3 days in Prague

Prague is one of my favourite European cities I have experienced yet. Many people have a misconception that we must travel far in order to experience more, but I truly believe we have so much to offer almost on our doorstep. I’d never really thought about visiting a new city in winter before, but when I realised I hadn't travelled for most of the previous year, I had nothing planned between January and May and I had annual leave to use up at my previous job, I decided to look into it further. My partner and I both created a list of cities we hadn't been to and would like to explore. As we are both fairly well travelled, we try to choose places neither of us have visited in order to experience new destinations for the first time together. Prague happened to be on both of our lists, we had heard it was a great city to explore, lots on offer and very cheap. A tick in all our boxes so we decided to go for it! Being obsessed with all things travel, I usually carefully research every part of my own holidays in great detail before committing to a booking, however this was very last minute for us. We decided, booked and then travelled two weeks later, so most of it we 'winged' and it has turned out to be one of our best trips yet! We travelled at the end of February 2017 when the weather apparently becomes warmer and heads into spring. Generally, Prague's winter season is December to February with temperatures dropping to -15c. We managed to avoid the 'worst' of the cold, however -7c is still chilly for us Brits! Depending on the time of year you travel, I would highly recommend packing layers. We found mornings and evenings to be extremely cold, however on our three afternoons spent in Prague the temperatures did rise and we found ourselves carrying our coats, hats and scarves as we were simply just too warm! Below I will list my own personal top tips and good to knows for Prague: Currency - Czech Koruna. 1 CZK is the equivalent to approximately £0.35, and generally Prague is fairly cheap. It is well known beer is reasonably priced. Roughly £1 will get you a traditional Czech pint, approximately £5 for a bottle of Czech wine and around £4.20 for a traditional Czech meal which usually consists of meat, sauce and dumplings. Adapter - European or plug type E. Where to stay - As I have only been to Prague once, I have only stayed in one hotel so therefore will speak from personal experience. We stayed in the beautiful Hotel Neruda Prague, which is located on a cobbled street in the Lesser Quarter in Prague, approximately 10 minutes’ walk from the main square and just below the Prague Castle. We absolutely loved the location of the hotel as everything was within walking distance. From this hotel, Prague Castle is a 2-minute walk, Charles Bridge 10 minutes, Old Town Square 10 minutes and Wenceslas Square 20 minutes. It is a very modern hotel with a variety of room types ranging from the Standard Cozy to the Design Deluxe which feature an in-room bath and shower. As we travelled at a quieter time, we were very kindly upgraded to a Superior Room, very spacious and immaculate condition. The hotel offers complimentary breakfast each morning as well as all usual in room tea and coffee making facilities and chocolate from the chocolate café next door! An absolute must which I will continue onto in a moment. I would recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a sense of luxury away from the direct hustle and bustle of city life, but close enough to enjoy at your leisure. The hotel is up a steep hill which public transport is not allowed on, so this must be taken into consideration when looking at booking if walking and steeps hills are an issue. The hotel is also located amongst shops, so is very difficult to spot if you don't know what you are looking for. Even a well experienced traveller such as myself missed it twice! Where to eat - As mentioned, The Design Hotel Neruda has a chocolate café attached, 'Prague Chocolate Café and Bistro' and is an absolute must! We were in Prague for Pancake day so of course had to make the most of this and visit the café with pancakes in mind. We both ordered the most delicious pancakes I have ever tried, mine being banana and my partner Sam's being Nutella. The chocolate is sourced from a family company which has been producing high quality chocolate for many years with Prague motives in mind. The café does have a breakfast/lunch menu, but as we ate at the hotel, we stuck to pancakes one cold snowy afternoon. I highly recommend to everyone, even now I drool thinking of how delicious the chocolate was! Prague's traditional dishes are generally very meaty, not ideal for a vegetarian like me, however I was delighted to find 'Vegan's Prague', an all Vegan restaurant just steps from our hotel which serves traditional Czech dishes but with a meat free twist. This restaurant is lovely, and we enjoyed it so much we visited twice. Both times we were seated upstairs by a candlelit window which overlooks the castle or the street. Reasonably priced and tasty food even for meat eaters (Sam is not a vegetarian). What to do - Prague is full of things to see and do, which led us to an action packed 3 days! Another top tip is to pack good walking shoes. We walked everywhere during our trip as we found everything was within 15/20 minutes of each other so did not require any use of public transport. However, 3 days of walking does take its toll, so a good pair of trainers or boots will really help your feet when you land back on home soil! As mentioned, we really did love this city and I could easily talk about each thing we saw/did in great detail, however my blog only allows me so many characters and if I speak about each individually, I will run out! Instead I have listed them below and ask you to look through some pictures I have uploaded of our trip. If you are planning a trip to Prague, please get in contact with me and I will happily tell you about all the fun things we did and saw: John Lennon Wall, Charles Bridge, Beer Tour, Jewish Quarter, Prague Castle, Old Town Square, Prague Astronomical Clock, Petrin Tower/Lookout, Medieval Banquet, St Vitus Cathedral, Prague Nightlife, Hardrock Café, Mirror Maze I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog. As you may have noticed, I love to talk! If you are considering a trip to Prague and want more info on prices, or have already booked, or are just intrigued to know more, please get in touch! Thank you.