Caliguy

Since I visit this site and get information from everyone else I thought I would share some of my experiences.

First, Prague is a gorgeous city and I would go back in a minute. I unfortunately was only there for 3 full days so didn't get to see as much as I would have liked.

The hotel I stayed at was the Cloister which I found through people on Fodors. I can say that in terms of location it was perfect but far from the high regards I read! For an extra $30-40 you could get a nicer hotel in the area and if I were going back I would do this or get an appartment. The room I had wasn't that clean, the safe looks like a shoe box, the bed didn't have a sheet, and my power went out in my room. I noticed another post saying they got robbed around the same time I was there so I am at least thankful this didn't happen to me, but that whole thing sounds fishy. Overall I would say the Cloister was about a C mainly because the staff was nice and the location was good.

You can spend hours alone on the bridge. The artists are amazing to watch and the statues are amazing. Many other things to see as well but one thing I would suggest is to view the bridge and castle in the evening. It is just gorgeous to see them lit up and you won't be disappointed

In terms of safety I was there for 2 days by myself, first time in a foreign country on my own, and I felt fine. Only once did a person come up to me and I just ignored him and went on. I did keep my main valuables in my zipped pocket or velcro pant pockets. I also had a backpack I carried my camera around with and I saw many tourists with nice cameras around there necks without any trouble. I am not saying you shouldn't watch yourself because I definitely did but I found the old town area to be nice even later at night.

Prices were great, especially after spending a couple days in London! I like London but I can't stand the fact you have to spend so much there just to eat a snack. Anyway you could eat a nice meal, drinks, and desert for 10-12 US. They use their own money still so you just need to get understand the exchange rate as I forgot it and gave a large tip out right when I arrived to the hotel Oh well, lol.

Didn't use the taxi's because they were too expensive and don't get into one without asking prices beforehand. Oh we used Athos, I think that was the name, and they screwed up my transfer from the airport and were rude when I asked what to do once I got there. I ended up taking a shuttle service, and even with the large tip I gave the driver, paid the same as what they were going to charge me. For my return I just asked the hotel to arrange something and it was about $22 which was fine since the airport is about 20 min away.

Well I can't think of anything else but if you have a question I will be happy to answer the best I can. I appreciate the help I have gotten here so I would like to give back.

rvman

Thanks for sharing your experience. We are planning to be in Prague from nov 5th-9th.Should we try to stay another day ? We are concerned about the weather. We are very excited as we have read so much about Prague. We still havent booked a hotel. You see, we are airline employees and fly space available,,so can only book that week in case flights fill up!!
If you had an extra day, where would you have gone?

cigalechanta

Thanks Caliguy, Everyone I know thinks prague is the place to go and has become more popular the last two years that I fear prices will rise.
Must know. Were the locals, friendly, receptive to you?

rex

Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with athos.cz - - since I had a very good experience with them, for getting advice on location of various lodging and booking our apartment(s). Yours may be the first report I have heard on their booking a transfer from the airport.

Glad you liked the city. You didn't mention the Mucha museum; hope you got a chance to enjoy that.

Best wishes,

Rex

walkinaround

i always use AAA cars. they are professional (and english speaking) when you call on the phone. it's also very easy to find one on the street.

Many other companies will not use meters and the quoted price will always be more than the meter (even though they tell you otherwise).

unfortunately there is only one choice from the airport (airport cars)and it is unmetered. however, they are generally pretty honest.

Caliguy

Yes I would definitely stay an extra day if you can. Also the people were nice though not many spoke english. I don't know one word of Czech so I was lost at times trying to communicate so I would bring a small dictionary next time or learn some basic words first.

More and more people are traveling to Prague so I definitely agree that prices could go up. This was the reason I decided to go now and I am very happy I did. I am planning another trip already for next year but I may try some of the neiboring countries instead because I have heard these are just as beautiful.

One last note. If you have the time I would recommend taking the train to another city in Czech. I got a magazine from my hotel the day I left and it pointed out some great sites you could go to in little amounts of time. These werent large cities like Prague but some castles and stuff like that so I would do this if I returned

Well any other questions please ask and take care!

Betsy

Caliguy, could you bring up the posts that specifically mentioned robberies at the Cloister Inn? I have been monitoring Prague hotels posts for several weeks on the board and have not read any that mentioned robberies at the Cloister.

I'm sitting in the lobby of the Cloister at this very moment, using their complementary internet connection.
The location is great, the staff is professional and friendly, our room is clean (but VERY spartan), and the power has remained on.

We have felt very safe here. The desk is staffed 24/7, and to get to the guest rooms, it's necessary to activate a sensor that's attached to the room key, so it would be difficult for anyone other than a guest to roam the halls.

When I started researching Prague hotels, 1 USD bought 37 CZK. Much to my surprise, 1 USD only buys 25 CZK currently. Ouch!

On to Cesky Krumlov tomorrow on the direct bus.

Betsy

Scratch the USD/CZK info in the post above. Don't know what I was thinking.

Another comment about the Cloister Inn: The front door is locked at 10 pm, and guests must be rung in by the desk staff.

We found the upside down horse!

Caliguy

Not sure what you read but I didn't state there was any robbery at the Cloister. In another post here a person said that 7 hotels had been robbed last week and I mentioned I was at the Cloister and there wasn't any problem. The Cloister does have that door with the sensor and the outside doors do close at 10:00, but if the other person was telling the truth then it wouldn't have mattered where you stayed because it was an inside job.

Overall I was happy with the Cloister but I just expected more personally. I am glad you like it but if I were to return I doubt I would stay there again. To me spending a little extra money for a nicer room would have made a big difference, eventhough I wasn't in my room that often. Still I slept with my jacket on and towel on my bed because it wasn't clean! I don't mind if the room isn't fanstastic in terms of style but I do prefer to have a clean bed to sleep in. The bathroom wasn't bad though, actually it was nicer than the room if it had a tub I would have slept there, lol.