Prague in the winter -- what to do?
 

Hi,

I'll be in Prague mid Nov, and I expect it to be quite cold and the weather might be lousy. Any suggestions on what to do for 1 day? I've been to Prague before, but briefly, and seen the major tourist sites.

Any museums or art galleries to consider? If it's pleasant to do some walks, I don't mind crossing the Charles Bridge and wandering around Old Town, etc. again if you think they'll look better in the winter.

Thanks

One word - Vodka

Pick a "contained" area and explore at will with vodka and/or beer in mind. Check out my recent thread. The jewish quarter could be interesting. IOt might also be fun just to start at one end of Wencelass and do a slow circuit.

The Municpal House is one of my Prague favorites. I always recommend doing the tour. I think the first one begins at 10:00 a.m. I believe you can just show up. Do an internet search for pictures. It is gorgeous and has an interesting history.

Hanging out in a beer hall sounds good.

How about the National Gallery? Has anyone been there? Worth it? Is it on a subway stop?

Any other indoors things to do?

Thanks

In Old Town Square there is (or used to be) a bar on the roof of the buiding just across from the Clock Tower. There are plexiglas panels to shield patrons from the wind as well as heaters. There is a nice view of Prague from up there. Sorry, I don't remember the name of it. But I did spend a very pleasant afternoon up there.

There is also the Mucha Musuem(which I missed, much to my regret).

I would suggest doing the Royal Route is you only have one day.
http://www.prague.net/the-royal-route even if you have done many of the tourist sites before,it is a most pleasant walk if the weather is nice.
I would do it the opposite way to the website and start at the castle and finish at the Powder tour which is attached to the magnificent Municiple House(Obenci Dum)
this is a wonderful place with several bars and resturants,so you can finish there for a drink or a meal.
If the weather is very bad you could always have a tour of this building.
If you do want to try a few beer ahlls have a look at this list.
http://www.classiccitybrew.com/prague.html
Klasterin Pivovar ,U Medvidku and U Vejvodu being some of my favourite,all have great beer and good food.

Mid-Novermber, I have been there twice (and January, December, etc), in last years. Cold yes but what is your cold? Maybe I'm used to cold weather than you are but most of my activities are outside, walk - walk - hop on a tram occasionally, walk up the Petrin Hill, resonably warmly dressed and I can stay most of the time outside. Jan, Feb is colder but I still do basically the same without much difficulty and with recent warming climate you never know. Especially last 2 winters when I was there were not that cold, the lowest was more like - 5 celcius in Jan (max. + 5 on the same day but some had even as cold as - 15 I hear). Compared to that, November tends to be much milder. According to one weather site, average tempreture is max.7 & min. 0 celcius for November. But only 2 sunny hours, that's not much isn't it? And it seems the most humid month of year. But when the sun is out at even rare occasions, that's glorious. I'm looking forward to my own trip to Prague in mid-November again this year.

An article that was posted on TA Prague forum today.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ci...evolution.html

I spent a week in Prague late last November and it was chilly, but not so cold that I couldn't walk around. It only snowed one day for about two hours, which was actually quite charming. Got some great pictures of horse-drawn carriages on a cobblestone street in the snow!

Prague is a great music city so how about a matinee concert?

Thanks, all, for the great suggestions. I'll look into them in detail.

About concerts, last time I saw many churches were turned into concert venues. But couldn't find any mass? I'm not Catholic, but when I travel I'd like to check out masses and hear singing.

Know of a good church to do this in Prague? Or they have become pretty much secular after the long communist rule?

I don't think the Czech Republic is a highly religious as Poland, of course, but they certainly have Catholic churches that are working churches tons of them. I don't know where you got that idea. Churches may have concerts or music in them at times, but that doesn't mean the church has entirely turned into a concert hall all the time.

The church with the famous statue of the Christ Child in Mala Strana (the Infant of Prague) on Karmelitsza has plenty of services (Our Lady Victorious). St Joseph's on Josefska has lots of masses in various languages, and there is St Ursula's on Narodni. There are just many Catholic churches in Prague with masses, I can't think of any that are not working except maybe on Old Town Square, I think maybe St Nicolas there is not, I don't know about Old Lady of Tyn. St Vitus cathedral at the castle is the seat of the archbishopric and they still have mass there.

There has been some dispute of the ownership of church property as the state did take over some, but they still have masses there, even if the state officially owns the churches like St Vitus, as I understand it. I don't know who currently owns St Vitus as the church sued to get it back several years ago.

The hotel someone mentioned with the bar on the roof is the Hotel U Prince. It is almost directly across from the Old Town Hall and Astronomical Clock.

bookmarking for trip Christmas week... thank you.

gruezi

I was in PRAGUE DURING END OF NOVEMBER.

IT was cold, but with warm turtleneck sweater, scarf/gloves/boots it was not unpleasant at all.
suggestions:
The Mucha museum is worth a visit if you did not see that on your first Prague visit.

Jewish Quarter ( Old Ghetto )
The WITTMAN TOUR of this area was great.
It meets at 10:00am in front of the INTERCONTINENTAL Hotel and is a few hours walking tour of the Jewish Ghetto, the cemetary, and synagogues. The guide was fabulous.

Everyone I was with really enjoyed it. It was just 4 of us on the tour.
There are many good places to have a nice lunch after the tour.

Everything on the tour is a very short distance from each other. tHE NEIGHBORHOOD, is worth exploring, and the buildings are very beautiful, with interesting architecture.
DRESS IN LAYERS!
TrendGirl

Thanks, all, for the great suggestions.

How about seeing an opera? Any preference between the Prague State Opera House vs the National Opera House? Which one is more exceptional or better for seeing/hearing an opera?

Choice of operas: Nabucco in State and Aida in National. I prefer to see Aida.

Thanks

there is also the Estates theatre which usually does Mozart operas,mainly Don Giovani where it was premiered by the great man himself.This theatre was also used for many of the theatre shots in the film Amedeus.
http://www.ticketsbti.cz/WBS/ang/
this company will give you details of what is on and where,you can order on line and either have the tickets delivered to your hotel (small fee) or pick them up at their offices.In some cases e-tickets are available.

hi jc98,

one tip i picked up from trips to Prague and B'pest - do as the locals do and wear a warm top coat, but not toooo much underneath. all public buildings such as museums and restaurants are well-heated, and you can leave you coat the the garderobe.

you don't want too many jumpers on underneath!

there are usually concerts at the municipal hall, and here's another vote for the restaurants there. we ate in the informal one in the cellar and the roast goose was great!

regards, ann

I've seen the ballet Swan Lake at the State Opera in Prague - while the dancers were not bad the orchestra was lousy. I wouldn't want to see an opera there with *that* orchestra.

Attended an opera at the National Opera house, but it was the Slovak National Opera on tour (awful). So I have no personal experience with the local opera company there.

Honestly, my friends who are locals and other people I know who are opera fans and have been to Prague's opera houses said that they do not have really good soloists. I wouldn't think they can either opera do justice.

What I enjoyed most was the concert at the Rudolfinum (Czech Philharmonic).

definitely skip the National Museum... it's pretty dull and all captions are in Czech

I second, third, etc. the suggestion for a visit to the Mucha museum... it is wonderful (and I STILL love the Mucha poster I got there several years ago)

hi again, JC,

I have to disagree with the poster who said that they don't get good soloists at the state opera.

we went to a performance of madame butterfly which was top class, including a japanese soprano, who was great.

also the restaurant next door was really good and did food that went beyond the normal meat and dumplings fare we were fast getting tired of.

regards, ann