Tourist crowds spark feud over the future of Prague's narrowest 'street'

A long-standing neighborhood dispute over Prague’s narrowest street has escalated, forcing local authorities to intervene ahead of the peak summer tourist season.

The 70-centimeter-wide stone-lined passage in Malá Strana, famous for its pedestrian traffic light, has become a major source of tension between local residents and business owners due to overwhelming crowds.

The alleyway, officially marked on digital maps as the "Narrowest Street in Prague," serves as a direct shortcut to the Čertovka restaurant garden by the Vltava River.

Originally built as a fire safety clearance between buildings, its growing popularity on social media has transformed it into a congested tourist bottleneck.

"The gap between the houses has gradually become an attraction, there are clouds of tourists here," Prague 1 Transport Councilor Vojtěch Ryvola told Czech media outlet Novinky. "And that is the reason that has started to cause neighborly disputes here."

Jiří Fajt, former director of the National Gallery and local resident living in one of the adjacent buildings, expressed deep frustration over the daily disruption caused by the influx of visitors.

"The alley is a very annoying, Instagram-friendly thing," Fajt said, alleging that the restaurant owners show no regard for residents and prioritize business income over community safety.

To cope with the overcrowding, restaurant operator Ivan Šimonovský recently altered the traffic flow, turning the alley into a one-way path and directing exiting tourists through a newly opened rear gate. However, this temporary routing redirected crowds past Fajt's property, sparking fresh complaints about safety on nearby sidewalks and roads.

Following an emergency meeting, the Prague 1 City Council voted to lock the new exit gate and ordered a return to the original two-way traffic light system, which has been in place since 1992. Under the restored system, visitors must use a manual switch to change the signal before walking through.

While the restaurant has complied with the decision, fears remain over how the small space will handle the summer rush. Local officials have even raised the possibility of closing the alley permanently if the situation deteriorates, though Ryvola noted that closing the landmark is a last resort.

Instead, the councilor suggested that Prague should focus on broader tourism regulations, such as tightening short-term rental rules.

Prague's narrowest alley isn't the only tourist attraction that has long been a sore point with locals.

The famed book tower in the municipal library has also drawn thousands of selfie seekers and created bottleneck for ordinary library patrons, while Prague City Hall now charges tourist to ride its historic paternoster elevator, popularized by YouTube videos.

Prague City Tourism numbers show that in the first quarter of 2026, 1.66 million visitors came to the Czech capital, an increase of 5 percent year-on-year.