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What to do? Free evenings in Prague and Vienna

What to do? Free evenings in Prague and Vienna

Old Aug 4th, 2017, 07:04 AM
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What to do? Free evenings in Prague and Vienna

I will be in these cities in September for 3 days/3 nights. I will be on a tour and seeing many of the main sights during the days. I have been reading other threads on these cities and have gleaned some good information. I will be having a drink at the "Fred and Ginger" in Prague, a recommendation from another thread. I wanted to see what you seasoned travelers and European residents would advise. I have never been to either of these cities before.

The tour's suggestions for nighttime activities are classical concerts in Prague and Mozart concerts in Vienna. I've been looking at websites and I'm not sure if tickets should be obtained in advance or once there and able to peruse options. If we did a Mozart concert in Vienna, I've looked into the Musikverein venue. If anyone has been there are we OK with the cheap tickets??? (not that the cheap tickets are really cheap).

In Prague another tour member is doing a pub crawl tour which sounds like fun. There is also a Prague food tour advertised on that site. I have also seen sites of dinner/concert venues. These are touristy things for sure, but then I am a tourist.

I am also fine with just a nice evening dinner and stroll.

Thank you for any advise/suggestions. Whatever we end up doing, I intend to be absolutely thrilled with. I am so happy to be able to travel to these cities.
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Old Aug 4th, 2017, 08:03 AM
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Which dates/days of the week are these free nights? People might have more interesting suggestions if you posted that info. For instance, on Sunday nights in Vienna some cafes have live traditional music. Other nights of the week I believe there are some venues to learn ballroom dancing (I think, not sure). Anyway, if you give the actual date you are talking about would be better I would think.
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Old Aug 4th, 2017, 09:47 AM
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Thanks massimop. Good idea. Prague is Friday and Saturday nights. Vienna the free night will be Tuesday.
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Old Aug 5th, 2017, 09:05 AM
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I will be in Vienna in early October so here is some info:

https://www.wien.info/en/music-stage...hurch-concerts
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Old Aug 5th, 2017, 10:24 AM
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for Prague if you want a nice relaxing evening and the weather is nice head to one of the many beer gardens.
Letna Park is my favourite,stunning views across the city and some nice beers ate cheap prices also a decent selection of snack foods, easy to get to from the city centre.
I also like Riegrovy sady beer garden better selection of beers there and often live music at night or sport on their big outdoor screen.
http://www.praguebeergarden.com/pubs...y/beer-gardens
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Old Aug 5th, 2017, 10:47 AM
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When I was in each city, I went to a different musical event every evening, from the StaatsOpera in Vienna to free concerts by students, to street concerts, to those in churches, to the Prague Opera House. Each one was totally enjoyable. Music is everywhere in those cities. I spent about 5 nights in each city and never ran out of concerts.

If you have an opportunity to go to the Musikverein, GO, regardless of where the seats are. It's a spectacular venue. I got a ticket through my hotel at the last minute and paid $35 to see the Philharmonic, and sat up on the stage. It was fabulous. There were about 4 rows of seats and I was seated in the second row on the end right near the door where the musicians entered and exited. I had an unobstructed view and could see Zubin Mehta's jowls shaking as he conducted, and the beads of sweat flying from his face! lol

Those seats were not reserved and I recall the scene for the ticket holders was somewhat chaotic in the back as they were organizing and escorting us to our seats. They took one group to a balcony above the stage, and one to the stage. "Assertive" New Yorker that I am, I just stuck with the stage group and plopped myself into a seat. Nobody cared.
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Old Aug 5th, 2017, 11:46 AM
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A very good music venue in Prague is the municipal hall, or there is always the opera. but a food tour might also be good - again the restaurant in the basement of the municipal hall is good and is worth going to look at, if only for the wonderful ceramic tiles.

You don't say when exactly you are going, but Friday 8th Sept they have a concert of Mozart, Smetana [the Moldau which is a lovely work] and Dvorak which looks pretty good:

http://www.obecnidum.cz/en/bohemian-...404049023.html

And here's what looks like a pretty comprehensive list of musical events in Prague for September:

https://www.pragueexperience.com/ope...xoCnBoQAvD_BwE
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Old Aug 5th, 2017, 06:00 PM
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bookmarking
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Old Aug 7th, 2017, 05:09 AM
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Perfect information everyone!! Thank You. I am going to be googling today and putting some firm plans in place. I watched a video on Prague last night and I am getting extremely excited. What a gorgeous city!! Panecott, I am going to be pushing the buy ticket button on Musikveiren today!! Your seat sounded phenomenal.

I am going to be pinching myself constantly that I am actually in these cities.
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Old Aug 7th, 2017, 05:39 AM
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Just been thinking ,if you are going to be at the Fred and Ginger "Dancing" building there is an area opposite there and on the lower level beside the river called Na Plavka, there are a few pop up bars there during the summer as well as a couple of boats and barges that have bars and restaurants on them and a lovely place for and evening stroll.On Saturdays there is a great farmers market there with some great food stall and usually a few stall selling wine and beer.
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Old Sep 24th, 2017, 06:25 AM
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I wanted to say thank you to everyone for their posts on this thread. I took your suggestions to heart and now I'm reporting back.

I just returned from Prague and Vienna and yes music is everywhere!! I had the most wonderful time even though it was very cold in Prague and cold and horribly rainy in Vienna.

I ended up not procuring any tickets to anything before even though my intentions on this thread were to have everything organized. Our nights were spur of the moment and it was extremely easy to find things to do (for those of you going to these cities for the first time).

Prague:

The first night we went to a lovely classical concert/opera/ballet at the Municipal House. We had taken a tour of that building earlier and it was spectacular. The concert was sweet, probably not the most sophisticated (especially the ballet dancers), but then I"m not the most sophisticated audience member either.

Our second night was spent in a beer garden where we roasted our own sausages. (a good old weinie roast). Beer was goood. Sorry unclegus, I don't remember the name of the garden since I was just going with the flow by that point, but I understand why you like Prague so much.

Third night we went to Reduta Jazz Club which was possibly my most favorite night on the trip. It was an evening of swing songs sung both in Czech and English. The singer was very funny and friendly and the musicians were very talented. I would recommend this gladly.

Vienna:

Our first night there was dinner with friends. We got the lay of the land so to speak and starting learning the metro.

The second night we were off to the Musikverien to see the Philharmonic instrumentals. There was also wonderful opera performed. It was a nasty rainy evening, so it was not as much fun getting there on the Metro and the pushy people in the coat check lines were the worst I have ever encountered anywhere. However, once the music started, it was magical and worth all the fuss and cost. The building is gorgeous. The musicians were dressed in Mozart garb.

Our last night in Vienna was dinner with friends. No concerts or nightlife, just good food and good wine. I think we were tired of fighting the rainy weather.

That afternoon we heard an excellent organ concert in a church close to the palace. That was just word of mouth as we were passing by. A beautiful baroque church with very very hard benches to sit on!! This concert was free, donations kindly accepted though.

I sure got myself some culture on this trip!! Wonderful, wonderful cities. Again, thanks to this forum.
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Old Sep 24th, 2017, 08:00 AM
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thanks for the feedback and really glad you liked Prague, going with the flow is always the best way.
I am back in Prague for New year .
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Old Sep 25th, 2017, 12:22 AM
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Glad you found such nice things to do, barbrn. It's a while since we were in Prague, but I recall one night at the puppet theatre, another at a concert in the Municipal Hall, and a third at the [then] very reasonably priced opera, the first two arranged while we were there.

Finding things to do on spec in Vienna was harder, strangely enough, but one night we went to the Prater, and another we drove out into the Vienna Woods and went to a Heuriger. In retrospect I wish that we had obtained tickets for the Musikverein in advance, perhaps next time.
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Old Sep 25th, 2017, 12:58 AM
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"That afternoon we heard an excellent organ concert in a church close to the palace. That was just word of mouth as we were passing by."

We like the big name performances in small doses here in Vienna; the "by-the-by" is our preferred way to attend cultural events here in Vienna, though. DH will mention that his colleague's son's conservatory is performing final exam recitals at Peterskirche; or our daughter's violin instructor will mention a Hauskonzert that we are invited to attend. We ourselves have hosted a Hauskonzert for the violin instructor's studio and invited friends; with the weather being warm the terrace doors were open, and when one student finished we heard applause from the sidewalk--passersby had stopped to listen!

Glad you enjoyed my adopted hometown, and Prague, too. I love them both.
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