Prague

Prague is an awesome city. Its grandiose monuments and their styles of various architectures challenge us and invite us to discover the complicated past of this city. The history of Prague and the recent history of the Czech Republic are extremely interesting (see below under "a little history").

Before going further, we would like to draw your attention to the difficulties that we have encountered ourselves when we visited this majestic city and thus allow you to prepare your stay better.

Communication problems
Experience made, it is not easy to get along without speaking one word of czech... In the hotels, restaurants and museums, you will be all right with English; however, the level of the English knowledge of most Czech we met was rather low, but they all tried their best to understand us and answer our questions, and they were all very welcoming, nice and smiling.
How to get around in the city
Look at the map of the city to set your benchmarks: remember the shape of the river and that the castle is located northwest of the city. As we see the castle from everywhere, it's a great way to find his way.
When walking in the city, it is difficult to know what is the name of the building which is in front of you, because the names of most of the monuments are only written in Czech (same in the UK, is not it? The names of most of the monuments are written only in English?). And even on the maps, most of the names are written only in Czech... So, it was difficult to know whether this and that building was a museum, the philharmonic or something else and that way to appreciate the monument to its fair value. By cons, if you visit historical monuments (castle, cathedral, etc.), you always find audio guides and flyers inside, all also translated into English.

We recommend that you plan your stay well before you get to Prague. Know in advance what you want to see, which monuments and where they are. Below you will find descriptions of some routes we concocted for you, in which we also present the main sites and monuments of the city and their histories. A little further, you will also discover the history of the city and the newest country. We hope you'll enjoy your stay.

Suggested itineraries

Castle and Cathedral in Prague, multiple palaces and panoramas
The old town, its narrow, winding streets and monuments
The new city and its history
The Jewish quarter of Prague, the only one in Europe that have survived the Holocaust
A tour of Prague by tramway

Famous people of Prague

Kafka

A little history

The history of Prague

Around in Prague with kids?

The Zoo
The botanical garden

What to do near Prague ?

Karlštejn Castle
Karlovy Vary (spa)
Pilsen
Český Krumlov
Kutná Hora
Terezin
Dresden
Vienna

Practical advice

Money

In the Czech Republic we do not use euros or pounds, but the crowns.

In early 2016, the conversion is : 1 euro = 26.80 Czech crowns.

Getting to Prague ?

This obviously depends on the place where you come from ...

By plane
By train
By car : to drive on the highway, you must purchase a sticker. A sticker for 10 days costs isn't expensive. The registration number of your vehicle must be written on the sticker and the sticker should be placed at the bottom right of your windscreen.
- from northern Germany or from the north-west Europe :
  The highway between Dresden and Prague is discontinuous due to work taking place (early 2016). We found ourselves projected onto another highway and our navi not knowing any more where to send us to, sending us back and forth... We had to leave the highway and drive along the Vltava river until we reached the highway near Litoměřice.
- from southern Germany and from western Europe :
  Nuremberg motorway in Prague is perfect!

How to buy and validate a tramway ticket?

The easiest way is to buy them in the hotel where you are staying because the machines to purchase tramway tickets are not easy to use when you do not speak Czech...

Unlike systems in other European cities, the price of tramway ticket does not depend on the number of stops, or the areas where you would like to travel to, but depends on the time spent on public transport ! To travel for two hours, you have to buy a ticket for 120 minutes. In early 2016, it was 40 crowns for adults and 20 for children aged 6-15 years. The top right button is used to cancel the order, left to this button you can select the half price option. To buy one or more adult tickets : press the key corresponding to 120 minutes for each adult. To buy one or more children's tickets, press the button for half price option, and then the key corresponding to 120 minutes for each child. After paying the due amount, the tickets will be printed.

Once in the tramway you have to validate your ticket in a machine designed for this purpose (yellow box with slot relatively close to the doors).