november_moon

I am putting together an itinerary for a trip to Germany and Czech Republic this summer and am wondering how many days we should spend in Prague. With our current itinerary, we have 5 nights in Prague, so 4 full days. Our thought was to spend 2 or 3 days seeing Prague itself and then do 1 or 2 side trips to other (TBD) towns in the Czech Republic. Does this sound reasonable? Are we shortchanging Prague? Maybe spending too much time there?

annhig

Hi N_M,

where else are you going and for how long?

what do you like doing?

what were you planning to do in your 4 days in Prague?

can we have a little more detail so as to help you?

danon

I was in Prague last summer for 4 days without taking a day trip . I did not have trouble keeping busy , but I am a "lazy" traveler( i.e.I don't have a schedule + needed time to get over the jet-lag)

mvor

We spent four days too and didn't feel rushed. I would have liked to take a day trip but the city itself has a lot to offer. If you like Art Nouveau don't miss the Alphonse Mucha museum.

www.mucha.cz

iris1745

Been to Prague three times. But we just wanted to see the city again. One day trip would work. Richard Some info. www.inyourpocket.com/czech-republic/prague

november_moon

Sorry for the lack of info. Aren't you all following my trip planning as closely as I am?

The trip is my husband and I for my husband's 40th birthday. The theme of the trip is beer and we will also be staying in Munich and Bamberg with day trips planned from each. We may also stay a night in Nuremburg between leaving Prague and going to Frankfurt, which is our departure airport. Total trip is 13 days not including arrival and departure days.

Our interests are beer, photography, architecture, history, castles and historic palaces and houses, art, science, aimless wandering, museums (no more than 1 per day unless it is raining), churches with the same frequency as museums, hanging out and relaxing, live music, the outdoors, and did I mention beer?

We are pretty laid back travelers - no early mornings without a good reason, and we generally like a little nightlife - a bar with good beer and a decent band is pretty much our speed, nothing crazy. We've been known to spend an afternoon hanging out in a park/in a meadow/by a lake/on a beach/by a pool/in a cafe reading rather than out sightseeing.

We like doing bike and walking tours - food tours are fun too. Not really into the coach tours unless it is an open-air hop-on-hop-off tour.

We don't really have a plan for Prague yet - generally I come up with a list of possibilities and then we pick some stuff to do each day, or scrap the list entirely and do whatever comes up. We thought we'd see the castle, explore the old town, check out a museum and/or church or two, maybe take a bike tour, drink some beer, hang out and soak up the local color - that kind of thing.

StuDudley

We were in Prague for 4 nights & 3 1/2 days this past Sept. That seemed adequate for us. We would not have wanted to leave Prague for a day-trip elsewhere.

We then drove to Konopiste Castle for a visit, and then on to Cesky Krumlov for 2 nights. While in Cesky Krumlov, we visited Trebon for a half-day.

We then drove to Passau and stayed for 2 nights - visiting Rozmberk Castle & Burghausen castle on the way to Passau, and Regensburg the next day. We wished we had stayed in Regensburg instead of Passau - much more interesting city than Passau.

We are "rapid" travelers - often not stopping for a sit-down lunch. If you are reading a Rick Steves guide - he always seems to spend less time in a place than we do - except for museums (we don't visit "paintings" museums). Personally, I think he rushes through places too quickly & doesn't spend enough time admiring the architecture, sitting at a cafe "people watching", and getting out into some remote but historic neighborhoods.

Stu Dudley

danon

Both Prague and Munich are beer lovers "country"!

We were in Munich for 5 days in Sept..( spent half a day in Dahau)
Munich seems perfect for your list of interests.

bobthenavigator

We found 5 nites to be perfect, but we did take advantage of several music concerts that we loved--it was May.

november_moon

Thanks for the responses so far. Makes me think that the 4 days with a day trip out of the city is probably about right. I was talking to a friend yesterday who said that 4 days was too long, that she was ready to move on after 2 - so that got me thinking. But I don't know what sort of traveler she is. I think what we'll probably do is have a few possible day trips in our backpocket and then when we get to Prague, if we are indeed ready to move on after 2 days, we can just use it as a base to see other towns.

We spent several days in Munich about 5 years ago and really liked it - and have wanted to go back ever since. There are some things that we didn't see on our last trip and it is just a nice city to hang out in. I was actually in Munich again on a lay over a couple weeks ago - had just enough time to have lunch and wander around a bit, which got me in a Munich sort of mood. Mmm Dunkleweisen.

Bamberg is on the list for the Rauchbier - we had some in Nuremburg and fell in love. Vowed that we would visit Bamberg on our next trip to Germany.

And finally - we decided to visit Prague because it is known for the beer, but we know almost NOTHING about Czech beer. We went to Belgium a couple years ago for basically the same reason

annhig

hi N_M,

Beer hey - well Prague is definitely the right place for you. when we visited about 5 years ago, we found two places that were particularly good, a large very old beer hall called "U fleku" where they have long tables and serve you as you sit down, and a microbrewery in Prague 2, just up from the botanical gardens, where you can have such delights as nettle beer - i know now why it has never caught on!

there is loads of info on the www, including a company that will take you on a pub crawl, though it sounds as if you could easily organise your own!

4 days sounds about right, given your laid back approach and general interests.

PS - another place we really liked was the restaurant in the basement of the municipal hall - very tasty and atmospheric.

november_moon

Thanks annhig - I will put those on the list. Nettle beer sounds interesting, I think I will try it for no other reason than to be able to say that I've had it - LOL.

Mucky

If you like beer head up to the brewery in Plzen

annhig

here's the website for that microbrewery I mentioned - it's even in english!

http://gastroinfo.cz/pivodum/index.p...=uvod&lang=eng

the area is quite interesting - the botanical garden [at the bottom of the hill] is worth a visit and from memory a church where some resistance fighters were holed up is right opposite. There are some nice art deco buildings in the vicinity too.

Mucky

Hi annhig,
I think the church (St Cyrils methodist) is not opposite, but a few hundred yard up the road towards the river.

If it's the same church your talking about??

November_moon, it is indeed a great and very interesting place to visit as the group that assassinated Heydrich were hiding there when they were betrayed by one of their comrades.

You can go into the crypt where they hid and see the damage caused where they tried to dig their way out and also the damage caused by Nazi bullets on the outside wall, around the crypt ventilation window.

Maybe you can see these pics?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1507208...7600266484278/


Muck

annhig

hi muck,

i am sure that you are right - perhaps my memory is clouded by consumption of too much [nettle] beer - I was reminded of the church by seeing the film about the assassination of Heydrich on TV a few weeks ago.

easytraveler

Here's the CIA's account of the assassination of Heydrich from their secret files released to the public in 1993. Makes for fascinating reading:

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-f...1a01p_0001.htm

If you like architecture and castles, the Czech Republic is dotted with castles. You could spend the entire two weeks just driving from one castle to the next. My favorite so far is Zhikov Castle, which brought up visions of King Arthur's days.

if you do take a side trip, then Cesky Krumlov definitely and the second side trip would be to Kutna Hora.

I'm certain others will mention their favorite Czech castle(s).

Will you be writing a beer TR? I love Czech beer!

november_moon

Yes - of course I will write a beer trip report

I have come across Cesky Krumlov in my research, but I am not familiar with Kutna Hora - will definitely add it to my research.

Mucky and annhig - Thanks for the additional info on the church and the resistance fighters. I don't know much about Czech history, this is great stuff.

unclegus

there is a new and very interesting Pub open in Prague.
The Beer Museum Pub,30 different beer to try.
http://www.praguebeermuseum.com/en/index.htm
this is my review of it from Trip Advisor.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUse...e_Bohemia.html
i would also reccommend visiting the crypt of St Cyrill and methodist.quite a moving experience.

iris1745

Some general info on Prague. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/prague