DIY Travel Guide to Prague, Czech Republic
Prague (also locally known as Praha) is the capital of the Czech Republic and one of the most picturesque cities in Europe.From its cobbled streets and medieval architecture to its friendly, welcoming citizens to its vibrant night life, Prague is an increasingly popular travel destination.
VISA REQUIREMENTS
For Filipinos going to Prague, you will be required to obtain Schengen Visa. I applied for mine in French Embassy in Singapore since I am based here. The visa cost about $90SGD to $110SGD depending on the exchange rate. To avoid rejection of your visa application, make sure to obtain all the requirements listed on the checklist available on their website before going for your appointment.
Travel Tips:
For this trip, wear comfy shoes because you will do a lot of walking. We literally spent our 4 days just walking around the City admiring beautiful buildings, cobble stone pavements, unique statues.
Charles bridge is usually packed with tourists most of the time, but it’s very peaceful and beautiful in the morning.
Visit the castle at night time when it’s dark and admire its grandeur under the moonlight.
ARRIVING IN PRAGUE
The accommodation we booked via Airbnb is located near the Old Town Square, so if you will be staying in the same area, Staromestska is the nearest subway station. To get to Staromestska from Prague airport, we walked to the bus station situated just outside of the airport and took bus number 119 heading to Nadraza Veleslavin which is the nearest subway stop. From Nadrazi Veleslavin, we changed to green line A (heading towards Depo Hostivar) and alighted at Staromestska station which is within easy walking distance of much of the old town.
You can buy the train and bus ticket at the airport (single ticket covers all public transport). There is an info point for metro-tram-bus in each terminal.
Options are:
one way ticket – the best one costs 32 czk (the one for 24 czk runs just 30 min and it’s possible that the journey to Staromestska sometimes takes a little bit more than 30 min)
long term ticket (the information point can give you info about prices and give you map of Prague transportation ).
We took the long term option but realised we didn’t use the public transport often as walking around the town was so easy.
WALKING AROUND PRAGUE:
Walking across the 14th Century Charles bridge from the old town (so named because it was originally built inside the walls of the Prague Castle) you can take a somewhat strenuous uphill walk to the magnificent Castle itself and the other, near thousand year old, buildings within its precinct.
We chose, instead, to take the number 22 Tram (which circles up the hill behind the Castle) and stroll through the Královská zahrada gardens, entering the Castle from the rear. Rather than what most imagine as a Castle, this is more of a village made up of the Castle itself as well as many churches, halls and palaces, all of which are beautiful in their own right.
(17th Century Riding School – Now used to house exhibitions)
After taking in the sights of the Castle, we wandered down the hill eventually re-crossing the Charles Bridge back into the old quarter and to the Town Square. This large open, cobbled space is home to numerous street performers, food vendors and a multitude of spruikers (mostly trying to interest you in a Segway tour) and is surrounded by numerous buildings, all of which are centuries old. One of these is the beautiful Old Town Hall which has the famous astronomical clock on one side.
Other sights worth exploring include:
Funicular railway – This runs to the South of the Prague Castle and parallel to a section of the original city wall, most of which is now gone.
St Nicolas Bell Tower, Mala Strana (Lesser Quarter) – Climb over 300 steps to the top for an amazing view of the city. You can also see the room where Western Embassies used to be spied upon from, during the communist era.
Jewish Museum, Jewish quarter – The Jewish quarter of Prague was once a busy ghetto and has a history littered with tragedy. The Jewish museum shows what was and details the history of this part of the city.
(Prague Castle at Night)
BIKE TOUR WITH GUIDILO:
Feeling the need to understand and explore the history of the city we contacted a local Prague tour company, Guidilo Tours, who offer an eclectic range of experiences within the Czech Republic. Rather than take a Segway tour, we chose to take a bicycle tour of the city. This enables you to travel further afield and see some sights which would be too distant otherwise.
(Tour guide Michal, showing off KK shirt!)
Guidilo employ very knowledgeable local guides to proudly guide you through their amazing city. Our guide, Michal, is a qualified art historian and, as we cycled, he provided great historical insight into everything from the ancient history of the city and its famous characters, to the areas where historic buildings have been knocked down during the communist era and replaced by drab grey block housing typical of that era throughout Europe.
Prague has some hilly areas with parkland at the peak. While the hills gave us a workout the amazing views were well worth the effort!
Highlight of Bike Tour : Climbing up Vitkov Hill to see the statue of Jan Žižka who played a big role in Czech Republic’s independence from Habsburg dynasty in 15th Century
