Day 1. Prague City Break

On By Little Miss TravellerIn Czech Republic, Northern Europe, Prague January 2013

After taking an early morning flight from London Gatwick to Prague’s Vaclav Havel airport we transferred to the city centre by bus and metro.  Arriving into a winter wonderland of thick snow we made our way to the Best Western Hotel Pav, our home for the next three nights.

Hotel Pav, Prague
Hotel Pav, Prague

Settling in to our room, we were soon ready to start exploring the city.  We walked down to the Vltava river from where we had some splendid views of Prague Castle and other elegant buildings lining the river bank.

Tower on Charles Bridge, Prague
Charles Bridge, Prague
Charles Bridge, Prague
Charles Bridge, Prague

As we approached the famous Charles Bridge we could see that it was crowded with tourists, artists, buskers and street vendors all admiring the magical views from the bridge across the wide expanse of the river.  At each end of the bridge there is a tower, the bridge connecting the old town from the lesser town (Mala Strana).  75 statues adorn the bridge, some of them replicas where the originals have been washed away in floods.

Wenceslas Square
Wenceslas Square, Prague

A few minutes walk from here we came to Wenceslas Square, it’s actually more of a broad avenue than a square and is lined with hotels, shops and banks.  The square lies in the heart of the new town (Nove Mesto), new being a misleading term as the square was laid out in 1348 by Charles IV, originally as a horse market.  At the top of the square is the National Museum with a statue of St. Wenceslas on his horse looking down on it, and to the left stands the Prague State Opera.

The National Museum, Wenceslas Square, Prague
The National Museum, Wenceslas Square, Prague

After a rest back at our hotel we enjoyed dinner in an authentic Beer Hall along the same road as our hotel which was crowded and atmospheric.  Portions were huge so we only ordered a main course each accompanied by large tankards of the local beer.

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108 thoughts on “Day 1. Prague City Break”

  2. A summer visit to Prague a few years turned out pretty memorable. We were lucky to have found a place in Wenceslas Square to stay, from where one could walk anywhere. With street performances and a crush of tourists, it was like a giant fair,

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  18. Prajakta

    Nice post and beautiful pictures 😊. I am just wondering how did you manage to click a picture of charles bridge with such less crowd… I live in Prague and go there practically every other day.. but still haven’t managed to find so less people there 😉

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  23. Pingback: Day 1. Arriving in Prague | R and B International Travel Blog

  25. Florence Feynman

    I’ve been meaning to return with my children – I visited there as a student in the 80s. It was beautiful of course. I have memories of one of my friends trying to change money on the black market, which everybody seemed to do, including our tour guides. I stood with him and another friend and watched the banknotes being counted out. Ten seconds later, the locals had vanished, and so had the money: the roll of notes no longer contained money but blank paper. He had wanted to buy some crystal glasses for his mother back in the US, but was quite philosophical about his loss. I imagine it is very different all these years later; still beautiful no doubt, but I would love to see how the atmosphere has changed. Thanks for your post and the little trip down memory lane!

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      1. Frede

        I talked to my boyfriend earlier and it might be our December getaway (our little tradition) this year! We are just back from Berlin and have many trips planned this year, but Prague certainly found its place on the list – thanks to your post! 🙂 I look forward reading more about your trip!

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