My wife and I are aged 60. We will have limited time in Prague. We enjoy walking tours and trying to experience the local culture, history, values & attitudes. We would be grateful if we could get feedback on these activities or alternative suggestions.
Sun 3 July: Insider Tour 9.45, 4hrs 450 crowns=AUD$27; must see a musical performance one night. eg Czech Folklore Night, 800 crowns
Mon 4 July: One hr cruise, eg 10-11?; Revolution walk 12.30-2, 300 crowns; Mysterious Prague 4-5.15, 300 crowns; ?Pub Tour 7.30-11.30, 300 crwons, $18.
Tues 5 July: 9.30-1.30 private guided tour, [email protected];

Just a suggestion, but you seem to have an awful lot of tours scheduled. Don't you want some time to just wander on your own. I'm personnally not a big fan of tours but I realize some people would rather take a tour than read up on a place ahead of time and do it themselves, and that's fine. But you do need some time to just wander around. You could spend quite a bit of time on the Charles Bridge alone, just looking at the craftspeoples displays and listening to the entertainers. As for evening entertainment, every church in Prague has concerts most nights in the summer. There will be people in the streets handing out flyers advertising them. The St Nicholas Church in the lesser quarter (there is also a St Nicholas Church in the old town) is one of the most beautiful churches I have been in and listening to a concert there was one of the highlights of my 5 days in Prague last summer. I think it was 350crowns. But whatever you do you'll have a wonderful time, Prague is so beautiful.

For what it is worth: with a half-way decent guidebook and something like the Prague Welcome Card you can do a lot of touring yourself if you really want to. The card gets you into several venues including the castle complex and allows use of all public transport. <b> However </b> I do not know hom much you ahve to use it before it becomes truly economical (i.e., it becomes more than convenience and actually saves you money).

You may not be the public transport type which is OK but I think doing at least a bit of &quot;wandering&quot; around would give you a different perspective even if you don't use a travel card.

Enjoy Prague; it is a wonderful and magical place IMO.

I did take a couple of tours while in Prague last year, and will be taking a couple when I go back next week, but not for practically every waking moment!

What is your private guide on the last day going to show you that you haven't already seen?

Have you already booked all of these?
And what is the 'must see a musical performance'--that is part of a tour booking, or something you just want to do?

I haven't taken the Pub Tour but I've read about them. They will undoubtedly take you to pubs that are oriented to tourists,, but you can surely find some interesting pubs and cafes, even in touristed areas, that you can go to on your own.

Let me strongly suggest this website as a resource
www.livingprague.com
Jason of that website (and many guidebooks) can even provide some basic information on how to order a beer.

I also have a long file on Prague; if you'd like to see it, email me at
[email protected]

It's hard to say. Monday sounds good. I found whewre you are probably booking -- Prague Citywalks. Actually, I have read those itineraries and they do sound interesting to me, I like them. I think you will learn a lot and it's a good focus to the city. I'd like to take that Revolution walk myself -- well, they all sound good.

The first day overview tour also sounds good, at least if they have a good guide, as it covers things you are probably going to want to do the first day, anyway (castle complex).

I can't fault you on these choices -- look good. My only hesitation might be that they are all the same company and if it turns out you don't think they do a good job, you will be stuck. But if you have good references, I like them. I would probably scrap the private guided tour on the last day and use that on my own for shopping, hanging out, just having fun.

However you don't say what this is a tour of -- if it's something really special to you, it makes sense. I think you still have enough time to do your own things -- all Sunday afternoon, a couple hour break in the afternoon on Monday, etc. I think it's a good plan instead of just wasting time like a lot of folks do, souvenir shopping near the bridge or shopping for things they don't even need.

They are many opportunities for music in Prague, of course, I think that is one thing you might do on your own with no problem, depending on exactly what kind of music you like, of course. www.ticketpro.cz is one agency I've used that has lots of events you can browse. There are other sites for classical music, if you like that, and of course, opera.


What is the &quot;insider tour&quot; on Sunday that takes up 4 hrs? This sounds like maybe a general city overview where you go to the main sites. I think there may just be some redundancy in these tours, hard to say. I suspect the Revolution Walk could be around Wenceslas Square, maybe some sites where my hero, Vaclav Havel, hung out. Mysterious Prague sounds a litt

excuse me, my last paragraph got in there accidentally and was before I read the Citywalks web site to see the tour itineraries. Here is the link for other's info

http://www.praguewalkingtours.com/walks.html

Thank you Isabel, Intrepid 1, Elaine &amp; Christina for your detailed and valuable comments.
Isabel, we will definitely spend time on the Charles Bridge, and will definitely try to find a church concert, especially at St Nicholas' church.
Intrepid 1, yes we will try to use public transport, but as you say, the Welcome Card may not be feasible in the short 3 day-stay.
Elaine, so far we have only booked the private guide on Tuesday; we probably won't do the pub tour. Enjoyed reading Jason's material, thank you for that excellent suggestion.
Christina, the private guided tour may repeat earlier tours, but it may turn out useful. It is supposed to be flexible. We want the company, to be able to talk with an English-speaking Prague citizen, to ask lots of silly questions, etc.
Thank you all again. Jim.
Has anyone else heard feedback on the Czech Folklore Night, or any other guided tours or activities in Prague?

I went to Prague for 3 days last spring and it was enough to explore most of the city's attractions.

I think you are doing way too many tours. Prague is a small, small city. I wouldn't do more than two for your trip.

Part of the charm of the city is exploring it on your own. My friends and i got lost so many times - but then we discovered so much more of the city.

I would recommend doing two tours and then getting the tourist card and exploring the city yourself.

Hi
just wondering if you've bought a map yet?
Either Streetwise Prague, or the National Geographic map, are very good. Streetwise is smaller, but the NG is almost as easy to fold, also laminated, and its being less compact makes it easier to read.

Anyway, your map will show you that Prague 1, the center is pretty compact.
The Castle and some of the Lesser Quarter are on hilly terrain, but there is a convenient tram system to get you up to the Castle. You can easily orient yourself to the major sights on your own.
Also, frommers.com has excellent suggested walking routes.

www.inyourpocket.com is another good website.

and: Article on “Macabre Prague”—weird or gruesome historical sites--places you could find on your own

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...RAVEL10482.dtl

Jim, I have not heard any feedback on those kind of tours, I'm sorry.

I have used Prague Sightseeing Tours and thought they were very good (the guide was quite fluent in English and French, as well as Czech, of course), but those were for day trips outside the city. They have a city overview tour which is probably decent, not sure how it would differ from the one you selected.

They also have the cruise and a folklore night. It could be the same company doing these as the other, who knows. To be honest, those are the kinds of things I tend not to like as they are not very authentic and are solely for tourists. (the folklore night). I know sometimes they can be enjoyable and not really the kind of thing you can typically find easily as you don't find people doing folk dances easily. I have been to a couple of those in some countries that even though hokey were enjoyable, though, I will admit.

Here are a couple good web sites for musical performances, although they are virtually all classical, I believe:
www.czechopera.cz
www.heartofeurope.cz/concerts_4.html

The last one above shows a calendar (I think only current month) but gives you an idea. You can click on the venues at the left side of the page to find some other places -- I especially like the Klementinum, and St Nicholas church (in Mala Strana, there are two).

I think ticketpro probably is the best source I know for non-classical things.

sorry, I forgot the Prague Sightseeing Tours website is www.pstours.cz

If you want to see an expression of the spirit of prague, try to get the tour of the Obneci Dum (badly translated as Municipal House}. It is a magmificent building built as a monument to Czech nationalism at the turn of the century and featuring design and interiors by the best Czech artists and artisans of the time.
To my knowledge there is only one tour a week in English. Otherwise you cannot visit the building-just the restaurants and rathskellers.
A word of caution- the touts in costumes talking about a concert in the building are not talking about the great Smetana Hall but a smaller venue in the basement near the rathskeller.
Your visit to the castle should be on a cloudy day so you can appreciate all the modern (turn of 20th century) stained glass including Mucha's great window. Ride the tram to the top of the hill and walk down from the castle and cross the charles bridge.
Unless you hate classical music-forget the folklore which is aimed at tourists and get tickets for one of the great performance halls.