Czech Republic

Holidays by Destination Europe Czech Republic Reader Reports 

New Year 2002

We took our children aged 10 and 12 to Prague fo three days just after New Year 2002. We stayed centrally which is important as then you can walkeverywhere. We stayed at the Hotel Paris - a beautiful art deco hotel. We knew it would be cold so we went for a five star hotel to be sure it wasreally well heated. We needed hats, gloves and scarves and ski socks when we were walking around, so it's not for toddlers and children in buggies.

The Old Square still had the Christmas market with booths selling wooden toys, glass and mulled wine. There are people everywhere handing out flyers for concerts in halls and churches.we saw a string quartet playing a selection of popular classics - lots of Mozart - lasted about an hour - perfect.

We also saw a very bizarre puppet show about the Beatles, and I'd have liked to have seen the Don Giovanni marionette show but there wasn't time.

The National Museum is fascinating because it is like museums used to be - a beautiful building with lots of glass cases full of dusty exhibits. The Toy Musem near the castle had a fantastic exhibition of Barbies.

Most museums are closed on Mondays so we missed out on some. Food was not a problem, even if you don't like pork knuckle and dumplings there are pizza and pasta places everywhere, and for real wimps who shouldn't even leave home there are several branches of McDonalds and even a TGFI.

Beer is great and with older kids it is possible to sit in a beer cellar playing cards for hours.

We got a ticket for trams and buses and went out to the Mozart museum where he wrote Don Giovanni. Going in the New Year the city was free of crowds and there were some good deals on accommodation.

It was fun to go in the winter because it felt like being in a John Le Carre spy film.
Mary Yeats

Summer 2000

We spent a week's holiday in Prague and found it a very attractive city - lovely architecture, easy to walk around - and pretty affordable, particularly food. Beers are only around 30p a pint.

Food is rather pedestrian except for the restaurants for the business community. In fact it can sometimes feel that the city is a little too geared to business people, including the better hotels. In cheaper establishments there is still little awareness of the concept of service and to a degree the city suffers from not being sophisticated enought for the type of tourists it attracts, with museum displays for example noticeably old-fashioned.

There are also no child facilities to speak of - we had to take a clip-on chair for the baby for example as there are no high chairs anywhere. But while no-one is effusive towards children, they are very accommodating.

We spent a couple of days out in the country. We found fruit trees planted by the roadside by the communist regime to provide fruit for anyone who wants it. We had apples and plums. However, the bigger attractions would have taken a full day to get to and back from so we didn't bother with those.

In the city we visited Prague castle where there were lots of other children. A buggy was invaluable for this as there is quite a lot of uphill walking. Also good for children is the Marionette Museum though because it has a dark, tunnel-like entrance our daughter was not willing to go in. Not good is the Children's Museum up near the castle which is up three flights of stairs, not cheap and with uninspired layout.

We also visited the 900-year-old Strahov Monastery near the castle where the library would cost too much to restore so is only open as a museum. There are great views of Prague.One interesting option only for older children or those likely to sleep in a buggy is an architectural walking tour, taking visitors past different eras of architecture. We did however taken an evening stroll in the lower Mala Strana area (just across the Charles Bridge, below the castle) with the children, stopping for drinks and it was very pleasant.

We also went to a lovely (cheap) church concert having bought tickets at the tourist office just off New Square. We just stood at the back and would have left if the children squawked. Generally getting about we used trams. You can buy blocks of tickets and stamp them in the machine when you get in. Under 3s travel free and there are child fares 3-15 years. (Parking in the centre is a real problem.)

There are a few places where we ate well, notably a weekend-only breakfast place called Radost on IP Pavlova, run by Americans. There were giant waffles, huge omelettes for example for just £1.50 and £2. There is also an adjoining restaurant with vegetarian food.

There is also an English-owned vegetarian restaurant called Country Life on Mostecka Road, U-Vladare in Mala Strana, offering excellent freshly squeezed juices and they also have a health food shop between the Old and New Town Squares.

We also ate in two of the old art deco places - Kaverna Slavia and Obecni Dum - for the surroundings rather than the food. The second is a beautiful building and they sometimes have concerts. The best traditional dish is beef or pork escaloppes in a thick vegetable cream gravy called Svickova. For relief one of the best French restaurants, in Prague 4, is Bistro Marlene.Unless staying in at least a four-star hotel, don't expect much in the way of breakfast. Our limited buffet included flasks of horrible tea and poor coffee. If you want tea, take your own teabags. Shops have lovely bread (not found in our hotel) and good cheap fruit plus cheese and cured sausages. Prague water is pretty horrible so it is best to drink mineral water. A local bottled product known as good water tastes like flat carbonated water. Better is an international one, sold in central shops.

It would be best to take your own nappies and babyfood. There are Huggies in Tesco near Wenceslas Square, patronised by ex-pats, but they were expensive. We also found Hipp babyfood in an organic/healthfood shop in Mala Strana on Mostecka Road but nowhere else. There are some lovely wooden toys on sale - better for younger children - and pretty stuff for children's rooms such as a balloon lamp. Shops worth looking at include Prodejna, Karlova 23 with Czech-made toys; Hracky Kid-Trnka, Ostrovni 21 a famous Czech puppet-maker; Art Dekor, Adria Palace, Narodni trida 40 with hand-made fabric toys and quilts; plus Krokodil, Bartolomejska 3 with electric trains and accessories. Most wooden toys cost under £5. However, smarter shops do charge extra for items which you might find cheaper elsewhere. Rachna Kanwar