Have wanted to go there for some time, and the Airbnb thread really ramped that idea up a notch. I apologize for starting another thread on a similar topic, but had a few questions and didn't want to possibly get lost at the tail-end of the other thread.

First question: is a week too much? Not enough? About right?

Second: what is near Prague (as in a day trip) that would be a can't miss or would at least be very interesting? Extra points for something that would be rail accessible.

Third: based on the other thread, Airbnb looks to be the way to go. What areas would be best to stay in and which neighborhoods should I avoid?

TIA.

1) I'm probably a bad person to comment. I liked Prague, but didn't love it like some seem to. 4 days is enough and 7 will give you time to really enjoy city.
2) I went to Kutna Hora for a day trip, was awesome and I highly recommend.
3) Can't really way, obviously find somewhere near the public transit

We are going on the 10th. From my research, staying in Prague 1 makes the most sense, especially for Airbnb. The price savings by staying in a different neighborhood was small-less than $10 a night when I was looking last week.

I've only really visited Prague but live in Bratislava.

1. A week is too long for Prague. I mean, you can fill a week there, but why do that when you are in a great location to do other stuff.

2. Cesky Krumlov is an amazingly well preserved UNESCO city well within a day trip or overnight from Prague.

3. Stay near the city center. Public transport is pretty good, but the conductors are known to stalk the tourist routes, so make sure you validate your tickets.

If I had a week, I would spend half of it in Prague and the other half in Budapest.

I think about four days is right.

We are going to Bratislava (we think ) after Prague. How long do you suggest to spend there, including a day trip into Vienna?

There is a concentration camp (not an extermination camp) about 45 minutes from Prague. Can't remember the name of it at the moment. It was interesting and depressing to go there. If you are interested in WW II history you should check into that.

I don't know anything about Bratislava, but I think Krakow and Budapest are a couple of my favorite European cities. I've not been everywhere, but have gotten around.

90 bull said:

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We are going to Bratislava (we think ) after Prague. How long do you suggest to spend there, including a day trip into Vienna?

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Most people would make a day trip from Vienna to Bratislava, but you will save a bunch of money by doing it your way. A full day is plenty to see all the real interesting things in BA, two days with an excursion to Devin Castle. It might actually be worth your while in terms of dollars saved to make two day trips from BA to Vienna. The trains run regularly and it's about ten Euro round trip, one hour to Vienna. The train lets you off in the center of it all in Vienna. Stay in a BA hotel, you can use Euro both places.

TXAGFAN said:

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I don't know anything about Bratislava, but I think Krakow and Budapest are a couple of my favorite European cities. I've not been everywhere, but have gotten around.

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I love both of those cities, there is definitely more of a wow factor to both than for Bratislava. Bratislava has a charming but small old town and small castle. It feels like what it was for most of its history-- a medium sized city of regional significance. Not the capital of what was once a powerful state, like Krakow and Budapest.

We are staying 3 days in Prague, taking the train to Krakow (too early to book that yet) and staying there for 4 days. Last day will be in London. I wish the trip could be longer, but work obligations are forcing me to come back! Due to time constraints, we will hit the high spots in Prague and Krakow. We booked a day tour to Auschwitz and are contemplating a tour to the Salt Mine.

I can't help on the day trip from Prague question, but others have made suggestions.

I am kind of married to Hilton Hotels through work and I prefer to stay at their properties. The Hilton in Old Town was more than I wanted to spend. I have 2 friends that live in Prague and both suggested Airbnb, I searched apartments for about 3 weeks. I emailed a few owners through the Airbnb website with questions I had and all were quick to respond. Each initial reply from them came with an invitation to book their property. I explained that I was merely inquiring. I decided on the Prague 1 area. Everything I wanted to see was close by. Some were fancier and pricier than others, but the one I picked was modest and fit our needs.

I have been wanting to go to the CR and Poland for years. I had the airline miles and enough hotel points for Poland and London. After paying for the British Airways tax on one flight and then the Airbnb, the trip was a little over $450 for the 2 of us. I am beyond excited to go!

Good luck in planning!

Good info. Based on what I'm reading here, I'm recalibrating to a few days in Prague and a few days somewhere else. Not sure where "somewhere else" is yet, but there's several interesting options.

Krakow is one of my absolute favorites! I think it's better than Prague (although I've ate well and best meal I've ever had was in Prague). Luckily, I've been to Krakow three times in last nine months. Highly recommend!

Damn Guys I'm looking at airfare now because I miss Prague. Poland has me intrigued.

You need to go to salt mines in Krakow, one of the most insane places I've ever seen.

What was the best meal you've ever had that was in Prague, if you don't mind me asking?

A couple of things we found special in our three days in Prague:

Take the behind the scenes tour of the clock tower and underground streets.

Between the Black Tower and the square is a bar that has been making beer since the mid 1300s.

A few doors down is a candy ship specializing in chocolate boobs. Weird place.

Not sure why there were allowed to build apartments up against the cathedral facade, but there they are.

Under the Western end of the Charles Bridge is a "fireman's Memorial". They call it that but it a tribute to the 911 first responders. Did not expect to find that.

A little further around the corner is the John Lennon wall. Students and others have been writing protests there for for years. Not sure how many coats of paint are on those bricks. JL bar and the Yellow Submarine pub are nearby.

Jan Palach square is nearby the clock tower but many do not find it. Where the locals shop.

If you visit the castle do go into St. Vitus. There are some very interesting features inside. If classical music interests you, in the Lobkowicz Palace they have some original scores from Mozart and Beethoven on display,

You can take an easy walk down the hill and back across the Charles Bridge. Plenty of good shops street performers and high end stores along the way.

Eat one of the wood fired grilled cheese sandwiches and one of the wood fired pastries from a street vendor.

I second the salt mines just outside Krakow. Never seen anything like that.

wildcat08 said:

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Have wanted to go there for some time, and the Airbnb thread really ramped that idea up a notch. I apologize for starting another thread on a similar topic, but had a few questions and didn't want to possibly get lost at the tail-end of the other thread.

First question: is a week too much? Not enough? About right?

Second: what is near Prague (as in a day trip) that would be a can't miss or would at least be very interesting? Extra points for something that would be rail accessible.

Third: based on the other thread, Airbnb looks to be the way to go. What areas would be best to stay in and which neighborhoods should I avoid?

TIA.

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Week in Prague alone is probably a long time; a week in Czech using Prague as your base isn't.

Best day trips: Cesky Krumlov with a stop at the Hluboka Castle; Karlovy Vary; Marianske Lazne; Kutna Hora, Karlstejn Castle, etc. I would definitely do the first two, and decide what you like for the rest.

If you are going in the spring/summer visit the Letna beer garden in Prague for a nice afternoon of relaxing and soaking in the city views. It is a nice walk to Letna from he castle. Riegrovy Sady also have a cool view of the city. You can grab a beer and watch the sun set over there Prague castle. Vysehrad is cool too; it's right on line C of th subway. Petrin (the mini version of Eiffel Tower) has great views.

Bratislava isn't worth a day trip or any time. It's very underwhelming relative to the rest of the region. I've spent weeks there for work so know the city well.

There are some cool bars in Prague. Bugsys and Tretters has some good cocktails. Cloud 9 has nice views of the city. Katr has the best beer hands down. Lokal, Kolkovna not too far behind. Get the steak tartar at Kolkovna and the baby pork knuckle in Katr. For a dinner with awesome views go to Marina restaurant which is converted from a river boat. The riverboat cruises are also pretty cool and you see the city from a different perspective. Make sure you make reservations everywhere for dinner. Every place takes them.

For Airbnb do Oldtown Prague 1, Lesser Town Prague 1 or Hradcany/Dejvice (walking distance to the castle) part of Prague 6.

Last thing, if you love wine (especially white) you have to go to Mikulov. Great little town and a bunch of wine cellars. Go to the Valtice chateaux for an incredible all you can drink wine tasting of 100 best (highest scoring) wines in the Czech Republic. It's something like $20 for 2 hours of unlimited tasting. Some very very good white wines.

Krakow is awesome. Great city, cheap food, good beer and friendly people. They are big fans of Americans. It's a college town so loaded with young people and a young vibe. The exchange rate is very favorable so it is much cheaper than Euro based countries. Pints are 2-3 US and a very nice meal is less than $15. Hotels in or close to the square are around 100 US. Never been to Prague so can't compare but highly recommend Poland.

Great info (both posts). Thanks!

90 bull said:

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Ok, y'all have convinced me. I just booked going from Prague to Krakow.

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Are you flying or taking a train?

There's a 24 Hour pierogi place right off square, I must have eaten there 5x. Some great street food too like potato pancake things with sour cream. I really liked Krakow. Beautiful square, salt mines, Auschwitz is a place everyone should see once.

Flying. We got a RyanAir deal. $31 non stop. $38 after upgrading to priority so we get the extra cabin bag, but we didn't pay extra to pick our seats, so we won't sit next to each other. Not a big deal for a 50 min flight.

cmow14 said:

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What was the best meal you've ever had that was in Prague, if you don't mind me asking?

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http://www.ladegustation.cz/cz/

Had 11 course tasting with wine pairing. Was 3.5 hours and simply amazing.

Regarding Krakow, the Jewish District is awesome. That's where the great food is. I stay at a place called Spatz Aparthotel. It's convenient in between my office and the main square.

I think both the churches and the castle is better in Krakow than Prague.

WOW! I'm going to check into this. We are not leaving until September, so it's too early to book the train. Thanks for the info !

Just a warning about Ryan air. Like a lot of the budget airlines, they nickel and dime you a lot. We have flown them enough to deal with them, so the first time is weird. The rates change a lot, so check them online. And make sure that you use their app or print the boarding pass before you get to the airport. Otherwise, they charge you 20 to print your boarding pass, or 55 to check in at airport.

Another thing about Ryan air is check your carry on size. The overhead bins are significantly smaller then everyone else so your carry-on may not fit.

We always fly to Europe with a Osprey Porter 46 bag which is 22x14x9 (56x36x23cm) which is Delta's carry-on size and we never have trouble with them and in Europe we were fine with both Air France and Austria Air. Ryan Air, however, we had to check our bags and had to go the carousel to retrieve them since they said our bags were too big. It worked out then because that was a end destination but if we were a the end of our trip and had to take Ryan Air and then hop on Delta to get home that would have been annoying to go back through security.

Exactly. We are traveling with a Go Ruck 26 liter bag. It works fine. Ryan air says that bags up to 55 cm x 40 cm x 20 cm will work, but I call bs on that.

Another thought on Ryanair ; pay for the checked bag, assigned seat and meal up front. Will still usually come out ahead on money and alleviate the frustration.

90 bull said:

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Just a warning about Ryan air. Like a lot of the budget airlines, they nickel and dime you a lot. We have flown them enough to deal with them, so the first time is weird. The rates change a lot, so check them online. And make sure that you use their app or print the boarding pass before you get to the airport. Otherwise, they charge you 20 to print your boarding pass, or 55 to check in at airport.

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I checked and they have limited flights. They don't fly on the day I need to leave out. I really appreciate the suggestion though. Ryan air reminds me of Spirit Arlines, which I have flown in the past. Even with all the surcharges, it would have been cheaper than the train.

ORAggieFan said:

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Regarding Krakow, the Jewish District is awesome. That's where the great food is. I stay at a place called Spatz Aparthotel. It's convenient in between my office and the main square.

I think both the churches and the castle is better in Krakow than Prague.

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Yes, you know your stuff. Kazimerz is where all the great food is in Krakow. And I also like Wawel castle a bit more than Prague's castle.