Prague 3, Žižkov or Prague-Libuš? Four maps of one city

Ask a Praguer where they live and you will hear "Prague 3", "Žižkov" or "Prague-Libuš", and all three may be correct for the same flat. The city divides itself in several ways at once, laid over each other like transparencies, and each answers a different question. Once you see which, the confusion goes.

This is more than trivia. Offices ask for specific labels, contracts depend on others, and an address that looks complete to a newcomer can be missing the one identifier a clerk needs. The following is a guide to the layers and their uses.

The numbered districts: Prague 1 to 22

Prague has 22 administrative districts (správní obvody), named Prague 1 to Prague 22. This is the division behind the numbers people quote. It also tells you which district office handles state administration for residents there: ID cards, residence registration and many permits.

The 57 municipal districts

Separately, Prague has 57 municipal districts (městské části) with their own elected assemblies and mayors. In some places a numbered district and a municipal district coincide. In the outer city, a numbered administrative district may cover several municipal districts that keep their own names, such as Prague-Zbraslav or Prague-Čakovice.

The municipal districts run local services and manage certain local property. When the news says "Prague 7" has decided something, check whether the reporter means the district council or the administrative district.

Cadastral areas

Then there are the cadastral areas (katastrální území), which the land registry uses to identify every parcel and building. Prague has well over a hundred of them (as of 2026; check the official source with the cadastre). Many names you know as neighbourhoods are cadastral areas: Žižkov, Vinohrady, Smíchov, Holešovice, Vršovice.

They do not map one for one onto the numbered districts. Some sit wholly inside one numbered district, others are split. That is why a property extract and a postal address can seem to disagree: the registry cares about the cadastral area, the post office about the postcode. For a buyer, the cadastral area on the ownership sheet is the label that counts.

Postcodes

Prague postcodes start with 1, and the numbering broadly echoes the district numbers, though not exactly. Use the postcode assigned to your street, not a guess from the district number.

Names people actually use

In everyday speech people say Letná, Karlín or Žižkov. These may be cadastral areas, historic quarters or just a loose area. They are cultural labels with no administrative force, and newspapers, agents and tourist sites use them freely.

A neighbourhood name carries mood as well as geography. Estate agents know this, and an advert may use a name that sounds better than the official one. The address, the cadastral area and the postcode are what stand up on a contract.

Address anatomy

A Prague address usually carries two numbers: a descriptive (conscription) number tied to the building within its cadastral area, and an orientation number tied to the street. They are often written as a pair separated by a slash, and on the building plate one is red and the other blue. Offices usually ask for both.

The pair looks fussy until you need it. The descriptive number identifies the building within its cadastral area, which is why it appears in property records, and the orientation number is what a visitor uses to find the door. A form that asks for "house number" may mean either, so look at the plate and copy both.

Which one matters for what

Why it looks like this

The structure grew as the city did. Greater Prague was enlarged by absorbing villages and towns, which kept their identities as municipal districts. The result is a layered map. The reform history is available from City Hall and the Prague Institute of Planning and Development. The reasons for the layers are the same ones that explain the governance of the city: a strong centre, districts with real but limited powers, and a state administration that needs its own map.

Why it matters to a foreigner

Most newcomers meet the numbered districts first, on the paperwork for registering an address, and only later discover the other layers. The practical consequence is that "which office do I go to" and "where do I live" have different answers. A flat in a well-known neighbourhood may belong to a district office you have never heard of, and the office for your ID card may not be the one nearest your front door. Check before you queue.

Estate agents add to the confusion by using neighbourhood names that sound better than the official ones. That is legal and harmless, but it means an advert's "Vinohrady" can be a street some way from where a map would put it. The address, the cadastral area and the postcode are what stand up on a contract.

Common mistakes

Filling in a form with the neighbourhood name where it asks for the municipal district. Assuming the number in "Prague 7" is the same as the first digit of the postcode. Looking up a property by the name an advert used instead of the cadastral area. Going to the district office nearest home, which is not always the one responsible. Treating the two numbers on a building plate as interchangeable. Each is easy to avoid once you know there are layers, and each costs a day if you do not.

A worked example in prose

Suppose you live in a flat that everybody calls Vinohrady. On the cadastre the area is called Vinohrady, because the cadastral area carries the familiar name. On your tenancy agreement the address shows a street, a descriptive number and an orientation number, plus a postcode. When you register your residence, the office that handles you is the district office for your numbered administrative district. When a local road is dug up, the body that decides is the municipal district. When you buy a flat, the lawyer searches the cadastre by area and unit. One address, four labels, four questions answered. The skill is not memorising the map. It is knowing which label a particular form wants.

Where to confirm your own labels

City Hall's address search, the cadastre's public inspection service and the postal service's lookup together give you all four. Do it once, write the results in a note on your phone and use the note whenever a form asks. That small file has saved many newcomers a second trip to an office.

A first step

Enter your address in the City Hall address search or the cadastre's public search. Write down four things: your administrative district, your municipal district, your cadastral area and your postcode. Czech offices will ask for at least two of them within your first month.