Has anyone ever found a great package deal to Prague?
 

The two of us want to travel from March 3-10, 2005, but I'm having lousy luck finding a good package deal on a centrally located hotel. I've looked at go-today, nordique and gate 1 and will go with them if left with no choice. Any ideas out there from people who have actually traveled there via a package deal? Our budget is no more than 1800.00 for 6 nights.

Thanks!!

HI
Czech air lines is offering packages,
with good choices for hotels.
Check directly with their website.
It refers you to a Czech travel agency which actually does the booking.
I found it easier to discuss the details over the phone rather than booking on line.
They deal with many hotels, some of which aren't even mentioned in the website info.

Centrally located hotels that they deal with include U Karlova Mostu, Certkova, Josef, and others. All get good comments here and at www.tripadvisor.com

$1800 for two or a piece? I just went with Laifer Tours, for $1459 for Prague/Vienna. The same hotel I stayed at in Prague (Maximillian) would be about $1200 it looks like. This included hotel, air, round trip transfer and a half-day tour there. I was thrilled with my experience, and Paul took good care of me. I think this may be one of the agencies Czech Air lists on its site. www.laifertours.com

Taking a wild guess here, but - - you're from the US, Renn? - - is trhat right?

Rather difficult to say what is a good or appropriate price for such a trip without your specifying:

1. Where will you originate? Big difference between Belfast and Honolulu, or Canberra, or Edmonton.

2. What currency is 1800.00?

I am generally unimpressed with the notion that you can find better prices from a package, than you could find fro purchasing the individual compoents yourself. I recommend www.athos.cz and www.jasoncholt.com to help prepare yourself for a trip to Prague.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hey guys....forgive my big DUH!! I live in Atlanta and yes, the $1800.00 USD budget is for two people.

It's been a longgggg day, folks! lol

Sorry I can't help with tours as I always go on my own, but from obsessive reading of ads in travel magazines(!) usually they word them more like: Round-trip Atlanta to Prague $900USD per person/double occupancy required, tax and transfers included (or not). I'm just saying if you don't get more good replies you might post again with different wording so people understand better what you're looking for.

I think Paul Laifer offers the best packages to that area, and the deals by Czechair Elaine mentioned also looked very good. Those are the best I've seen. www.summittours.com used to have some decent ones there occasionally. YOu could also check www.travelzoo.com

If you do forego a package tour, and ypou're having trouble finding the fare you seek directly to Prague - - perhaps you can combine it with anoither destination that appeals to you. See www.whichbudget.com for various low-cost connector flight options into Prague.

Thanks, everyone.

Rex,
I've looked into booking the air and hotel separately and the prices are much higher than the package deals. I'm not giving up hope yet since I'm not leaving until March. Thanks for the website tips...they are extremely helpful.

Elaine,
I did finally find the package deals. I'm definitely checking into those. Also, I found FARES from ATL to PRG for 518.00 though which was very, very reasonable!

Suze,
I'm not looking into "tours" (i.e. guided tours) per se, because we like to travel on our own too. I just want to find a good air+hotel combo that's within my budget. ;-)

Sorry didn't understand "package deal" to mean air/hotel only. Good luck!

Hey Renee - I actually used go-today.com for very similar dates earlier this year (my report is on this board somewhere), and stayed in their third-tier hotel (Kinsky Garden) which I thought was a nice location - close, but not in the overly touristy areas crawling with fast food joints. And keep in mind that the place is crawling with Tram lines, and an easy-to-use Metro. If I remember correctly our total was around $1400 from EWR - I thought $700 pp for flights (xfer in frankfurt) plus 6 nights hotel plus breakfasts plus taxes was amazing. One thing, though, is that you may want to fork over an extra $20 pp if you use them and book over the phone - that way you'll get your choice of flights rather than risking some inconvenient flight times. But it's a glorious city, and you'll have a blast. Wish I was going back!!