basing - Thank you for the suggestion. I checked the web site and the basic double is shown at 216 dollars per night before taxes. Looks nice but we were hoping for something a bit cheaper. I really do appreciate the suggestion though. Thank you.

Draper, like you I suspect October is still not a low season, if not the highest, at least a shoulder sesson so the bottom price cannot be expected then. From mid Novmber is another matter. That's when I got 75E for a double at Roma. Furthermore, in the case of this hotel, for once a booking site (venere.com) gives a better price than direct with the hotel. In November, the hotel's web discount rate was 95E. And for end of March 2007, Roma's own discount rate is 150E vs 95E by venere.com (I booked it for friends just yesterday) so for this hotel it really is worth doing it thru venere.

As sombody above said, October 2007 may be too early to book on hotel booking sites. However, just for a try I put arbitrary date (21/22Oct) on venere.com. Roma is not listed yet but Residence Mala Strana IS, at E98. Worth a try for you all. FYI, this is a 3* hotel but as I said above gets great review on Tripadvisor.com so check it out. Interesting thing about this hotel is it is all suite/junior suite rooms with kichinette.

http://www.hotelresidence-mala-strana.com/

I'm staying at this hotel 26-29 Jan (E38 per night for junior suite thru venere.com), so if you are interested I will post a report after my return. Once I called to check my reservation (as I usually do), the girl who answered was very sweet and kind and spoke very good English (at least better than me).

jdraper - I am not sure what you are looking at but the Hotel Kampa Garden October 2007 rates are 82 Eur single, 111 Eur Double and 125 Eur Double Deluxe. The Double Deluxe is bigger than the standard double but the standard is a good sized room. The rates include a decent breakfast.

Thank you for the great suggestions. I think we may have found a good deal at venere.com for the 3 star Golden Age for 2 suites for three nights for a total price of 834 CZK. It got some bad reviews for a not so great breakfast and some noise on tripadvisor but we don't eat breakfast and can sleep through most any noise so I think it might work for us. The location looks fantastic and we don't spend much time in our room anyway. Thanks, once again, to Fodorites for great tips again.

jdraper--you should continue checking prices between now and your trip. As I remember, venere has a pretty good cancellation policy. It is early for fall hotel sales to be showing up.

Wherever you end up staying, enjoy Prague--we sure did.

Rufus: Thank you for the suggestion. We will certainly keep checking and keep an eye on it. We still have plenty of time to find something else if this falls through but at least we have a start.

jdraper - I think that there must be an error on the Venere site. They list rooms at the Golden Age at 121 CZK. That is about $5.66 per night. It does not look right - even dorm type hostels are more than that.

The Hilton is in an absolutely dreadful location, far from everything. You DO NOT want to stay there. Dreadful, sweetie darling.

Have you read "The Pancaky Papers: Thingorjus in Praha"? You can access this trip report by typing the title in the search engine box at the top of the page.

834 CK??? That's about $35....either a hostel or a mistake! I'd book it and make sure they will honor the rate.

Anne

I know it is an extremely low rate so figured I would book it and see what happens. We still have plenty of time to look for something else if they don't honor the rate but if they do we get a great deal and will love it. The worse thing that can happen is they choose not to honor the rate and we go somewhere else and pay more. It's worth a try and who knows, we are going to be there on my birthday so maybe it will be an unexpected gift. Fingers crossed.

ttt

I stayed in the Hilton a few years back and found it large and impersonal. I usually stay in the Waldstein in Mala Strana but recently returned from the Domus Henrici, between the Loreto and the Castle - my mini report and link to some pictures are posted here:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34923053

Hi Lynnie,

We just took Gate 1's Christmas Market river cruise on the Viktoria (the first part of my trip report is here somewhere), and did Prague in the beginning. The Hilton, from the outside looks very cold, but it really wasn't that bad of a hotel to stay in. It is a bit of a distance from Old Town though, so if I was staying extra days, I'd probably move too. If I didn't, I could cope.

The tour that you'll be on is a good overview. Our guide was Karl, and he was great!! He talked alot about what it is like living there, the religion, education, life in general. I learned alot. I hope he's your guide too.

Enjoy!!

Denice

Re: Roma hotel.
Thanks to advice from Kappa and others I booked the Roma for the end of February. I got 2 nights for €150.
Spending the rest of the trip with friends at their house.

I will tell all about the Roma when I return.

Cheers !!

Muck

Mucky,

€150 for 2nights = 75 per night is exactly what I paid in November. Great rate.

The rooms on the street side may be a bit noisy due to the frequent tram traffic (having tram stop right in front itself is convenient though)that is convenient). I'm not sure because I got a inner room that was even isolated from other rooms so had no outside/inside noise. The name of the tram stop is Ujezd. There are are some lines you can take at a stop right around the corner on Vitezna Street. Cafe Savoy and Restaurant Olympia that I can recommend are on this street but there are a few good other choices.

Say hello to the mini shark at the Hotel Roma ! He/she is alone among the numerous tropical fish.

I was in Prague in September, we stayed on Kampa Island at the Kampa Island hotel. The rates were fantastic, the hotel was fantastic and it was in the center of the old town area. We had a great stay, we hired a private tour guide for four hours it was well worth the time and effort. We booked the guide through Thomas Cook travel. I strongly recommend both. We were ther only two days so it worked out perfectly.

Kampa Island is nice. We didn't stay there on our November Prague visit, but we got some nice pictures of the area of the island closest to Charles Bridge. Lots of pretty yellow leaves.

We enjoyed Best Western Kinsky Gardens: very clean, comfortable, quiet - lovely really - with a large breakfast included. Walking distance to everywhere.
I also recommend the theater in the evening at Laterna Magica - multi-media productions unlike any we have seen before with dancers, actors, music interacting with film.
www.laterna.cz
We saw Legend of the Argonauts. Wonderful!

You are getting excellent advice. I second the Mala Strana district, and init, the Hotel Constans. This little out of the way European hotel was terrific. We had a 2-room room with an enormous bathroom, and fantastic breakfasts for a modest price in Nov (05). We loved the location. From the hotel, we walked the entire city. As many have said, you can go to the Castle, the Loretta Shrine (fabulous) the Strahov Monastary and walk behind it down scenic path ro the "Eiffel Tower "part. We walked easily to the Old Town for all the sites that holds, and all the outskirts of the city. Little Kampa is nearby as well.For a great vegetarian restaurant /nightclub, go to Radost FX. Even if you are not vegetarian, it was our best meal the entire week (but smoky, as are all the restaurants.) If you stay in Mala Strana, and like to explore, just go out the door and turn left or right and you will be delighted. Look up look down. So much to see. So little time.