Stepping Out | All stories

Stepping Out, our bi-monthly special covering nightlife in the Czech capital, is now wrapping up after almost one year. In today's final edition we take you back over the last eight episodes - a reminder of some of the places we've been.

Six years ago Prague witnessed the opening of Mecca, a venue that has become one of the most influential dance clubs in the city. Found in Prague's mostly industrial Holesovice district, Mecca focuses primarily on DJ parties and House music. Last week, for instance, it played host to Germany's famous Milk N Sugar, who "let a bit of the sunshine in". It was either be there or be square for those into the club scene.

Tony Duchacek and his band Garaz (Garage) have now been a staple on the Czech underground music scene for more than twenty years. Like their more well-known counterparts, the Plastic People of the Universe, with whom they collaborated at length artistically, Duchacek and his band-mates continue to play Prague's most interesting rock venues: drawing fans old and new, among them kids who can barely remember the days of communism, and are just out to have a good time, to listen to some driving music and ska-like sax. You can dance to it on the darkened

The din of the crowd you can hear behind me are hundreds of tourists who have filled into Prague's Old Town Square on a simply gorgeous Thursday evening. The clock has just struck six but and a few of us are waiting for Jana, our guide, who will lead us on a walking tour called "The Ghost Trail". The flyer has promised a journey into darkness and Prague's haunted streets - a tall order on an evening when the sun continues to shine brightly and finding abandoned alleyways will be difficult. Dozens of travellers walk by or sit on benches, draped

In this edition I stepped out to Divadlo Ypsilon, a more melodic name than its English counterpart Theatre "Y". It has been in existence since 1963 and last week the theatre celebrated its 40th anniversary where actors from the company put on an informal performance. Snippets from the theatre's repertoire were played for the occasion exhibiting the versatility and the musicality of all the performers. I spoke with Jan Jiran who has been a resident actor and musical director at Divaldo Ypsilon for almost twenty years. He describes the theatre as

It's probably too big a club to spend just any old night, but as a venue for large gatherings, hip-hop, drum n' base, or punk-based performances, Matrix, one of Prague's newest venues, is not a bad pick. Located in Zizkov, just under Vitkov Hill, it's easy to get to and represents a return to hard-edged industrial settings - unlike many polished and altogether far too compliant and comfortable clubs, which predominate today, having long lost their bite and teenage visceral thrill. (If they ever had it). The punk/industrial aesthetic lives on in

Since Stepping Out began last year we've tried to profile some of the most interesting and attractive venues in Prague - as well as the acts that play them. This week I decided to concentrate above all on the act. An evening performance by English-language theatre troupe TNT - a new production of Charles Dickens' famous Oliver Twist, arriving for eighteen performances.

Prague is pretty progressive on most things but until recently lacked a venue providing a service long adored in other parts of the world - karaoke - that sublime form of entertainment from Japan that brings out the Elvis or Tiny Tim in all of us. Whether you have a voice that makes listeners swoon, or raises the fur on the cat's back instead - in Prague you have a place to go at last. It's called Utopie - Utopia in English - and it is a bar located on the city's massive Charles Square, open from dusk till dawn, 6 nights a week.

Prague is a city with no shortage of bars, discos, and even cocktail lounges but until now it may have been something of a problem to "step out" if you had children. No more. A new venue has opened in the city centre where you can meet with friends and take your little ones all at the same time - a place called Teta Tramtarie - found almost unexpectedly in busy Jungmannova Street. Tramtarie - which means something like wonderland in English, is at once a café, a playground, a children's bookstore - and even a children's theatre, frequented by parents

Stepping Out began in August and no club seemed more fitting to visit first than Palac Akropolis, one of Prague's most innovative hang-out spots. It has one of the coolest bars in the city - and remains a Prague favourite late at night. "So far, it seems pretty good. I mean like, I got here, and everyone has been partying... I love it."