Question by Laura: My SO & I are thinking of taking a vaction in the Czech Republic. Anyone have any good experiences/ tips?
I am not just looking for links to websites (unless you have personally used them & can recommend them with reasons), I have found dozens.
What I am looking for is suggestions on which cities to visit, which “attractions” to see, money saving ideas, travel tips within the country, restaurant tips, what season would be best, the best hotels, etc.
Also, we are Canadian; it may not make a difference to the answers, but I thought I would mention it.
Best answer:
Answer by znnyls2
What an amazing country, I’d love to go there. You’d definetly have to go the the country’s capital, Prague. Theres this castle there: “Prague Castle is one of the most impressive buildings you will ever visit. It has a magnificent clifftop outlook and a 1000-year-old history going back to a simple walled-in compound in the ninth century. The scale of this castle is breathtaking – it qualifies as the biggest ancient castle in the world.”
There is also plenty of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque facades in other towns, and significantly fewer tourists. Among the richest are Kutná Hora in Central Bohemia; Cheb, Loket and Domažlice in western Bohemia; Olomouc in northern Moravia; and Telč and Kromêříž in southern Moravia.
What do you think? Answer below!
Be sure to take in Karlovy Vary. Beethoven and Mozart used to spa there. It’s an amazing place, and not a long train ride from Praha (or Prague).
DO IT – DONE IT LOVED IT
Prauge is great for 3 nights I’d say, then consider a train transfer to a smaller town or Budapest or salzburg.
Paul Laifer tours (search online) hooked us up very nicely and for a good price. Introductory half day tour with a personal guide (who also provided transfer in our case) then on your own.
The sites are pretty obvious – castle, charles bridge, jewish quarter, cool clock, marionette show or other show. Pedistrian friendly and metro is easy
I agree with the above. I would also recommend some smaller cities in Czech as well… Brno, Pardubice, Plzen are all nice.
As for season, it depends on what you want to do. Since you’re from Canada, you might not be bothered by cooler temperatures. If you can avoid the summer, AVOID IT! It’s more expensive and is PACKED with tourists, to the point where it almost ruins it. I love Prague in the winter with snow on it, but there’s no snow this year. Later Spring is beautiful too, when everything is turning green.
Tip wise, if you travel by train in the country, which is safe and cheap and nice… always buy your tickets for the 2 of you at the same time. Like tell them “2 tickets to…” You’ll get a cheaper rate. Also, round-trip tickets are cheaper, too, but they’re only good for 24 hours.
If you like nature sites, head down south. Outside of the small city of Blansko (where I used to live!!!!), near Brno, are a series of caves you can visit. Some you walk through (all have English translation guides) one you take a boat through. There’s an impressive abyss there, too. It’s called “Moravsky Kras”.
There’s some great castles to visit around the country, too, like Pernštejn (my favorite!!!) and Karlštejn.
There’s a cool “cave” near Kunstat where there’s a cave where a guy did these amazing carvings in sandstone with like a spoon or something and they’re huge and very cool. (It’s a good city to buy pottery/ceramics and some crystal.)
Kunta Hora has a wild looking Bone Cathedral.
Svitavy (I believe) has a museum to Oskar Schindler, as that is his birthplace. If you take the train from Prague to Brno, you’ll go through a Svitavy and then later through a tiny village called Brezova. This is the first place he has one of his “life saving” factories. (There’s no monument or anything there, though. It’s all in Svitavy.)
Czech is a good place to go for your money, especially if you can get out of Prague. (In Prague restaurants, if the menu doesn’t have both languages, ask for one Czech & one English menu and make sure the prices are the same, especially if you go in the summer. They like to pull that on toursits.)
Have a GREAT trip! 🙂