greetings!
after spending a couple of years traveling around the world with many of you (virtually) i will be spending 9 days in prague this july. we won't have a car but are quite train-able and would love to hear about day trips- cesky krumlov is at the top of my list (and would you spend the night there, too?).

but we would love to hear about restaurants, favorite moments, SHOPS, things that might not be in the tour books but made an impression on you... i promise a detailed trip report!

lindan

Ahhh, Prague. Visited last year...
Strangely enough remember the quite decorative and eloborate bathrooms in the restaurants.. very unusual. Went to a variety of restaurants: Traditional, French, and Thai. Yummy, dumplings at the traditional restaurant and great beer... several varieties of dumplings including bacon... went nicely with the beef goulash. A small bar near the hotel had delicous desserts and warm grog (warm rum and water or tea). Seemed an appropriate drink in such a medieval city.
Went on a day trip to Terezin Concentration Camp, very interesting with a great tour guide. Went to a small store and bought sandwiches (not quite knowing the contents) before leaving on the tour. Very tasty chicken and lettuce with curry spread.
Saw a marrionette (sp?) opera of Don Giovonni... I'm sure a once in a life time experience if nothing else. Just walking around the city was magnificant. Stayed at the Rott Hotel which was in a historic building located in a small square. Very nice, a little loud in the square some nights.
Hope you have a wonderful trip.

Hi
Here is my Prague report from a few weeks ago
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34607332

It'a a great place, been there twice, will go again
The only day trip I've done is Terezin with a group tour. Talk about making an impression...

I also have a long file on Prague; if you'd like to see it,email me at
[email protected]

A tip on an excellent restaurant: the PRAVDA. Delicious food, wonderful ambiance, decoration and service and beautiful people. Though a bit pricy it's well worth the money spent.

Hi. I was there last year, Prague is wonderful. I did do a day trip to Cesky Krumlov and loved it. I did a group tour. There are several companies running day tours to a variety of places, they have kiosks in the major tourits areas in Prague and you can buy your tickets the day before or in some cases the same day. Having said that though I would not do the group tour again. I would much rather have been on my own to explore and not have to follow their schedule, eat lunch where they choose (it was included), etc. I did the group tour because I was alone and therefore slightly less sure of my ability to get around in an area where I was definitly not able to speak the language. However, now having been there I really think public transportation would be OK, especially if you are "train-able" as you say. I don't know if I'd bother spending the night, but I would have liked more than the couple of hours the tour gave me.

My favorite thing to do in Prague (for me actually, my favorite thing in any European city) is just to wander around. Prague is very walkable, I never took public tansportation. Highlights for me were classical concert in St Nicholas, listening to the choir practice early on a Sunday morning in St Vitus (and by the way, I'm not even religious), and shopping for garnet jewlery - there are garnet jewlery stores every two feet in Prague. There was also a kiosk in Old Town Square, right next to the astronomicla clock tower, that sells a warm pastry that is to die for. Can't remember what it is called. Have a great time.

I agree with isabel about walking in Prague. In a total of about 10 days spent there, I've used exactly one tram/metro ticket--I took two tram rides with it (transfers).

Thanks so much... i should have mentioned that i really enjoyed your earlier post's elaine-- also rene posted a very useful report. i always feel a twinge of cultural imperative about seeing the official sites, but i'm with you all about the great attraction of just walking around and not having to "march" with the group. i love sitting at cafes and just reveling in listening to a different language. i live in the washington, d.c. area and it seems to take going to a foreign country for me to really feel 'away from it all.'

i didn't know about the GARNET shopping opportunities- it's always been one of my favorite stones... next to rhinestones of course! ~smiles~

i will find the warm pastry place- i need the incentive to face the mornings. i'm a night person.

what about evenings there? are there blues clubs? what did you all do at night?

lindan

I have a page of websites and some other material I collected when planning our trip in 2003. If you would like any or all of it, please e-mail me.

I've been to Prague twice now and really love, and do find group day tours very attractive and convenient in Prague. I have been to Cesky Krumlov on one, and would do that again as it was a lot easier than the arrangements on your own to that place.

I didn't have any of the problems Isabel did because I choose tours differently that have the options I want. We were not led around by the nose in a group and forced to eat together or only do things together, for example. We also spent more than a couple hours in Cesky Krumlov. The only place we were in a group was on the bus to/from, of course, and then in the lecture tour of the castle and its immediate grounds. That was it. And, we had a specially organized lecturer and tour of the castle (not sure how that compares to what you'd get on your own). We were on our own to explore the town doing whatever we wanted to do, and eating lunch on our own, etc. No meals were included in the price, which was very cheap. We just had a specific time to get back to the bus, of course, for departure. We were in CK probably around a total of 4-5 hours. It is a fairly long trip from Prague, after all, so the time there is limited for a day trip. I think we got there around 11 and left 3-4 pm.

That was by Martin Tours. I took another by Prague Sightseeing Tours which was very good, and that was more of a walking tour of the entire city (highlights, of course), as well as specific sites, so we weren't left on our own there --that was Kutna Hora. However, CK is so small that there's really not far to go so people can't get too lost. I had no particular desire to go off and explore Kutna Hora on my own, as we were seeing the things I wanted to see with the guide, who was excellent.

I found the time on that tour in Cesky Krumlov sufficient for me, it's not a place I'd necessarily want to spend tons of time in, as it's so small and mainly for tourists.

In Prague, I am very interested in classical music and that's one of my main attractions to Prague, so I spend a lot of time on that -- both times I went was during their Music Festival so I had tickets for some of those events, as well as opera and some concerts outside that. I wouldn't personally go to Prague for the blues (although I like it), but they have a little bit of everything there and plenty of popular club venues. There was a real popular one around my hotel, one of the most wellknown in Prague (Roxy), but I'm a lot older than those 20-somethings in there. I spend time in outdoor cafes, or indoor cafes which are famous in Prague, reading, people-watching, etc., outside of the music. I also like to go to movies in foreign cities and do that sometimes in Prague for a break, especially if its rainy or something. They have a lot of English-language movies there, of course, so I go to them or French movies, as I know that language enough to get by.

wait- prague isn't the capitol of BLUES in europe???? ~smiles~ actually, my friend is a blues-fan and sometimes you find little special clubs in the strangest of places- so i thought i would ask.

and, ah, i've got daughters that would be quite happy in the 20's-something venue but i'm more like 20 years old with an extra thirty years of experience!

what about weather? i checked the weather board and it said that temperatures averaged in the low 70's in july. hmmmmm, i'm one of the packing-challenged and that means a few extra layers.

lindan