I'll be in prague next summer for 5 days on business. I am attending to work stuff for about 5 to 6 hours and intend on doing sightseeing with my wife in the afternoons and evenings. My wife will go swimming (thanks to the real help given by others in anotehr thread) and other relaxed tourist pursuits while i'm busy. We will have one full day together as well

The question.
For the days that i am busy all day my wife is thinking of either seeing prague by herself OR doing some day trips outside of prague. She will either drive or go with a tour company. What do you suggest... in town or out of town??

Any suggestions on locations, tour companies etc would be appreciated

I would not drive on my own out of town. There are plenty of tours that go to places like Terezin, Cesky Krumlov, etc. You can sign up very spontaneously for these, so there is no need to plan way far in advance. She will find PLENTY to do in Prague. Castle, museums, shopping, Old Town, Jewish Quarter, etc... All those places will easily take up 5 days worth of time, but if she feels that she wants to get out of town, then she can pursue the tour options. What are some of her specific interests? There are also lots of "theme" tours.

By the way, there was a very recent post on this topic (author: mile)

If she only wants to do day trips, I would definitely recommend a bus day trip tour company. I don't see any reason for her to rent a car and do it on her own. It will be a lot more expensive that way, also, I would guess as the Prague tour companies I have familiar with have very cheap rates for their day tours. Also, if she does it on her own, she will have to figure out all itineraries, read up on the things she wants to see, make sure she knows about various hours and closing times, etc. Also, if she doesn't know Czech, there will probably be limitations in many areas outside Prague, as well as concerns regarding safety (eg, what will she do if the car breaks down in the middle of no where and she can't communicate).

Unless you have been to the Czech Republic and seen the major sights in the country, I don't know why she would have to drive for day trips, though. I would never consider that as you can get to many places by train and/or bus. It really wouldn't make sense to drive to some of them that are close and easy to get to by train or bus. The tour companies in Prague are excellent.

As for in town vs. out-of-town, I think that should be up to her -- she should choose based on what most appeals to her from doing some reading and research in basic guidebooks. I think if she can't decide that, then it really wouldn't be a good idea for her to do it herself. If she hasn't been to Prague before, I would think most people would want to see things in Prague, but within five days, a day trip or two would be very feasible and a nice addition.

Thanks heaps for those comments.

We are very general in our interests although she does quite like old art and architecture (sp?). But just seeing the beauty of nature is of value to. We ahve since found some good ideas on day tours. Loks like going to Brne (sp?) might not happen though.