Czech Republic · Hlavní město Praha · Prague
Letňany, Prague — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Letňany is a cadastral area on the northern edge of Prague, run as part of the municipal district of Prague 18. It carries an aviation past, kept alive by the former aircraft-works building called Stará Aerovka and by the Kbely Aviation Museum just over its eastern border. The birth house of Antonín Novotný, later a Czechoslovak head of state, also stands here. The quarter is mostly residential.
About Letňany
Where to stay in Letňany
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Staying in Letňany means choosing the calm of Prague's outskirts over its centre. Beds are thin on the ground, so most visitors who pick the area do it for a particular reason. Aviation enthusiasts value being close to the Kbely Aviation Museum and the Stará Aerovka building, while others walk out to the Ďáblice cemetery.
Evenings run quiet. The sights and hotels of central Prague sit well to the south-west. For nightlife or dense sightseeing, base yourself nearer the old town instead.
About Letňany
What are the main landmarks in Letňany?
The area's pull for visitors is aviation. Just east in Kbely, the Kbely Aviation Museum fills the old military airfield with historic aircraft, watched over by the surviving Airport tower in Kbely, while the functionalist Stará Aerovka recalls the district's own aircraft works. Older landmarks ring the neighbourhood: the Church of Saint Wenceslaus in Prosek to the south and the Church of Saint Remigius over in Čakovice.
A more sombre set clusters at the Ďáblice cemetery, among them the Red Army Memorial and a memorial to Nazi victims. The birth house of Antonín Novotný marks Letňany's place in twentieth-century Czech history.
What is the history of Letňany?
Letňany began as a farming village. Its charter dates to 1307, out on the flat land north-east of the old city. Growth came with the twentieth century, when aircraft works spread across the plain and gave the district an industrial character; the Stará Aerovka building dates from that shift.
Antonín Novotný, later president of Czechoslovakia, was born here in 1904, and the industrialist Emil Kolben is remembered nearby by a memorial. The village lost its independence in 1968, when it was joined to Prague. Since 2001 it has formed part of the municipal district of Prague 18, keeping its own cadastral boundaries.
Where is Letňany?
Letňany occupies flat ground in the north-eastern reaches of Prague, well beyond the historic core. Kbely adjoins it to the east, Čakovice lies to the north, and the older quarter of Prosek sits to the south, while Ďáblice and its large municipal cemetery close off the western side. Streets run wide and straight.
Postwar housing on a broad grid fills much of the built-up area.
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Updated July 2026