As I had a chance to spend one week in the magnificent capital of Czech Republic I decided to make the most of it. Including writing about it, giving Prague travel tips and sharing interesting moments.
Prague for me is a mystical, magical city, full of hidden treasures, haunted houses and crooked medieval streets.
Also it reminds me of the best days of Art Nouveau and posters of Alphonse Mucha. Also it is a capital of Czech Republic, the country that had a lot of dark pages in its history. Many things in Prague remind me of Ukraine, Kiev in particular. Here and there you see reminders of socialist past of the city and these buildings look like scars to the former grandeur of romantic capital. Not every single one but many of them.
The paradox of Prague is that in the city center you can easily time travel just changing the streets. There are so many tourist attractions in Prague! You start with medieval glory, continue with the renaissance grandeur, enjoy Paris-like boulevards, wonder about the architectural value of socialist buildings and end up puzzled with modern Czech architecture. And it is the beauty of it, the ingredient that makes Prague a unique city, a crossroads of styles and cultures.
But enough about the heights, let’s descend to the lows. Let’s get to Prague travel tips:
Thing numero 1, – Czech currency or Crowns
Currency exchange in Prague is a vicious thing. Exchange offices are run by the evil people. I think there is some kind of competition in creativity of tricking the customer on the exchange rate in the city center. Extent of the trickery is unlike any other European city I’ve been to. And there are different ways they make a fool of you:
a) changing the places of “we sell” and “we buy” at the boards at the entrance to the office. People are lured by the high rates just to discovered afterwards they were tricked in a fashionable way;
b) including crazy commissions of 15-20% even when initially it is written “0 commission”;
c) giving you the rate twice smaller than initially written on the board. I was personally caught with this one. That is outrageous but you should know how to avoid it.
Solutions:
– prior to giving the money to exchange ask for exact amount of cash you’ll get
– if they give you a check to sign carefully read through and look for the part “exchange rate” and the sum you’re getting in the end;
– DO NOT EXCHANGE AT THE CENTRAL SQUARE, exchange at big shopping malls or outside center.
This is one of the most important travel tips for Prague!
Thing numero 2, – Public transport tickets in Prague
During the socialist times Prague got its metro. It works great and using it you can reach whatever destination you want. Also city has buses and trams at your service.
You will have to buy tickets from these machines that can be found at every metro station. They are quite weird but they are as they are. You push the button that corresponds to the ticket you want to buy, you throw money in, you get your ticket. Quite simple, right? Some stations luckily have the computerized selling machines. But not the majority.
Prices:
It is better for you to validate the tickets because I don’t think you would like to deal with the Czech conductors. And the fees are quite high as well. So just validate the ticket, just do it as Shia LaBoeuf once famously said. That would be my Prague travel advice for you!
Thing numero 3, – Denní menu
Czech Republic has its lifestyle. One of the elements of the latter is denní menu or daily menu that can be found in many restaurants and cafes in Prague. Usually they serve it from 11:00 to 15:00. But you should check with the restaurant.
Good people made a website where you can check what restaurant serves what, when and for how much: https://www.zomato.com/cs/praha/denn%C3%AD-menu
My personal favorite is Konvikt. It is not touristy at all, the portions are big (like really big) and the price is decent. One downside to it, – the service is bad and the waiters seem not to bother about you. But not always. Nonetheless, here it is:
Address: Bartolomějská 11, 110 00 Praha 1
With these 3 Prague travel tips figured out you will have an easier and more pleasant stay in Prague.
My other advice to you considering the amount of trickery on the central streets, – plan before you spend money in the Czech capital. Do not fall into numerous tourist traps.
Talking about the beauty of the city, let me just show you few vistas that made me personally fall in love with Prague:
That’s it for today with Prague travel tips, boys and girls.
Thank you for reading!
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Pavlo is an experienced travel writer published by CNN, BBC, The Guardian, The Independent, The Irish Times, Time Out, DK Eyewitness and Lonely Planet. He’s been writing about Poland for 9+ years.
If changing money in Prague, the best places are http://www.exchange.cz which you can find by KFC next to staromestske namesti. If you are on Wensclesus Square, there is an exchange place behind New Yorker just next to U Provanice pub. which will only be about 1 or 2 hellars difference.
Thank you for sharing!
Your blogs and twitter feed are amazing. Love all the pics! I plan to travel to Prague, Salzburg, Vienna and Budapest a couple of months later. You post amazing pics of all these places on twitter! I have a query. I plan to buy a 3 day pass. How do I validate it? Is there a machine on the bus or tram where you scan to validate?