UBC July 2026 - Dancing House

How did I prepare for this trip to Prague? I’d heard it was a beautiful city, I’d checked that I only needed my ID card to enter the country, no passport required, and that cash isn’t really necessary in tourist areas. So basically, the bare minimum ;-)

To be fair, I was super busy covering full time for my coworker who had a bike accident.

I did, however, watch a couple of YouTube travel videos and took some loose notes. I created a little bucket list:

The classics:
Old Town, Prague Castle, Charles Bridge

The quirky stuff:
Dancing House, Franz Kafka Rotating Head by David Černý, John Lennon Wall

In the meantime, you’ve already had a chance to learn about most of these sights. Today, let me show you the Dancing House aka Ginger & Fred.

The Dancing House is an office building completed in 1996 on the banks of the Vltava River. Which, let’s be honest, already sounds far less exciting than what it actually looks like. “Office building” makes you think of gray carpets, sad printers and fluorescent lighting. Not a building that appears to be mid waltz.

Until 1945, a residential building stood on this site. It was destroyed during the bombing of Prague by American forces in the final months of World War II. After the rubble was cleared, the plot remained empty for decades.

Architects Vlado Milunić and Frank Gehry later developed the vision for what would become the Dancing House. According to them, the building symbolizes the transition from a rigid totalitarian system toward a more dynamic society in motion. Others simply see a dancing couple.

And honestly, once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

One tower appears upright and steady, while the curved glass tower beside it seems to swirl around like a dancer in a flowing dress. That is why the building became known as Ginger & Fred, after Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.

The building has nine stories. The two sections are vertically separated and not directly connected floor by floor. Six floors are used as office space, while the upper level houses a French restaurant with panoramic views over Prague. Conference spaces occupy the lower levels.

Then, in 2016, two floors were converted into the 21 room Dancing House Hotel. Because apparently somebody looked at this unusual building and thought: “You know what? People should sleep inside the architectural experiment.”

Prague is famous for its stunning architectural mix, but its identity is still overwhelmingly shaped by Gothic churches, Baroque buildings and its historic skyline of “a hundred spires.”

Of course there are modern buildings outside the Old Town, but many of them feel fairly anonymous and could just as easily stand in Frankfurt, Manchester or Zurich.

The Dancing House is different.

It does not try to blend in politely. It twists, leans, curves and almost seems alive among the elegant historic façades around it. Some people love it. Some people absolutely hate it. Which probably means the architects did something right.

One thing I hadn’t really considered beforehand was the location. Yes, it sits beautifully along the riverbank, but there is also a busy road running directly in front of it, which takes away a little of the magic. Imagine a leafy pedestrian promenade or a small riverside park there instead. People sitting on benches with coffee, street musicians playing nearby, tourists taking photos without dodging traffic every thirty seconds.

Still, you can’t have everything in life.

We visited during the day, but the Dancing House apparently becomes even more atmospheric in the evening when it lights up dramatically against the Prague skyline. That version will have to wait for another trip.

Photo Credit: Hamza Şamil Yavuz on Unsplash

Would you be interested in making the Dancing House your accommodation during your Prague stay?