Trip to Prague, Czech Republic

 You can start by a video we made, go, this is beautiful  

 A year ago, one of my best friends told me that he was going to live in Prague, for work. Finished all our weekends spent together to eat poorly and play, finished our laughter.
But what I did not know was that I was going to fall madly in love with Prague. We went to see him a month after he settled down, it was a year ago. This year, we went there again, and I hope to return again and again, I am sure that I will never get tired of it! When I become rich (how, that the question, but everything can happen :D) I will even buy my second home there. (Ah, it’s nice to dream)

 In this article, I will give you our good addresses, as well as their good addresses(because he is a two now <3) , advice, and hope to make you want to visit this beautiful city, or bring back good memories if you have been there before. Just so you know whate we are talking about, Prague (just the center) is divided into five parts :

• Castle Area – Hradčany / You would have understood it, is the part where is the huge castle which dominates the whole city. Although it is a highly touristic place, I can only advise you to visit this place. You have to buy a ticket (the most popular is the circuit B – 250 CZK) which includes the visit of the St Vitus Cathedral which is just splendid, the Royal Palace, St. George’s Basilica and the Golden Lane(which is just a street eh we will not hide it, but rather cute although too crowded for so little space). I think it is well worth it, the monuments are beautiful, very beautiful, and the garden is huge and nice. Depending on what time you go (and the period) there are far too many people, but if you play well, it’s perfect! The first time we went to Prague was an Easter weekend, and it was impossible to visit it all, there was to many people ! This time we went in late June, and it was much more nice.

 

• Lesser Town – Malá Strana / It is the neighborhood that is below the castle, alleyways in cobblestones, mostly quite quiet (compared to the old town), very beautiful, loaded with history. And it includes the Petřín park, which is actually a hill, which you can climb by funicular, or walk for the brave ones. This district is connected by the Charles Bridge to the old town. The Charles Bridge, a must-see place in Prague, is also a place where there are times when it is just full. At Easter it was absolutely black of world, and this time in June, we walked through it in the morning, it was beautiful. This bridge is huge!

 

• Old Town – Staré Město / The old town, the center of Prague, is where there is clearly more people, but it’s really nice. You have the huge square surrounded by grandiose historical monuments. On this square there are all kinds of activities, small huts selling traditional Czech products, concerts, markets, everything. You can taste here the famous Trdelnik, a traditional pastry in the form of a roll, yum yum, or even the kinds of chips on a skewer, again yum yum. There are plenty of little cute streets around the square, full of restaurants and bars (not the cheapest eh you can imagine). And if you have to give an appointment to someone, I advise you to do it under the huge astronomical clock that is still worth a little glance.  

 

• New Town – Nové Město / It’s the « commercial » part of the city, with shops, shopping centers, business district, hotels, cinema, nightclub etc. The shops are in Wenceslas Square, if you are addicts to shopping, this place iis for you. There are no big differences with France, both in terms of price and style. 

 

• Jewish Quarter – Josefov / The Jewish quarter of Prague, where there are beautiful synagogues, six in total (I say beautiful but we did not see them, there was a crazy queue to get to the one we wanted to do!). You also have all the luxury shops – Prada, Dior, Chanel etc … And this neighborhood is near to the old town.

 Now that the layout of the city is clear, (well I hope !), I give you a few addresses that we liked!

PARK

My favorite, the Letna Park (Prague7) is huge, green, as pleasant in the daytime as the night where there are often concerts, it is a park with quite a lot of young people I feel, rather student in the atmosphere. 

 The park Kampa which is on the edge of the Vltava, near the Charles Bridge, with a nice mill, and full of activities. In terms of park I find they’re so great in Prague! 

 Riegrovy Sady Park, so it’s pretty cool. In addition to being very beautiful and having a nice view panoramic over the whole city, there are bars outdoors, large tables, you can take your beers and sit on the lawn, eat a snack on a table, and watch football on the big screens. It is a little ostside the center.

  

BARS

In Prague, beer, and alcohol in general (but especially beer) is much cheaper than in France. With food and transport, this is part of the cheap things in this city.

Le Déjà vu – It’s a cocktail bar, which makes of big happy hours from 18 to 21pm, you have absolutely all of the existing cocktails availeble. So I advise you to arrive early and enjoy their seats, or reserve before. And down there is a club!Jakubská 648/6, 110 00 Staré Město, Tchéquie – 6pm / 4amLe Viktorkrou, so there we dive into the authentic Czech pub, a good old tavern, led by an old sea wolf (oh calm down Amelie), wooden tables and beer compulsory (well I was able to order wine but it looks at you weirdly when you ask for something other than beer!). Loved this place, and its ambiance.Bořivojova 785/79, 130 00 Praha 3-Žižkov, Tchéquie – 7pm / 3amLe Bukowski, beer at 6 CZK on Sunday, and very cute !Bořivojova 689/86, 130 00 Praha 3-Žižkov, Tchéquie – 7pm / 3amL’Absyntherie for the most motivated !Jilská 7, 110 00 Staré Město, Tchéquie – 12pm / midnight
Le lounge bed, where you take drink on bed.
Dlouhá 609/2, 110 00 Staré Město, Tchéquie – 12pm / 1am

 

RESTAURANT

My favorite : the Akropolis which is not at all in the center but WOW that is so good!Typical dishes, also less typical dishes, a good atmosphere, space. And it’s really cheap for the quantity on the plates!Kubelíkova 1548/27, 130 00 Praha 3, TchéquieLa Cantina, a Mexican apparently very very very good on the advice of my friend.
Újezd 38, 118 00 Praha – Malá Strana-Malá Strana, Tchéquie  

OTHER

Fans of Escape game that we are, we could not escape. Last year we tried one that had not pleased me at all, and I do not even remember the name. This year we innovated, we went to a virtual game escape. That is, you are sitting on a chair (you can see in the video on the top of article) with a helmet on your head, and you are entering in the world of video games. It’s totally stunning, you walk with your hands, you can throw stuff (we had balls of fire to kill the giant spiders, yeah!), everything is controled by your hands and arms. But be careful, we all got dizzy at one point, because of the cognitive dissonance. For example, when in the game you turn around while in reality you remain seated, it’s a sensation that your body does not like at all! The lady gave us a ginger candy that was lifsaving! Ginger has been shown to be effective in treating the nausea associated with motion sickness. This game is really immersive, cooperative as in all the escape games, we communicate all together with microphones, and we solve the case together. (We obviously won the times  ), and we were delighted when going out! (though a little smeared by all his virtual adventures). This escape game is called Torch Vr, we played the game Mind Horrorand and they have an other one  »Cosmos ». I strongly advise you! (all the infos on the site!)  

 The Zizkov tower, which is in the neighborhood of the same name. It’s a television tower, with babies on it climbing. These babies are found in different places in Prague, they were made by David Černý, a rather original Czech sculptor, who does things … how to say … original: D. And recently, in this tower there is a gourmet restaurant on the top floor which is apparently a kill (you must have the budget), and funny thing they made a single hotel room! (So I’m not telling you the price of the room), and the view must be pretty amazing.

  To get out you have the Cross Club, a nightclub with several styles of music, and a top design! I let you go see the website to look at the program !
The pedal boats! We had a great time on the pedal boat/swan, although it creaked heavily. If there are too many queues in the hirers who are at the beginning of the park, do not hesitate to go further. We found one with almost no waiting and a good price. 

 

As far as accommodations are concerned, we are staying with our friends, but I put the link of the 10 best hostels in Prague on Tripadvisor, and if not, Airbnb is always your friend …

 

ADVICE / INFO

When you arrive at the airport, you can take bus n ° 119, or (for lazy people like me)take a Uber (or taxi) will cost about 370 CZK. The travel during between 20 and 30 minuts (but as they drive fast, so rather 20).When you arrive in a metro-subway, you will see old machine that gives the tickets, you will understand nothing and it is quite normal, you can not really change the language  It’s necessary to press button 24kc for 30′ of metro, and 32kc for 90′. And be careful, only the pieces are accepted! It’s now forbidden to smoke in public places. Last year you could smoke in the restaurants, bar etc, now it’s forbidden even on a tram dock!10 dollars = 220 CZK.as i write these lines. I advise you not to change your currency at the airport, and besides do not change your currency at all as they get a good percentage on it. Instead, remove the dispenser.Hello can be said ‘dobriden’ (in phonetics) – dobrý den / Thank you can be said  »yekooye » – děkuji  / Goodbye is nas-klehdanoh – na shledanouWALK ! Walk around, discover without thinking in this beautiful city!  

 
I hope this article was helpull, do not hesitate if you have any questions or comments. Thank you to Flow and Cléa, for their fantastic welcoming and for their help for this article    

Don't forget to share your own tips and pics