010. It's simply the best place in Prague. Friendly poeple, social place. But the crowd changes from evening to evening. If you don't like it the first night, do give it a 2nd chance, or have a look on the programme before you go there.
- Andrew visited in November 2010: 'The Friends Bar now have a cover charge of 100 CZK.'
- Ken wrote in January 2011: On the night of my birthday I went to Friends in Prague. It was my first time in Prague and I had read a lot aboout this 'friendly' gay bar. Well, my experience was anythiing but friendly. I ordered a drink and the bartender pretended to not know what I was asking for. When I finally showed him a picture he reluctantly served me. When I asked for another he pointed to the bill and gave me such a look of contempt he didn't even bother to disguise it. I am not sure what I did (or if I did anything). It was obvious I was a tourist and a newcomer so it was disappointing to be treated in such a manner. Maybe I was too old - I was celebrating my 60th. I was not drunk and was well dressed so I am not sure why I was treated with such contempt and unfriendliness. Sorry, but I can't recommend this as 'your friendly neighborhood gay bar'.
- Jan wrote in January 2011: I loved this place. I never read a thing about it but after being taken there by my friends in Prague, it became one of the best places I've ever been. For some reason I didn't had to pay the 100 CKZ entry fee. It's a nice place to sit down and relax, they have huge couches and good drinks. I even did a little Czech karaoke (English is possible, though). I would highly recommend this place.
- James wrote in February 2011: I'm not sure what Ken is talking about, I suspect something else was going on with his own attitude and maybe a strange drink which is uncommon in Prague? I've been here MANY times over the years. It's hit or miss - some nights are great, others lousy, but overall it's a good place to just have a beer at the bar if you're alone, meet other tourists to go out to clubs with afterwards, stuff like that. I wouldn't recommend it as a 'pick up' bar so much - most people are there with friends and not looking for sex, but yeah, I've met good people there who I've kept in touch with for years later. Also good of course to sit with friends if you're not alone. Attracts a nice younger local crowd too, very cute guys, but again... They're usually there with their friends and not looking to meet tourists. They have reasonable prices and can make most cocktails I can think of.
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Accommodation
Friends Prague
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