cherikm

We have three days in Prague before a GCT tour down the Danube. I'm hoping to do at least one, if not more, walking tours. I'm especially interested in the Jewish walking tour, not sure which others. Has anyone done any of the (many) walking tours, and if so, which companies, which tours, and what did you like and dislike? Thanks
CheriKM

nytraveler

Yes - we did two of them - one Old Town and one of the Jewish area. There was a kiosk in Old Town Square where you could sign up. Or - you can ckeck with the tourist office in the Town Hall.

lucy_d

Precious Legacy Tours:

http://www.legacytours.net/index.php

Hope this helps! Have a great time in Prague!

basingstoke2

I took a look at the Precious Legacy Tours site and noticed that one of the managers is Mark Talisman and I am impressed. Mr. Talisman was the key to bringing the Precious Legacy collection to the Smithsonian Institution some years ago. His presence lends credibility and depth to the company. I wish I knew about that company when I was in Prague. Darn!

kjenn

We did a tour with Prague Walks. It was a half day tour, starting in the early morning. No one else showed up, so we had the guide to ourselves. Very informative, and the city was beautiful and empty in the morning.

Myer

And on the other side....

The Jewish area in Prague is extremely close to the main square. Their presently is the best organize I have ever seen.

I would think there's really no reason to take a tour.

Essentially, the presentation is in 4-5 synagogues (and the cemetary and ceremonial house) all very close (a couple of blocks between them all) to each other. Each has a different theme with movies and/or items on display with written descriptions.

When you buy a ticket they give you a map and description of the tour.

If you choose one of the other tours such as the Old Town, etc, that's up to you based on the amount of research you've done.

The Old Town of Prague is beautiful and very well maintained. Very easy to walk around (except for the cobble stones that play havoc with your feet if you don't have good walking shoes).

I don't know the schedule for the Charles Bridge (they keep pushing it) reconstruction and how much of it will be closed.

While most of the sights in Prague are "sights", the Bridge is an "event".

All day it's swarming with people who are probably just walking the Bridge rather than going to the other side.

I got up early in the morning on our second day and visited the Bridge at sunrise when there were very few people. Beautiful!!!

Then we decided to go at sunset and watch it get dark when the castle lights come on. Well, we were there in May and it didn't get dark until 10:30. We had decided to eat after going to the Bridge. We didn't eat until after 11PM.

cherikm

Has anyone used Sylvia Wittman for the Jewish tour of Prague? Recommended in Rick Steves.

sara_qc

We used Sylvia Wittman Tours for Terezin, also for the Jewish Quarter. Excellent guides. No Wittman tours given on a Saturday when we were there in Nov. 2005.

Laidback

We just used Personal Prague Guides that we found on this site on another post. It's www.prague-guide.info. You can also reach them at e-mail address [email protected] The company is owned by Sarka Kacabova (Pelantova) and she got her start when she guided Rick Steves around Prague. She now has about twenty people who work with her. You can have your tour customized for yourself or group. We did two four hour tours and could have done more but we wanted to explore some of the places more in depth on our own. Our guides were Marketa Vavrora and Jana Reichlova. They were both great. We had three and a half days and really only scratched the surface. It's a wonderful walking city and the metro and tram service are easy to figure out.

sandys

I agree with Myer about visiting the old synagogues and cemetery in Prague on your own. The area is so very close to the old town square.

For sightseeing outside of the city a guide would be very worthwhile.

turnip

Both Rick Steves and this forum recommended a guide by the name of Sarka. Of course with that much publicity Sarka was booked solid. She has since started a small tour guide business of sorts and she suggested we try Jana. We arranged in advance to spend two consecutive mornings with her. I liked the idea of two four hour morning sessions as opposed to one long day with her as my brain can hold only so much information. At a certain point you can process only so much and after that no matter how beautiful, how historic or how unique something is you just don’t appreciate it like you should. She met us at our apartment and we took the tram into town where she took us to a cute little café. There we sat down and she gave us a brief history of Prague as well as an interesting lesson on the architecture we would be seeing. Then she listened to what our interests were and what it was that we really wanted to see. We decided on a brief overview of two town sections each morning. Jana (pronounced Yana) was awesome. Some guides are very knowledgeable and some are very personable, Jana was both. She was entertaining and was able to answer all our questions, of which we asked quite a few. I’m not sure how to explain it, but with some guides it’s like you’re on a ride at Disney World. It’s enjoyable but you always have that feeling that you’re on a fixed narrow path with no deviation allowed. With Jana you could tell she wasn’t reading through some preplanned script in her mind but rather she just enjoyed talking about her beautiful city. We didn’t feel like we were just “that day’s clients” but felt more like we were her friends that she was showing around while we were in town. After we finished with each morning’s tour she then gave us hints for what to do that afternoon, including places to eat and where to shop. I believe we gave her the US equivalent of $100 total for the four of us for what was supposed to be eight hours of touring. In reality it was closer to nine or ten I would think. All four of us gave Jana two thumbs way up!

www.prague-guide.info [email protected] 420-777-225-205

Cheers, the turnip

marginal_margiela

Elaine, who know longer posts here because she had a stalker, and a member of the Inner Circle, always recommended Syliva Wittman. I would trust Elaine's taste and judgement any day of the week.

Have you read my trip report on Praha? It is very famous <The Pancaky Papers>.

The Great and Powerful Thingorjus

29FEB

Wonderful to have the previous poster back -- forum is notably and woefully lacking insouciance in his absence.