My trip Prague-Vienna-Dresden
Good afternoon. So I found time to write a review about my trip to Prague.
Perhaps someone will find this information useful in the future.
So... I flew to the Czech Republic from 07/16/11 to 07/23/11 on the tour "Golden Prague-Vienna-Dresden" from Amigo-Tours by Czech Airlines.
I chose the tour on my own and according to certain requirements.
I opted for the Olga Hotel, because the distance from it to the center and the variety of transport fully met my requirements.
The hotel is 5 tram stops from the center, which corresponds to a 7-8 minute drive to the stop at the Powder Gate (meeting point before all tours) or 2 metro stops.
Trams run strictly according to the schedule and every 10 minutes. Travel cards (or as they are called "rides") have risen in price in the Czech Republic since July 1 and now cost 24 crowns for 30 minutes and 32 crowns for 90 minutes (both with one transfer). Only kroons are accepted everywhere, so when you arrive, exchange literally a couple of euros / dollars for kroons at the airport or buy from us on SB (the rate is terribly not profitable, but you won’t go broke with such a trifle) just to buy a travel card before the first tour . The hotel does not change the currency and, by the way, they do not sell these travel cards, but they are sold right at the bus stop at the Tabak kiosk (leave the hotel and immediately to the left, straight to the first intersection and to the right - go less than 2 minutes).
The hotel is an entrance to the house, there is also a restaurant, though it was under repair when I was there. The audibility in the hotel is really fantastic. only one thin front door separates you from the common corridor, BUT there is another door into the room from the corridor of the room, and if you close it too, then all sounds are muffled quite strongly. Refrigerator, hair dryer, iron and safe in my room was not. But I didn’t take the safe, no one rummaged through my things and nothing was lost.
At the reception, everyone speaks good Russian, cleaning is done daily, linen and towels have not been changed, because. I've only been there for a week and haven't had time to mess anything up. )) Breakfast was a buffet: two types of ham and cheese, sausage, something hot, muesli, milk, juice, coffee, tea and pastries. It was more than enough for me, although it might not have been enough for men, BUT you are in Prague, and you can’t overlook these cafes, bars and restaurants there. ) Speaking of catering, I still didn’t find such famous cafes in Prague, in which there is a large, good dinner for 2-3 people costs 400 rubles, although to be honest, I didn’t look for it, because. there was no time at all.
The work of Amigo-Tours is clearly debugged and put on stream, as in principle with other operators. You are waiting for 15 minutes and if you do not come, then entertain and deliver yourself to your destination on your own. But they have one guide who puts his soul into his excursions, reading Tsvetaeva on the Charles Bridge and counting his group on field trips just over their heads, her name is Lyudmila, unfortunately, I don’t know her last name, because our group was lucky enough to get to her on a couple of excursions.
I liked the sightseeing tours of Prague very much, because. on my own, even using the knowledge gleaned from the Internet, I would not have been able to see and learn so many interesting things. Exit excursion to Vienna produced ABSOLUTELY the opposite impression. In no case DO NOT buy it for yourself as an additional one from Amigo-Tours ! ! Vienna is great! ! But our tour was an hour run through the historical center and EVERYTHING! Since the group was large and the guide used a microphone, having previously given us a receiver-earphone that worked at a distance of 4-5 m, then, accordingly, most of the group did not hear ANYTHING! And due to the fact that it was a run, we only managed to take pictures on the run... In general, if I bought this excursion for 100 euros as an additional one, it would turn out that I paid this money just for travel by bus. By the way, it takes about 5 hours to go to Vienna on a big bus - there with a stop of 40 minutes, back about 4 hours. If you still go to Vienna, be sure to visit the AIDA coffee shop, this is a whole chain of coffee shops in the center, and try coffee and cakes there . . it's just a fairy tale....ummmm))
I liked the excursion to Dresden, although it was also short, but the guide was constantly interested in: “Does everyone hear her? ”, For which our whole group was incredibly grateful . . )) Go to Dresden for a couple of hours. I advise everyone to visit the porcelain museum there (well, of course, in addition to the gallery) and men will be interested in the museum of weapons. A ticket is bought alone for all three museums, it costs 8-10 euros (I don’t remember exactly).
Also in Prague, we went to the Krzhizhikovy fountains on our own - interesting. It is necessary to go to the performances no earlier than 21.00 (in summer), because. this is the "dancing" of the fountain with illumination to the music and in the dusk / darkness it looks more bewitching. The entrance ticket costs about 200 crowns, by the way, they are located next to the Olga hotel, where I lived.
Exchange offices in Prague are all in the center, they used ONLY Arabic ones, there really are no commissions, most work every day. On the very first day on a sightseeing tour, the guide took us to one of these exchange offices and waited until the whole group exchanged money. This point, in my opinion, is in the Mustek metro, unfortunately I don’t remember exactly, another point to the left of the entrance to the Palladium shopping center (if you are facing it, and Kotva shopping center will be behind you).
And of course shopping. . . Because. I specifically planned my trip for the sales season, so I prepared for this by studying a lot of useful and useless information on the Internet. And this is the result - all clothes (except leather) cost exactly the same as ours. Pleased with the prices ONLY for shoes (Mr. Salamander), leather jackets and bags (TC Kotva), glasses (TC Flora). So the advertised Outlet Center outside the city is NOTHING interesting! ! I spent half a day on it and really regretted it, believe me, there are no "fabulous" prices. In Dresden, the girls from our group managed to run to the shopping center for shopping and said that the prices there are lower than Czech ones, I can’t confirm or deny these words, because. I spent all the time there on museums (I had 3 hours of free time).
And lastly, and most importantly, shoes in Prague should be ONLY sports shoes, with shock-absorbing soles. Those. either sneakers or sneakers, tk. all slippers, slates, sandals and shoes after a couple of hours of walking on the cobblestones, if they don’t start rubbing you, then they will certainly start to reverberate in your back with wild pain, especially if you are used to driving a car in your country...
Prague is beautiful and once is not enough for it... I think I will go there again, but on my own, without any guides...
The story turned out to be somehow long, but I hope NOT useless... ))