For the Prague portion of our trip here is what I%26#39;m thinking, please let me know if you have suggestions!
Day 1 - Fly in from UK 1:00PM Getting out of airport with luggage - get to hotel around 3:00 Staying at the Crowne Plaza Prague Castle, so we will spend the next couple hours exploring part of the castle then getting dinner somewhere.
Day 2 - Walking %26quot;Best of Prague%26quot; tour with either Jay from www.prague-walks.com (still waiting to hear from him) or other guide.
Day 3. Morning visit Karlstejn Castle. Afternoon Jewish Ghetto tour (will we be able to go to Karlstejn, see the castle, get lunch and get back before 2:00 of the afternoon tour??)
Day 4 - Revisit any sites we might want to spend more time at. Flight departs to FRA at 6:00PM (how much time do we need to allow ourselves at the airport?)
Restaurants I%26#39;m interested in are:
Peklo
U Tri Housilek
U Fleku (is the food worth it, or should we just stop by for a beer?)
U Ceskych Panu
Information on these restaurants, or %26quot;better%26quot; suggestions would be greatly appreciated. As well as what would be better for dinner and what would be fun and easy locations for lunch.
This is the final leg of our vacation before we head back to the states. I wish we had one more day but we don%26#39;t so we need to get as much in as possible!!
Thanks in advance!
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crowne plaza is not next to the castle - it is almost 2 kilometers away or 30 minutes walk. you will need tram and then metro to get anywhere from the crowne plaza, so when you come out of the customs at the airport, buy yourself a 7 day public trransport ticket (these cost 280 crowns) from the prague transport authority office (where you see the sign %26quot;metro - tram - bus%26quot;. stamp these in the orange ticket machine on the first tram you enter.
karlstejn castle takes about 40 minutes to get to by train. trains go from smichov station, which you can get to by tram 12 from malostranska metro. taking journeys from the crowne plaza which is the other side of town, unless you get up really early, it will be difficult to get to karlstejn and back by 2pm.
one question on tours - you are wanting to go on a best of prague tour and then a jewsih ghetto tour. do you really need to do this, following an umbrella in a group at someone else%26#39;s pace and seeing what someone else wants you to see. the joy of prague is going off with a map and wondering down streets in the old town and castle area. if you need a tour, take one of a specialist area or subject. your timetable appears to give you little time to explore prague by yourself
restaurants are a personal choice, but I am not a fan of any of the restauarants you choose. peklo, u ceskych panu and u tri housilek are all cellar restaurants where you find mainly tourists rather than locals. in the summer, I personally do not want to sit eating in a dark cave. u fleku is famous and worth popping in. food is staple, but much more expensive than less tourist czech pubs like olympia or kolkovna
allow 1.5 hours for checking in back to frankfurt, (lufthansa check in queue is often very busy and slow if you are flying economy) so with a 30 minute journey from the crown plaza, leave 2 hours (or say 2 hours 15 minutes) from the hotel before your flight
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Hi Peb - Thanks for the info. As far as the tours, the %26quot;best of%26quot; is going to be a private tour just us with a guide that was recommeded on the Fodors board. I agree with you about the Jewish Ghetto tour though. I haven%26#39;t been able to decide if that was really something I was going to do.
Do you think we need to do the prive tour (about 100 USD for the two of us total for 6 hours) or will it be perfectly easy enough for us to get the same thing with our guide books and our own feet? I%26#39;m looking for stories about the city and local restaurants and pubs that I feel only a local can point us too.
Thanks!!
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I would take a map (freely available at most hotels) and a guidebook (you appear already to have fodors) and walk the city yourself. spend one day in the castle area and a second day in the old town (you can see the jewish quarter without a tour). if you need a specific tour of say the castle or of communist prague, then order one. it appears that you are rote copying the itinerary stated in fodor%26#39;s; i.e. tours, restaurants and all, which will leave you little time to explore the city by yourself. as said above, the joy of prague is just following your nose and going down small streets that take your fancy
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Hi Lynzbeth - We just got back from Prague last week. I think it%26#39;s an excellent idea for you to take a walking tour. DEFINITELY go ahead with it if it%26#39;s your first time in Prague. It%26#39;s a great way to get acclimated. Besides, on the guided walks, you get a lot of the history behind things, legends, etc. Information isn%26#39;t as easy to come by as cities in western Europe - I personally don%26#39;t feel like tourism is set up quite that well as yet. It%26#39;s not that you can%26#39;t get the info - it%26#39;s just that it takes a while. Time that you%26#39;d probably rather spend seeing the city. And not all the locals are friendly or interested in helping out. Most in the tourist district are ok, but that%26#39;s about it. If you go prepared with that knowledge, you won%26#39;t be shocked by some people and will be pleasantly surprised by others.
I would recommend a general best of Prague city walk that doesn%26#39;t have to include a detailed castle area walk (I don%26#39;t htink most general walks include the castle area in much detail). For the castle area, take the audio guide which you can buy at the visitor center by the castle. That would be a great way to spend the day you arrive.
Around that area is a restaurant called %26#39;David%26#39;s%26#39; - it%26#39;s pretty close to the American embassy. I can%26#39;t say enough about this place. It%26#39;s romantic, the food is great and the service is wonderful. My husband and I shared an appetizer, and each had an entree and dessert. It was about $125 with tip but well worth it. They gave us a pate plate compliments of the chef (they did this for everyone) plus the best bread and also complimentary glass of %26#39;saler%26#39; - a kind of muscato wine. (This place, as many others in Prague, has a %26#39;cover%26#39; - I think it%26#39;s $2.50 per person - but clearly marked on their menu unlike other places.)
In general, your itinerary looks good. You%26#39;ll need time to visit some of the churches and looks like you have time to get in a couple of concerts which go on in the churches every day.
Other notes: I bought a small bottle of water near the castle for $5 - I was desperate. Get your water before you go into that area.
Get a hotdog in Wenceslas Square - they%26#39;re delicious.
Try this place called Havelska Koruna - it%26#39;s like a canteen and the food is dirt cheap but it is to die for. I paid $6 for a meal of pork and dumplings and a glass of beer.
Prague is breathtaking. You%26#39;ll definitely want to return. Have fun!
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I agree that you definitely don%26#39;t need anything but a good guide book for most of your touring. The castle is definitely a %26quot;do it yourself%26quot; item, and they have headphones if you want them. We felt like we were getting much more with the headphones than we would have with a guide because the guide tries to please all and %26quot;moves right along.%26quot; We also felt that our guide book and map served as well for getting around the city.
Eating outside is such a delight that it would be difficult for me to give that up for the cellar-type restaurants. We did fine on our own navigating the tram system; it isn%26#39;t very complicated.
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%26quot;Get a hotdog in Wenceslas square - they%26#39;re delicious%26quot;
do you know what they are made of? You probably don%26#39;t want to know
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Well I think we%26#39;ll skip the Jewish Getto tour, and kind of fly by the seat of our pants for that day. If we decide we want to take a side trip we%26#39;ll go to the castle. I am however going to stick with my Best of Prague tour. I am really interested in the history of the place and I feel like it would be really nice to have it brought to me and explained to me instead of having to read it.
As far as food, I still haven%26#39;t made up my mind. I think maybe one cellar style dinner and the rest we will take a couple of these ideas an hold on to them so if we%26#39;re in the right place at the right time we can go to some of your recommendations.
I am happy with the thought of going through the castle on arrival day, tour day 2 and days 3 and 4 just roaming the city.
Thanks for the ideas!!
How much time do need at the airport? We will be flying business on lufthansa so we can go through the priority check in and security line, but I don%26#39;t want to give up any more time in Prague then I have to!!
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priority check in for business at lufthansa but no priority security or passport control. even so queues normally move quite quickly. leave the hotel half an hour later than if you are going economy (1 hour 30, or for comfort 1 hour 45 before your flight)
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Hi Peb7
Appologies if I am slightly off topic here but I saw the Castle mentioned and need some advice for a visit next year.
Can one get to the upper level of the castle by taxi ?
My wife and I are in our eighties and find lots of steps sap our energy, give us a flat surface and we can go for hours :)
Thanks
Ron
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you can get to the upper level of the castle by tram and by taxi. the tram stop outside the castle gives a 100 metre flat walk to the side castle entrance. a taxi would stop much in the same place
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