Day trips from Prague
 

Hello, my boyfriend and I will be in Prague for 5 days and were wondering what you all recommend for day trips outside of the city. We are interested in the outdoors, history, some art (not too much, though), and taking photos. We have looked into Kutná Hora (which we are definitely doing), Karlovy Vary and Cesky Krumlov (both of which seem a little touristy). Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Kutna Hora is very interesting. My favourite was Cesky Krumlov. It can be touristy, for sure, but if you are there in the evening and/or early morning it is completely a different story. Tough with seeing it just on a day trip. I did not care for Karlovy Vary (but am not a resort person).

There are tons of castles south of Prague you could go to. North of Prague (Cesky Raj area) is very interesting as well - very pretty and different countryside. Great photo ops there!

MYP - I suggest Cesky Budejovice or Cesky Krumlov - get there early and take one of the last buses back, beautiful towns.

I loved Cesky Krumlov but it would be best if you could stay a night there so you can wake up in the morning and see the town with less tourists. But it's worth seeing with tourists too.

cesky krumlov is entirely doable as a day trip
try to opt for a sunday ticket ( theyre cheaper - only cost 12 aud per person)
we arrived at the station at 6 am and caught the 626am
by ten we were in cesky krumlov- just a short walk down to the village from the train station
the inspector was very helpful - there was plenty of notice given to people who had to change trains- very considerate of the czechs in that regard!
we couldve caught the the 5pm train back to prague but opted for the 3pm and arrived somewhere around 630
we saw what we wanted - had lunch and a coffee as well
( look out for a coffee shop called van goghs- great!! decor and ambience overall)
we are not museum goers but we really enjoyed the palace and the views are fantastic over the village itself
not to be missed
i do feel sorry for the bear that lives in the enclosure ( palace grounds) thats something they really should reconsider- tradition or no tradition- the beast was going nuts in there

We very much enjoyed our day trip to Karlovy Vary. We didn't do any of the spa's but simply wandered around for the day admiring the beautiful architecture, do a bit of window shopping and generally just taking it easy and having a pleasant day. The beautiful weather didn't go amiss either. The feel of the place is quite different to Prague. It reminded me a lot of St Petersburg (a city I adore) which is not surprising as it was a popular Russian spa town.

We also loved Cesky Krumlov but we spent the night there. I don't think I would have liked to do it as a day trip - a bit too far for my liking.

Thanks, appreciate it!

My husband's favorite part of our Prague & Krakow trip was Karlstein Castle. It's only about an hour outside of Prague. It's an amazing fortress and the tour guide spoke excellent English - unlike our Cesky Krumlov tour guide who even had trouble with "castle", which you can imagine was a bit of a problem.

Yet another option is Terezin if your interest in history includes WWII. Easily doable as a day trip.