Things To Do In Prague

A trip from Bangkok to Prague, has me staying at the Marriott Hotel near Suvarnabhumi Airport (Bangkok main airport).  Visit Marriott, to see some pictures of the hotel and room. Room price per night is about $130 to $150 USD.  After a good night sleep and breakfast at the hotel, I took a free shuttle from the hotel to the airport.  The entire ride is about 10 minutes.

I have made two trips to Prague from Bangkok.  On one trip I flew from Bangkok to Doha and then from Doha to Prague.  There was only 1 1/2 hours between flights, and while I made my connecting flight there was little room for error.  Doha is a big airport.  

For my second trip to Prague I flew from Bangkok to Istanbul and then Istanbul to Prague.  My layover was 2.5 hours and so my connecting flight was a bit less stressful than during my first trip.

The Prague airport is fairly small and easy to get around.  I changed some Thai Bhat (paper currency) both trips into local currency (Czech Koruna).  A  hundred dollars worth changed at the airport is more than enough to get you started.  

The airport has Uber terminals as you exit.  Use these to call an uber.  I waited a couple minutes each time before a nice car pulled up.  Cost is about $50 USD (paid for with credit card, no option I could see for cash).

In Old Town there is a wide, walkable avenue that runs for about 1 mile in length.  This is a heavy tourist area and well worth your time.

At one end is the National History Museum and at the other end of this you end up at Charles Bridge.  There is a great deal to do along this along this walk to include Prague Astronomical Clock.  

I came here every day and never got bored or regretted it.

If you continue along  the main avenue in Old town and drift over to your right, you will gradually make your way up a hill and to Prague Castle and the Cathedral there.

This is a beautiful and extremely popular thing to do.  I suggest starting in the morning about 8 or 830am as it will be a little cooler and less crowded on your walk.  

The picture above is a view from Prague Castle.  The walk is nice, but not the easiest.

Kutna Hora is a small town or village outside of Prague.  The easiest way to get there is by train.  There is a large train station within easy walking distance from Old Town.

The price to ride the train was small enough that I do not even recall the price.  I think it might have been about 10 USD.  It is a lovely train ride.

Kutna Hora is the location of the well known Bone Cathedral.  Considered one of the creepiest things to do in the Czech Republic.

Clearly, you can get a hotel anywhere in Prague for your visit, but why you would stay outside of Old Town is beyond me.  Old Town is where you want to be.  It is where all my pictures are from.  Old Town is packed with tourists because this is where so many very cool, beautiful and interesting things are.  Everything you are likely going to want to see and do are in walking distance.

There really is not a low season for Prague. Certainly in the warmer months there are more tourists, but every month is a busy month in Prague. I went at the end of October and there were plenty of crowds

One key to getting good pictures or to better enjoy some of the sites, is to get out early. For example, Charles Bridge is pretty quiet at 8 AM, but by 10 AM crowds are getting big, and by mid day into the evening it is really crowed.

Also worth mentioning is that visiting The Klementinum Library is best done at the end of the day. I initially went in the morning thinking I could just get a ticket and go in. I was wrong. You have to go as part of a guided tour and there are not many each day. Also, they book up quickly.

Click the link and visit the website for the Library to see even better pictures.

The Klementinum Library.

I was fortunate in getting in at the 6PM (last tour) time. I almost did not take it but am very glad I did. Each tour has you climbing up a 10 story very old tower (library is inside). At the top you get to walk around the outside of the tower at the 10th floor on a little walkway. It will be night when you do this and you will get utterly fantastic nighttime views of the city in all directions.

So what I thought was a bummer to have to wait until the end of the day for the tour, turned out to be a blessing. Be aware that the tour and the tower has you climbing 172 steps, but a very steep and very narrow spiraling staircase. Very large people will have difficulty. One woman in our group simply did not fit on the stairs and had to leave the tour as she could not proceed.

From my hotel in Old Town it took me about 20 minutes to walk to the church where the last stand took place for the men involved in Operation Anthropoid.

In short, the man placed in charge of Czechoslovakia during World War 2 was a very brutal man.  The Czechoslovakian government in exile planned the mission.

May 27, 1942, Czechoslovak resistance operatives Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš attempted to assassinate Heydrich in Prague. Heydrich was wounded and died later from his injuries on June 4, 1942.

There were brutal reprisals against the Czech people.  A movie of this operation was made in 2016 and is fairly historically accurate.

I had such a great time in Prague that I cannot wait to return.  already I am trying to think of a way to spend a much longer time there.

The city was safe and clean.  Getting a hotel in Old Town made getting around very easy.  Just exit my hotel and start walking.

One thing that surprised me was how much of the city is actually underground.  At my hotel I inquired about finding a money changer in the area and was directed to a location about 5 blocks away.  Then I needed to go down a set of stairs into the under ground area and it would be there. 

Initially I was hesitant.  However, once I went underground I quickly realized that the areas have lots of people go here and there.  Also it was completely clean and had no graffiti.    Not only that but the underground area was filled with shops to include the money changer. 

I found that every day I returned to the underground area as there were multiple, excellent places to buy food for less cost than above.  Apparently they are priced more for the local people.  This one area underground included shops for food, a movie theater, entrance to the underground train and a complete grocery store.

A quick note on changing money in Prague:  There are many money changers in Prague.  However, many of the more obvious ones offer a very poor exchange rate.  They one I used underground was the best rate.  The difference can be huge.   For example, I noticed that the money changer above ground (easier to see for tourists) offered almost 40% less in exchange.  That is HUGE and very bad.  Basically I got 40% more money by walking 1 block and simply going down the stairs.   Just be aware.

Everyone should spend time in Prague. I have only good things to say about the city and the people.