Travel || Planning a 48 Hour Prague City Break

Posted on May 8, 2018

After visiting Bratislava late last year, I was really eager to explore its neighbouring country, the Czech Republic. And the most visited place in the Czech Republic? Prague.

Prague makes many people’s lists of places in Europe to visit when they are traveling the continent and I thought it was about time that I visit that fairytale looking city.

I got extremely lucky when I was in Prague, because I got to escape the icy weather of Northern England for a heatwave and it was extraordinarily delightful!

Planning a 48 Hour Prague City Break

SEE / DO:

There is so much to see and do in Prague that I have a whole post of my top recommendations coming later on. Without a doubt you have to stroll through the Old Town, see Prague Castle, stand in Wenceslas Square and have a beer by the river. But I have lots of other recommendations as well.

Since the weather was so nice while I was there, it was lovely just to relax at an outdoor cafe and take in some of the scenery. I highly recommend one of the free walking tours. (They all leave from Old Town near the astronomical clock area). The streets are so winding, I found it a hard place to orient myself so the tour was very useful.

I didn’t have time for it, but I would have really liked to do a Mucha (the artist) tour around Prague.

STAY:

I stayed at Residence Tabor Hotel in the Zizkov neighbourhood of Prague. It’s a slightly odd system where when you arrive at the Tabor, you actually nip across the street and check in at Hotel Golden City where they fill out your paperwork and give you your keys.

The wifi was really great and it was honestly the cleanest room that I’ve ever been in. It was spotless, which I was fairly shocked about considering the price. I think the Tabor must have been apartments back in the day, or maybe a long-stay hotel because of the way that it’s set up and the fact that rooms are equipped with little kitchenettes. The rooms were a bit dated and I couldn’t get on board with the colour scheme, but it was some of the most reasonably priced accommodation that I found in Prague. Plus I felt extremely safe staying there on my own.

It’s about a 20 minute walk from Wenceslas Square or a 40 minute walk from the Old Town. But it’s located right outside the Lipanska tram stop, so you can hop on that and be there in no time.

I definitely recommend the Residence Tabor.

It is located at Táboritská 4, 130 00 Praha 3, Czechia

TRANSPORT:

Public transport in Prague is great. Between the buses, tram and metro, it can get you everywhere you need to go. I bought a 48 hour transport pass that cost approximately £10 and it saw me safely everywhere. On the walking tour I did, our lovely guide said that she’d never recommend taking a taxi in Prague as they are always going to overcharge you.

You have to buy your bus ticket before you get on, and then you stamp it to validate it once you are on the bus.

If you are going from the airport to the city, the best bus seems to be the 119. It runs from 4:30 am – 11:45 pm. Hop on it at the airport and then get off at Nádraží Veleslavín. There you can switch to either the tram or metro station A.

EAT:

I had some insanely good coffee at Mama Coffee as well as One Sip. My Mama Coffee was so good that I actually came back later to get another. I can also recommend the Bakeshop highly as well. I’ve another post that I’m writing on vegan food in Prague, but my top recommendation goes to Moment.

Traditional Czech foods seem to be quite heavy but you still have to try svickova, Czech schnitzel, fried cheese, kremrole and goulash. And of course, Czech beer. My walking tour guide gave us the advice that it wasn’t just a stereotype that beer was cheaper than water in Prague, but a truism. She said a good way to identify if you are in a “tourist trap” restaurant is if the beer is more expensive than water. Crazy, right?

She also told us that when you tip, it’s rude to leave money on the table so just have the waiter keep the change or add it to the card.