travelgaya

My DH and I have finally booked a trip to Paris and Prague this thanksgiving.
We are flying into Paris and spending 4 nights there and we take a very early flight 7 am out of Paris to Prague for 2 1/2 days there.
We then fly back to Paris ,spend the night and take the flight back to LA next morning.

The hotel we have picked is Relais Bosquet in Rue Cler.
I have couple questions I would really appreciate if you guys help me out here.

- We are planning to travel light, what is the best transport route from CDG to the hotel ? The hotel has given some directions but it is pretty unclear. Has anyone taken the public transport to get to this hotel ?
- Airline recommended that we get to the airport atleast 3 hours before the flight to Prague. In that case its 4am, Besides taking the taxi, what would be a good idea for transport? If metro or buses are an option we would like to do that as we are budget conscious
- We get back around 6pm from Prague and have a cheap reservation at the Ibis Hotel, Roissy near the CDG. We have the rest of the night (depending on how you look at it ) What would you recommend we can do for say 2-4hours from this hotel.
- In Paris, would it be a good idea to do a day trip to Versailles, its going to be end of November and not much foilage, what are your thoughts?
- Any restaurant recommendations for Vegetarians?
- Any other recommendations ?

Thanks in advance..looking forward to hearing from you all.

seafox

Be sure to read/view kerouc's recent post "Surviving CDG airport + RER" the train is the most econonical and you would need to connect to a METRO, but it should be easy. A Taxi is of course the easiest but most costly.

Your itinerary is ambitious and unless you have been to Paris multiple times I would skip Versailles. it is a "day trip" and you have a lot of travelling already built in - save it for next time.

I doubt the airport is open at 4...more likely 5, you may want to check the airport web site.

Paris for Vegetarians is easy, Prague not so much... hopefully folks can offer suggestions.

Jean

I don't think you'll have trouble eating vegan in Prague unless you want to focus on Czech food which is generally meat-centric. There are many Italian restaurants with the usual antipasti, minestrone, pasta, risotto, pizza, etc.

I also agree that a day-trip to Versailles would take too much time out of your tight itinerary.

travelgaya

Thanks Seafox - kerouac's post that you suggested is indeed very helpful
Thanks Jean - with the options that you mentioned about Italian food, we should be fine.
Do you guys have any recs for the time we have in the evening after flying back into Paris from Prague. Like I said earlier, we get in at 6pm

decee

We just recently did a flight Paris to Prague on Air France(in Sept) and we thought we would need to be there 3 hours in advance as we assumed our flight was classified as International. As it turns out it isn't because both countries are part of the EU ( and no immigration to go through either). They would not let us into the waiting area to sit down until 1 hour before flight departure. For the trip to CDG for this flight we took the Air France bus as it was right across the street from the hotel--speedy service and it drops you at the terminal you need (I think it was 15€ each)--taxi getting from CDG to this same hotel was 44€. Coming back from Prague we did the taxi again to our hotel in the Luxembourg Gardens area. This cost us 50€ including tip--traffic much heavier at 3 in the afternoon.

Another thing that we were not sure of was the duty free limit for bringing goods back from Prague. It turns out that they don't ask if you've bought anything--not that we had to worry as I think we only had a few souvenir type things--if I had known this I would have made more effort to spend my money Hope this helps.

Moglin

travelgaya, we stayed at that Ibis last summer (actually, it was very decent for the price). There's not that much to do around at all, I believe there's 1 restaurant across the street and maybe a few bars in other hotels on the strip (it's a complex that consists of several hotels). The only thing you may want to do:
1. If you don't have that much luggage from your trip to Prague, just take a train to go into town (Paris) without even going to the hotel.Paris at night is beautiful and you can jsut revisit any place you enjoyed during your stay. Getting to Paris is super easy from CDG (and by then it'll be your 2-3 time doing this route).
2. if you do have a luggage and need to go to the hotel first, the shuttle is free but it serves al the hotels on the strip and it takes awhile to get to the hotel. Long while, more time than you want to waste being in Paris ! After that you can either grab a cab or return to the airport and then see #1.If it's too late and you're tired, your choice could be to go to that restaurant I mentioned earlier but it's nothing to write home about. Although, after Prague food it may seem pretty good .
Anyways, have a great trip!

nancicita

Veg Food
Londýnská 35
Praha 2 - Vinohrady (right in the center of town)
http://www.vegfood.cz/

Vegan, Asian, European, International
Prague vegan restaurant. Varied menu includes noodles, rice, faux meat dishes, tofu, pasta, soup, and more. Open 10:30-21:00, closed Sunday. Recent reviews: http://www.happycow.net/reviews.php?id=14348

Try the "vietnamese rolls"

nancicita

Taverna Olympos
Kubelíkova 9
130 00 Praha 3
http://www.taverna-olympos.eu/cs/

tel.: +420 2 22 72 22 39
[email protected]
Opening hours: Po–Ne 11.30–24.00

This one is my favorite restaurant in Prague. One of those that I'd take my parents to for a nice evening out.
It's a Greek restaurant; excellent atmosphere and moderately priced. Good-sized portions. It's not a vegetarian-only restaurant but there are plenty of options without meat.

I suggest the “Taverna” salad plus the “Olympos” salad.
Make sure you ask them for extra pita bread -- it is excellent and perfect!!

kappa1

Prague: one of few vegetarian restaurabts Lehka Hlava ( Clear Head )
http://www.lehkahlava.cz/en_novinky.htm

This restaurant is always mentionned when someone is looking for vegetarian restaurants. So if you google or go to Tripadvisor, will find many reviews. I read about it since quite some time but ate there finally last week (twice - lunch set that is soup + main + a big glass of water for about €4 - 5), family friendly, interesting decor. Youg staff and young customers when I was there, staff also nice and friendly. It is very centrally located, on the Old Town side, about 5 minute walk from Charles Bridge and 2 minute to the river side. More (tourist) central than other places mentioned above so perhaps easier to integrate in your itinerary. Funn,cute and casual place that I like. I am not a vegetarian but will return. A tiny toilet room if it matters to you.

travelgaya

Thanks nancicita for taking trouble to post the restaurant names. Unfortunately, we were already in Prague during that time and I did not get a chance to check this posting. Kappa1 you are absolutely right about "Lehka Hlava". we had many lunches and dinners at that place and I would highly recommend this one! We tried various dishes and I find it hard to recommend any one particular dish although my fav was the Oriental Stir-fry! A must for any one visiting Prague.

travelgaya

Besides Lehka Hlava I would also recommend the following

Café Radost FX
Belehradská 120, Prague 2
(+420) 224 254 776
Tram: I.P.Pavlova
Excellent food, only problem is its a smoking restaurant, so the smoke could turn off some people.

Klub Architektu
Betlémské nám. 5a, Prague 1
Phone: 224 401 214
Tram: Národní trída
Great food, great service

travelgaya

So we returned from our splendid 1 week in Paris and Prague. It was a great combo - while Paris was hectic and packed with things to do, Prague was more relaxing and easy paced. We did the Versailles day trip while in Paris and the Cesky Krumlov day trip while in Prague.
Paris was indeed very hectic as we had only 4 days and lots of things to cover.
We did all the museums we wanted in 1 day - which was the Louvre, Orsay and Rodin. 1 day for Versailles and the other day for churches - Notre Dame, Chapelle, Sacre Coeur
The last day was strolling the Champs Elysees and visiting the Lafayete mall.
In Prague, we played it by the ear and walked all around. Charles bridge was pretty although it was disappointing to see all the construction work going on.
Prague Castle area was very beautiful and a must do for anyone! I personally loved the St. Vitus Cathedral.
The Stratov Monestary was undergoing a renovation (until Dec 2010) and it was very disappointing again as the Philosophical Hall was closed for renovation and we were not informed at all (even after purchasing the ticket)
Cesky Krumlov is a beautiful fairy tale land with picture perfect settings. We did the audio tour to get us acquainted with the town. The audio tour was very detailed and we did only 1 hour of the tour and took the rest of the time to stroll and wander the small streets.

Thanks to the Fodorites for their comments and help in planning our trip. I hope this info may be useful to future travellers.

travelgaya

The hotels that we stayed at were
Relais Bosquet in Rue Cler - Excellent hotel, Highly recommend - although it was a bit pricey about 125 Euros per nite. Breakfast was sumptuous & excellent (included if u mention Rick Steves book). Close to the metro stop (about 1 min walk)
Julian in Prague. Again very nice 4 star hotel. $100 per night and excellent breakfast included as well. Close to Tram stop (under 1 min walk)