Prague, Czech Republic
On January 23rd, myself and 23 other students embarked on a four day, three night trip to Prague in the heart of Czech Republic. Last year I headed to the beautiful city of Budapest, so I had high expectations for Prague. Although we were there for 3 nights, the first and last days were primarily spent travelling to and from the airport. We managed to fit a good bit in to our other two full days- here's what we got up to!
Where to stay;
We stayed in the cutest little hostel about 15/20 mins from the city centre by tram called Sir Toby's. The rooms were clean and affordable, and the bar downstairs was where we started our nights every evening. With happy hour from 6-8pm and beers for around 90c, you couldn't go wrong! The breakfast in the morning was a help-yourself sort of situation but the food was delicious. They also had a free dinner most evenings which I tried on the first night and it didn't disappoint. It's the perfect hostel for travelling with a large group of people, but I think if I was to visit Prague again I'd prefer to stay closer to the city centre. I've friends that stayed in a hostel there called Mosaic House and they had no complaints either.
Things to do & see;
For our first full day, we went on a two hour walking tour around the city. This covered parts of the old and new town, and cost around €6 each. Similar walking tours are usually free, but the common courtesy in Prague is to tip the tour guide whatever amount you want at the end. The day we went on the tour also happened to be the coldest day during our trip, with temperatures hitting -9 during the day. We ended the tour a bit early because of it- even with three layers of clothes on, I've never felt a bitterness like it! For our second full day, we took the 1-hour train journey out to the concentration camp town of Terezín just outside of Prague. As a bit of a history nerd, this trip in particular was one that I was really looking forward to! As we went through a company, the trip (including travel time) was about 6 hours long, but it was so worth it. It's genuinely the strangest town I've ever visited, and it was so moving to hear what went on there during WW2.
Food & nightlife;
I'll be honest- 24 students on a tight new year budget meant that most days, we were just eating pizza from the local takeaway retaurants. As I mentioned above, our hostel had free dinner which I tried the first night. I always make an effort to at least try the traditional food in the country I'm visiting! It was some sort of red lentil soup and it was delicious. My favourite meal was on the last evening when some of us went to a local Czech restaurant. I had goulash in Hungary but I was dying to try the Czech version and it was honestly one of the best dishes I've had in a while! I also tried trdelnik (pictured below) which was such a warming sweet treat.
We went out every night (nothing new there) to a variety of bars and clubs including the famous 5-storey Karlovy Lázne, as well as another club called James Dean and a bar called Groove. The student nightlife was a lot quieter than I expected (compared to Budapest this time last year) but the drinks were still ridiculously cheap.
Have you ever been to Prague? If you're heading there soon and need any more information, pop me a comment below or tweet me and I'll try my best to help!
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