paris vs prague in early july.please help me choose!
 

My wife and I,both in our early 30s, love visiting european cities as often as possible.After a break of one year,due to our first baby's birth, we intend to visit either paris or prague in early july.We have 5or 6days and we have never been either in paris or prague.what we enjoy in our trips is visiting museums of modern art,peoplewatching,shopping and having romantic dinners.PLEASE help us choose,we really need this trip to be special!!most of you understand how much we missed travelling!!!

Paris is a 20th century city (or 21st now) with generous sprinklings of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Prague feels much more like a 19th century city with a LOT of the 13th, 4th and 15th centuries. The only "modern" art that is important in Prague is the Mucha museum (1910-1930) - - it's an absolutely great place, but of course much of Mucha's career was Parisian in character (and actual location).

Paris is a much bigger city and you will use the metro a lot. Prague can be enjoyed almost entirely by walking.

Paris is quite a bit more expensive, especially for food - - but both cities offer a wide spectrum of budget choices. Consider an apartment for both. We were particularly pleased with an apartment we chose from www.athos.cz - - stayed at Apartments Zatec.

If you can or will speak some French, it adds immensely to your enjoyment of Paris, of course. Undoubtedly true of Czech in Prague also, though we did not feel TOO hampered by lack of Czech language skills there this past spring.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi sakis,

Go to Prague after you have been to Paris.

These are probably my two favorite European cities. Your love of modern art would make Paris the better choice for you, I think. There is quite a difference in expense between the two, especially in paying for your romantic dinners. French food is wonderful, but much more expensive. Good luck in choosing. You really can't go wrong between these two.

I agree, hard to go wrong. However, if you have never been to Paris, go there first.

I also think either would be wonderful and you can't go wrong. If you haven't been to Paris, that seems a natural--I've been there many times in early July and it's a great time to go.

However, I vehemently disagree with the above statement that there is no important modern art in Prague except at the Alfons Mucha museum ( which is only his work, which is Art Nouveau, a lot of ads and posters, as you may know). I don't know why one would say that, because I think Prague's National Gallery for Contemporary and Modern Art is simply outstanding, one of the best I've ever seen. I probably prefer it to the Pompidou, although overall Paris does have more holdings, of course, than Prague in several excellent museums (Pompidou, City of Paris Modern Art Museum, and the Maillol Foundation are all very good). Paris and France are much richer in that regard. The new library in Paris has some good exhibitions and may have something, also--I saw a wonderful photography exhibit there of many works by Bresson.

One nice thing about the modern art gallery in Prague is that it is not very crowded as not many tourists go there. It is a very large, good facility, however (about six floors). It has a different focus than the Parisian museums, of course -- more on Central/Eastern European artists, but you do find some of the usual other well-known artists' works. I saw some beautiful Impressionist works there by Czech artists whom I'd never heard of before because they aren't as well-known as Monet and the French guys. It is easy to get to right on the tram or metro line in the Karlin area.

There is also the avant garde Vltavin gallery in Prague near the National Theater with works from Sali, Ernst, etc.

I like modern art very much, also, in fact I prefer that period rather than works before 1850, which aren't as appealing to me (such as a lot of what is in the Louvre). If you want to see a lot of the usual best artists and masterworks, Paris would be better, but you'll see something different in the Prague.

I don't think Paris is a much bigger city than Prague, either, I think Prague is in terms of geography covered (although Paris has more population), but most tourists only stay in a very small central area. That's true of Paris, also, however. So, I don't think that matters too much. I use the metro and tram and buses a lot in Prague. You'd have to in order to get to some things, such as the Contemporary Art Gallery.

Here is one link I found that describes the Prague museums and galleries pretty well, including the two I mentioned above:
http://www.praguehotel.net/english/museums_en.htm

You can find a lot of info on the Parisian ones, of course, in many places.

Mea culpa - - for my ignorance about moderen art in Prague - - and for my thinking that I could even assert that I knew!

I would have been far better off to say that to the best of my (unstudied) familiarity, Prague is not known for modern art in the way that Paris is.

Rex - I am interested in your apartment information. I think that we have settled on Prague for our family vacation this August. My kids are very excited about it. An apartment might be the best for us. (2 adults, 2 teens). It sounds like you were happy with your choice.