Five Awesome Days in Prague

🏰Exploring Prague: A City of Stories and Stone

In 2025, my wife, teenage son, and I took an awesome summer vacation to Central Europe. We kicked off our trip in the enchanting city of Prague, a place that feels straight out of a storybook – medieval towers, cobbled lanes, and centuries-old bridges, all wrapped in a city that’s surprisingly easy to explore. For first-time visitors, it’s a dream: rich in history, stunning architecture, and full of modern comforts that make traveling here a breeze.

Prague is best known for its remarkably preserved landmarks, but there’s so much more beneath the surface. It’s one of the most visited cities in the world – ranking around 20th globally by some estimates – and while the Old Town is mainly geared for tourists, the grandeur and charm never feel diminished. Over the next few sections, I’ll take you through our five-day journey in and around Prague, from iconic sights to unexpected moments that made the city unforgettable.

🚅How We Got Here

As this was the first part of our trip, we flew in to Prague – there are plenty of flights from around the world. We flew from Dulles airport in Washington DC, to Munich, then Munich to Prague, on Lufthansa on premium economy. Premium economy was a bit of a splurge, and it was really nice, especially for an overnight flight! But I am not sure I’d recommend it unless you have a lot of money to burn, because it’s a lot more expensive than economy. The biggest difference from regular economy are bigger and wider seats with full dividers.

🚋Day 1 – Arrival and Hotel

We landed in Prague at about 4PM, so we didn’t do much today. After we got to the hotel in the Malá Strana area and got settled, we walked around a little bit. Malá Strana is the “Lesser Town” of Prague (we did a full tour on day 3). The old buildings are all so beautiful, we were a bit in awe. Here is a picture of Malostranské náměstí, the main square in Malá Strana and also a tram hub that we used throughout our stay. The trams are so convenient in Prague – they go so many places, are very frequent, are easy to get on and off. I’ll post more about them in the Getting Around section at the bottom of this post.

🚶Day 2 – Prague Old Town

Today is Prague Old Town day, to see as much as we can in the most famous part of Prague. Old Town is the oldest part of Prague – continuously inhabited for 1,000 years, with many fantastically preserved landmarks and buildings from the 1200’s on.

You must walk over Charles Bridge when in Prague

Entrance to Vysehrad

☀️ Prague’s Perfect Pause: Charles Bridge View

After breakfast at the hotel, we took a short walk to the famous Charles Bridge across the Vltava River. The bridge was originally constructed in the 1300’s. It’s a pedestrian bridge now and is a must see for anyone in Prague. There are intricate statues all along the bridge, and it has perfect views of Prague. It’s so cool to see! I wanted to get to our next destination, the astronomical clock, by 9:00 to see the hourly show, and we were rushed. But the bridge was so nice that we just enjoyed the views and architecture for a while and waited for the 10:00 show.

Right after crossing to old town, we peeked in St. Francis of Assisi church – our first of many very old churches and cathedrals in Prague and throughout our whole trip. By the church there is also a fantastic view point looking back towards Malá Strana and Prague Castle, be sure to get your selfies in here.

Now if you’ve read posts or watched videos about Prague, it probably says how crowded the bridge is. We crossed it at around 8:45AM, in late June, and it was surprisingly almost empty. It was quite pleasant and gave us time to peacefully enjoy the views and the statues. Now we did see it was much more crowded in the afternoon and evening. So, I definitely recommend visiting in the morning.

🕰️ Time Travel in Old Town: Prague’s Astronomical Clock

From the Charles Bridge, we headed through the cobbled lanes of Old Town to the astronomical clock – one of Prague’s most iconic landmarks. Installed in 1410, it’s not just a timepiece; it’s a layered marvel of medieval mechanics, tracking everything from the phases of the moon to the position of the sun. (That link breaks it all down if you’re curious—it’s a lot!) I had fun trying to decode each part of the clock—it’s like a Renaissance-era puzzle built into a tower.

Every hour, the clock puts on a little show: bells ring, figures of saints glide past, and a skeleton gives a theatrical nod to time ticking away. It draws a crowd, but at 10AM, it wasn’t too bad. The show itself? Charming, if a bit overhyped – but when you’re standing in front of a 600-year-old masterpiece, it’s worth the few minutes to watch it come to life.

The astronomical clock is right beside the Old Town Square, with Tyn Cathedral dominating the view. This square gets pretty crowded but is really a sight to see, this is heart of Prague.

After spending some time just enjoying the architecture in old town square, we walked around Old Town, just checking out old buildings, peeking in old churches, and soaking in the vibes.

⛪️ Hidden Heights: Cathedral & City Views at Vyšehrad

After lunch, we made our way to Vyšehrad, a sprawling fortress perched above the Vltava. It’s not the famous Prague Castle (that’s tomorrow’s adventure), but it has its own quiet charm. Inside the grounds, you’ll find a stunning cathedral, leafy paths, and panoramic views of the city without the crowds.

After the crowds and narrow streets of Old Town, Vyšehrad felt like a breath of fresh air – serene, spacious, and easy to explore. The cathedral’s interior is especially beautiful, with intricate details that make you pause. I really enjoyed the visit, though if you’re tight on time, it’s probably more of a “nice-to-have” than a must-see. Still, for a relaxed afternoon with great views, it’s a solid pick.

📋It’s about 2 miles south of Old Town, so I wouldn’t recommend walking here. Take the metro. Walk to the Staroměstská metro station from Old Town (buy a 72 hour card from the station), take the green line to the Museum stop, then transfer to the red line, and take that to the Vyšehrad stop. Then walk about 5 minutes to the Tabor Gate – from here you can walk to the church. If you take the tram – you’re going to need to walk up a steep hill to get to the fort, but taking the metro, you don’t have to walk uphill so this makes a lot more sense. Google Maps has pretty exact transit options and directions, so you can use that to see exactly when the trains come and which direction to take. Just be sure to get directions to the Vyšehrad metro station, if you pick Vyšehrad fort it will probably tell you to go on the tram and walk up the steep hill.

That was it for the day – so we walked down from the fort to the tram stop, and took that back to the hotel.

🏰Day 3 – Prague Castle and Malá Strana

Entrance to the Gardens Below Prague Castle

Entrance to Waldstein Garden

Stop here on the 22 or 23 tram to get to Prague Castle – entrance across the street

Today was our day to explore around Malá Strana (lesser town) and Prague Castle. It was one of our favorite days on the whole vacation, even including our days in Austria and Switzerland.

🌿Prague’s Hidden Garden Views

We started off the day with some sightseeing in Malá Strana, starting right by our hotel. The Gardens Below Prague Castle was first up. These are really nice interconnected gardens along the slope down from Prague Castle. When we were here you couldn’t actually get to Prague Castle from here – you enter them on the Valdštejnská street in Malá Strana. It’s really nice and peaceful here, and there are fantastic views of Prague – possibly the best view point in the city. And we had the whole place almost to ourselves. I’m in to birding, as a nice bonus for visiting, I spotted a few birds I had never seen before here for my life list. You do have to pay an entrance fee to get in, but it’s worth it.

🦚A quick, peaceful stop at Waldstein Garden

Next up was Waldstein Garden. This is a nice garden with a lake in the middle, and peacocks! It’s right around the corner from the Malostranská metro station. It’s relatively small, and free, so this is a good quick stop if you are in the area. Surrounding the garden is the Waldstein Palace, which today is the home of the Czech senate.

It’s a little hard to find – basically just walk out of the metro station going south and immediately turn to your right after you go down the few steps. Go around a corner and it’s there. This is a very short walk from the Gardens below Prague castle entrance.

Next up, we headed to the Vltava River at Park Cihelna, a short walk from Waldstein Garden. This is a good place to see ducks, pigeons, swans, and other birds. We came here to see the nutrias – the “river rats” of Prague, but didn’t see any.

🎹 Musical Instruments & Hands-On Fun: Czech Museum of Music

One of the highlights of our trip was the Czech Museum of Music, especially the musical instrument collection. If anyone in your family is into music, this place is a must. The museum spans a large building filled with instruments of every kind – from centuries-old horns to modern synthesizers – organized into thoughtful exhibits that guide you through musical history.

The collection of pianos and harpsichords stood out, with many beautifully preserved and intricate instruments. There are all kinds of instruments here though. Even better, a few instruments are hands-on – we got to try a theremin, a harp, and a couple others, which added a fun, interactive twist to the visit.

The layout is intuitive, with clear descriptions and historical context that make it easy to follow, even if you’re not a music expert. And somehow, we had the place almost entirely to ourselves. This is a true hidden gem.

There is an entrance fee for adults, but kids up to 15 get in free.

Originally, I planned to see more in Malá Strana, and get to Prague Castle at about 2PM. From what I read, it’s better to see Prague Castle in the afternoon, it’s much more crowded at 9AM when the buildings open, than it is at 3PM. But, consulting the weather and radar, I could see rain and storms coming later in the afternoon, so we decided to get a quick lunch and then head to Prague Castle, to make sure we could see it before the rain.

🏰 Prague Castle & St. Vitus: Gothic Grandeur Above the City

So what is Prague Castle? Prague Castle isn’t just a castle – it’s a sprawling complex perched high above the city, officially the largest still-functioning castle in the world. It dominates the skyline and feels like the anchor of Prague’s history. The standout here is St. Vitus Cathedral, a towering Gothic cathedral that dates back to the 1300s, layered over even older churches and expanded through the centuries. It’s an absolute must-see. From the outside, it looks almost unreal – like something lifted straight from a video game, with spires, carvings, and dramatic stonework that shift in style depending on which side you’re facing.

Inside, the stained glass windows steal the show. Each one is tucked into its own alcove, glowing with color and detail. But, even just standing outside and looking up is worth your time – the front, back, and sides all tell different stories through their architecture.

Other than St. Vitus Cathedral, there isn’t too much to see at Prague Castle that I would recommend. There are some other churches and old buildings that you can walk through, but none come close to being as good as St. Vitus Cathedral. The Golden Lane was kind of neat – lots of small buildings and shops, and some weapons museums. Most sites say this isn’t worth visiting, but I did like the weapons displays.

Here’s a good video that goes in depth on visiting Prague Castle from Valery of Prague Tour guides. Her videos were so helpful for me doing this planning.

📋Prague Castle is free to walk around but if you want to get in to the buildings, you need to buy tickets. You don’t need to bother buying this in advance, just go to one of the information centers inside. Valery explains all of this in the video. Getting here is quite easy – take the 22 or 23 tram to the Pražský Hrad stop at the top of the hill, and then just walk across the street. If you walk through the castle starting at this entrance, you’ll be gradually going downhill, so you can exit the castle to the east and just keep walking down to get to north of the Malostranská metro. We timed it just about right – by the time we got to the metro, the rain had started, so we quickly walked back to the hotel from there and avoided the worst of the rain.

🎻 Smetana Hall: Art Nouveau Elegance & an Hour of Strings

After dinner, we saw a string concert at Smetana Hall at Municipal House, an Art Nouveau building and theater built in 1911. This was quite a contrast to Prague Castle, but still pretty amazing. Even if you don’t see a concert I’d still recommend a tour to see the theater, it’s quite impressive. The string concert was great – if you have time, it’s something a little different to do while you’re in Prague. I booked the tickets in advance and and picked our seats out, but there are no bad seats there. It was a little pricey for the length of the show (just an hour), but I’d still recommend it. Don’t worry if you didn’t pack your formal attire – Prague is full of tourists so you won’t be out of place in a t-shirt.

After the concert, we sat around and people watched at Náměstí Republiky by the trams. Being here in late June reminds you of how far north Prague is – this video was taken at around 9:30PM.

Then we headed back to our hotel, on a tram. We did a lot today and loved every minute of it! Prague is such an amazing city and we really got to experience the best of it today.

🌹Day 4- Konopiště side trip, and Vltava River boat tour

We took the train from here to Benesov

Benešov, Central Bohemian, Czech Republic

https://www.viator.com/tours/Prague/Prague-Boats-1-hour-Devils-Channel-Cruise/d462-63851P9

🏰 Konopiště Castle: Franz Ferdinand’s Time Capsule Retrea

I decided to do something a little different today – head outside of Prague to visit Konopiště Castle. It’s a castle and grounds about 45 minutes south of Prague that was the favorite residence of Archduke Franz Ferdinand – heir to the Austria Hungary empire, and whose assassination started World War I. During his ownership, Ferdinand had the castle renovated with all modern touches at the time (running water! telephone lines!), and it is now essentially frozen in time from the early 1900’s. Franz Ferdinand was quite a hunter and his taxidermy trophies are on display here. The grounds around the castle are nice, with a rose garden with peacocks, a lake, and plenty of wooded trails.

You can walk around the grounds for free but to see the inside you need to book a tour. We did the tour #1 – hunting corridor and apartments of the south wing. We had some time before the tour, so we walked around the rose garden, enjoying the quiet with peacocks walking by. The greenhouse up the hill from the garden was nice as well – there are lot of plants being grown here from different environments.

The #1 tour was pretty neat – the taxidermy collection was quite crazy, and the rooms were very opulent. It was an interesting look back at a princely lifestyle from the turn of the 1900’s, which is quite a contrast to the Prague.

Here’s an old video about the castle from none other than Rick Steves.

After the tour, we ate lunch here at the restaurant right in the castle. I’d definitely recommend it, it was good and cheap! There is another restaurant on the path from the castle to the parking lot, that I’ve read good reviews of. After lunch, we walked around the grounds some, and then headed back to town to take the train back to Prague.

💭The castle is pretty cool, but, if I were to plan the trip again I would have stayed in Prague. They didn’t offer tours in English, and while you could pay a little extra to get an audio guide, I didn’t find it too helpful. You can’t see both the hunting trophy room and the weapons/armor room in one tour, you would need to do two different ones, and the timing doesn’t always line up to do that. And getting there was harder and more time consuming than expected. So in hindsight I would rather have spent the whole day in Prague.

🕓Konopiště to Prague: Give yourself some time

🚅So, getting to Konopiště castle was a little more time consuming and challenging than getting places in Prague. Getting to the town near the castle (Benešov) is pretty easy from Prague. Book a train ticket with the České dráhy mobile app – it’s cheap and easy. Just buy in app, and walk on the train. České dráhy is the main railway in the Czech Republic. During the day, more than one train per hour leaves from the main Prague train station (we took a tram to get to the station from our hotel), and it takes anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour to get to the Benešov train station, heading south. That’s the easy part.

What’s harder is getting from the train station, to the castle. I was hoping to find taxis, but waited for a bit after getting off of the train, and none showed up. There is a bus, but it’s very infrequent. So, we walked. It’s about a half hour, and pretty flat. Walking through town is fine, but you have to cross a pretty busy road that had consistent traffic. Eventually someone stopped for us to let us cross. Once you cross that, it’s a nice walk through a forest to the castle. There is also an “eco train” that runs around town and to the castle. But taking the eco train from the train station, it stops at many places in town before it gets to the castle, and takes a while to get to the castle. And it doesn’t run frequently. So unless you have a lot of time to burn, walking or if you can find a taxi is recommended.

Now we did take the eco train back from Konopiště , where it stops by the rose garden, to the train station (it goes pretty much straight from the rose garden to the train station), but had to wait over an hour to catch it. It’s cheap, but the driver didn’t speak English and even using translate on my phone, we had trouble communicating when to pay and where the train goes. I think the driver didn’t realize that I understood where I was going and assumed I needed more help, when I just wanted to pay. That was the only real time on the whole trip where I had a language issue. In hindsight I should have walked to the parking lot and looked for a taxi, because when the eco train drove by there, I saw a taxi. Or just done the half hour walk again. Once the eco train got going, I booked the return train ticket back to Prague in the app – so easy. I paid just a little more for first class, which was a nice group of seats with a door – very quiet and cooler than the standard class ride coming here.

🚤 A Peaceful Drift Through Prague: Devil’s Channel by Boat

Now, once we got back to Prague, we did find one more thing to do – a river boat cruise through the Devil’s Channel on the Vltava River. Booking was a breeze on Viator – just book, take the tram and walk to the dock, and hop on when the boat is ready. The cruise itself was short (1 hour) but surprisingly rich – gliding under the Charles Bridge, slipping into the narrow Devil’s Channel, and seeing the city from a different angle. Because the main boat filled up, we ended up on the “overflow” vessel, we got a ride with just 5 other people on a really nice little boat. The main boat was pretty small as well, this isn’t one of the huge boats that you’ll see docked nearby. The tour’s affordable too, which makes it an easy yes. If you’re looking for a low-key way to wind down your time in Prague, this is a perfect choice.

⛪ St. Nicholas Church To End Our Stay

As our time in Prague wound down, there was one last stop I didn’t want to miss – St. Nicholas Church in Malá Strana. We hadn’t made it there the day before, so we squeezed it in just before closing at 6 PM. There’s a small entry fee, but it’s worth every koruna. Of all the churches we visited on the vacation, this one had the most impressive interior – ornate and breathtaking. After St. Nicholas Church, we walked around Malá Strana little more before dinner, and that was it for our stay in Prague!

Day 5 – Český Krumlov day trip and going to Salzburg

This is where our driver parked and took us down to the castle from

Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

This morning was a little sad because we were leaving Prague, but we were looking forward to everything that’s next on our vacation. We’ll be in Salzburg, Austria by this evening for the next segment of our trip – see my post Five Awesome Days In Salzburg, Austria for our 5 days there! And then after Salzburg, we went to Grindelwald, Swizterland – see Four Awesome Days In Grindelwald, Switzerland for our stay in Switzerland! But, before Salzburg, we have one more destination to visit, Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic.

🚗 From Prague to Salzburg, with a Stop in Český Krumlov

Instead of the standard six-hour train ride from Prague to Salzburg, we opted for something a little more personal, and a lot more memorable. Through Viator, we booked a private transfer that included a four-hour stop in Český Krumlov, with other options like Hallstatt also available. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip.

We chose our own pickup time, and our driver met us right at the hotel – punctual, friendly, and full of stories. Along the way, he gave us a crash course in German and shared fascinating bits of history that made the drive fly by. The car was comfortable and the pace relaxed.

Český Krumlov itself was a highlight: a fairytale town tucked into a bend of the Vltava River, with winding lanes, castle views, and just enough time to explore without feeling rushed. Normally, it would require a full-day trip from Prague, but this route made it effortless.

Yes, it cost more than the train for the three of us—but the flexibility, comfort, and chance to see a must-visit destination made it absolutely worth it. If you’re heading from Prague to Salzburg, this is a detour you won’t regret.

🏰No Plans: 4 hours in Český Krumlov

Next stop: Český Krumlov – a storybook town tucked into a bend of the Vltava River in southern Bohemia. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, and yes, it’s purely for tourists at this point – but that doesn’t take away from its charm. The whole place feels like it’s been lifted from a medieval painting: cobblestone streets and a massive cliff side castle watching over it all.

The oldest part of town wraps around the river, creating a maze of narrow lanes and hidden corners. We didn’t have a checklist or itinerary – just wandered, grabbed lunch, browsed a few shops, and soaked it all in. Around every corner in town is a wonderful view with well preserved old buildings, narrow cobblestone streets, and views of the castle.

If you’re in to kayaking you can go right through the Vltava river in town. There’s even a ramp to go down.

The castle is the main thing you see in town. You can walk through the castle and around the castle grounds and garden for free, but if you want to go in the buildings, you have to pay for a tour. Because we had limited time we didn’t do that. Our driver was very helpful here with the castle – he parked behind the high part of the castle – by the gardens, and walked us through the gardens and castle to show us how to get to town, including taking a picture of us at a famous picture spot. Then when we were ready to go 4 hours later, we just texted him and he was waiting for us with his car in the lower part of town, ready to go to Salzburg. This was much appreciated because walking back up the castle to the top parking lot would have been quite steep, and walking from the main parking area to the main area of the castle would have been a walk uphill.

From here, it was another about 2 hours to get to Salzburg. You can read all about our experiences in Salzburg and Austria on Five Awesome Days In Salzburg, Austria!

ℹ️I keep this Český Krumlov part in a blog post about Prague, because you can pretty easily see Český Krumlov from Prague in a day, even if you aren’t doing it as a stop on the way to Salzburg. There are express buses that take about 3 hours each way, and plenty of tours that will take you there and pick you up. If you have more than 3 days in Prague I think Český Krumlov is a great idea. It definitely has a different feel than Prague – less city, more German.

🏨Hotel

We stayed at Hotel Waldstein in Malá Strana, about half way between the Waldstein Gardens, and Malostranské náměstí, the main square in Malá Strana. I have nothing but good things to say about the hotel. It’s a perfect location, in a quiet corner off of a quiet street, but just a few minute walk from the main square in Malá Strana. The building is very old, from the 1600’s, but with all modern amenities (including air conditioning). The two bedroom apartment was so nice!

If you ever wanted to eat in a medieval cellar, then the Hotel Waldstein breakfast the place to do it! The food was much better than what I imagine a medieval breakfast would be like, it’s very good and a nice perk of the hotel.

🍽️Restaurants

In Prague – many restaurants serve traditional Czech food, so you definitely need to eat at one of these at some point. Because the old parts of Prague are so tourist centric, and geared more for weekend trips and trips of just a few days, most of these restaurants have the same menu items. So you know what you’re getting at these if you read up on them, and the traditional food is good. But there are other types of restaurants so I’ll post a few of those.

🍺When in Prague, you have to drink beer. Czech’s drink more beer per person than any other country in the world and I can see why being in Prague. Beer is the cheapest drink pretty much everywhere – cheaper than soda, juice, etc. At one restaurant in Malá Strana, beer was about $1.30 per mug. Most restaurants serve one brand of local beer with usually just one or two kinds (light or dark) – it’s not like in the USA where you get a huge list of beers with 10 kinds of IPAs. This makes it pretty easy to pick which beer to get.

Here are some of the best restaurants we ate at:

• U Tří Jelínků in Malá Strana, a relatively short walk from our hotel. I had possibly the best dish on the whole vacation – the famous Prague pork knuckle. It was so good! My wife and son enjoyed their food as well. Good beer as well.
• Lore Malastrana in Malá Strana, a relatively short but uphill walk from the hotel. Great Italian with home made pasta. Welcome cuisine after all of the traditional Czech.
• Zámecká restaurace Konopiště – restaurant in Konopiště castle. Really good traditional Czech food, and cheap.

💡 Czech Republic Tips and Impressions as a Tourist

Visiting Prague and the Czech Republic was such a fun and amazing experience for myself, my wife, and my son. As you walk around the city, it’s hard to wrap your head around how old some things are – the Charles Bridge, churches, buildings, etc. There is so much to see and do here! Yes, it can be a bit crowded, but it doesn’t really detract from how awesome Prague is. I think Prague is a perfect destination for most people. Maybe not with young children, or seniors, because of the amount of walking to see things, but for just about everyone else, it’s ideal.

• Cars don’t make sense at all here. The tram system is phenomenal – use that! It’s definitely unlike anything in the US.
• Old town and Mala Strana are pretty compact – you can see everything here walking around
• But, Prague as a whole is a large city of over a million people. Using the metro and trams you can see even more.
• Don’t only spend a weekend here! Many (most?) people visiting Prague do it as a weekend trip, or a few day side trip from another area of Europe. There is so much to see, you’ll regret a short trip.
• 👟Bring good shoes with thick soles and traction! Walking on the cobblestone streets can be rough on your feet if you have thin shoes. Also, the sidewalks can be quite slippery after rain, and much of Prague is hilly – so you want some traction on your shoes.
• ☀️Temperature – We were here in near record heat through Europe. It got to 90 degrees while we were here. Heat waves keep happening in the summer throughout Europe, so, if you come in the summer, pack for all weather – shorts for the heat, but also bring pants and jackets. Coming from the eastern United States, it wasn’t bad at all for us, and was nicer than at home because the humidity is relatively low compared to home. But if your hotel doesn’t have air conditioning, it could be quite hot in the summer.
• 💧Water – unlike in the US they do not automatically bring water to you at restaurants. And almost no one carries around water bottles. Europeans definitely do not get enough water! If you want water before your food – you have to ask for it, but make sure to ask for tap water. If you just ask for water, they’ll bring a fancy bottle of mineral water and charge you for it. I didn’t realize you could ask for tap water until the end of the whole trip. Is this like an American tourist tax?
• 💰Money – The Czech Republic uses the Czech koruna (crown) as its currency. Even though it’s in the EU, they don’t use the Euro. As of this writing in 2025, 1 koruna is about 5 cents, so when you see prices, you have to divide the cost by 20 to get a rough approximation for dollars. Prices vary pretty widely at restaurants, but overall, things are pretty cheap here compared to the US, or other European cities. Prague is considered an affordable vacation destination.
• Tipping at restaurants – Tipping is different here and in Europe than in the US. There’s no definite right or wrong answer on what to tip, or whether to tip. But the wait staff all make livable wages, so they are not dependent on tips to live like the the US. I’m not going to say exactly how much to tip. From what I’ve generally read, it’s considered courteous to tip 5-10% but isn’t always expected. When they bring your bill, if you pay with credit card, you’ll pay right there with the card with a mobile reader. It’s best to “round up” the bill – so tell them how much you want them to charge. Everywhere says to round up to an even bill, but that doesn’t really matter for credit cards. So if your bill was 460 koruna, telling them you’ll pay 500 would give about a 9% tip which is very generous. There’s not a separate line item for the tip or anything. It’s best not to leave the tip as cash on the table when you leave, give it when the server comes, so that’s different than in the US.
• 💳Cash or card? Most places took Mastercard and Visa, so we paid for most things this way. I did see a few places that took only cash. Cash is appreciated though since there is no service fee. There were ATMs and cash exchange businesses all over the place.
• Language – Czech is the native language in the Czech Republic. But, everyone in service industries speaks English well – Prague is a very tourist centric city. The only time language was an issue was on day 4 in Konopiště, which is outside of Prague, so if you stick to Prague you shouldn’t have any issues.

🚊Getting around

• 🛬Airport transportation – we used Welcome Pickups to get from the airport to your hotel – just book in advance through the app and the driver will be waiting for you. It’s about the same cost as a taxi. Very convenient, I’d definitely recommend this over anything else. The metro does not run to the airport, so you either do this, a taxi, or bus.
• 🚊Trams – The tram system in Prague is world class. The trams in particular make it so easy to get just about anywhere in the main part of the city. Unlike many bus and metro systems in the USA, you just walk on – there are no gates or fare card readers or anything. We got a 72 hour pass at a metro station – it’s just a paper card that you can take around. When you get on the bus the first time, be sure to put it in the little ticket machines that are on the trams, and it will stamp your ticket. In theory there are officers that will come around and check to make sure you have valid tickets, and this stamp will indicate when you first used the ticket, but we didn’t see that once our whole time. This honor system makes it much easier to get on and off. Another nice benefit of the trams is that you can see the city. Just use Google Maps to get directions to your destination, pick transit, and it will give you a bunch of options with times when the tram will be at your stop. The times aren’t always completely accurate but are pretty close. One thing to note – you do need to push the buttons on the doors to get on the trams – if you don’t push, the door won’t open. I loved riding around on the trams to get around town.
• 🚈Metro – We only rode the metro once so I can’t speak too much about it, but it was pretty nice, easy, and convenient. We used the same 72 hour card we use for the trams for it. The metro is probably better for going farther out – the trams do take more time because they’re running on streets and stopping frequently.
• 🚌Bus – the 72 hour card will also get you bus access. We only rode this once, because the timing wouldn’t have worked out with the tram. Trams are a better way to go but there’s nothing wrong with the bus.
• 🚕Taxi – We didn’t take a single taxi the whole time we were here. There’s no reason to. All of the parts we visited were in walking distance from tram or metro stops, and the trams are a great, easy, cheap way to get around.
• 🚅Train – I describe how we booked trains to get between Prague and Benešov on Day 4. It’s really easy – book with the České dráhy mobile app to get your tickets.

❓Questions or thoughts?

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