This might come as a shock to some, but the Czech Republic is more than just Prague. And we know, your vacation is short but hey, if you can slap on one extra day, we truly believe you should venture out of the city for a bit - it will give you a better idea about what the Czech Republic is, and immerse you more into the culture. Just like NYC doesn’t give you a full idea of what America is, there’s more to Czechia than Prague. So where do you go? We have a few tips.
Kutná Hora
We just love Kutná Hora. Just over an hour by train from Prague (you have to switch trains at Kutná Hora’s main train station and fetch the local train to the more central Kutná Hora město station, but that’s super easy), this small Medieval town that mined one third of all of Europe’s silver in 1200s is easy to navigate, walkable and easy, but offers great sights for the adults, and great spots for kids as well.
Most people associate Kutná Hora with Sedlec’s Ossuary (or „Bone Church“), which is a memorial to the victims of the plague, decorated with human bones to incredible detail. (Hope you like old Metallica videos.) But we actually rarely go there. Out favorite place, often passed by many, is the GASK - former convent turned into a beautiful gallery of modern art with arguably the best two play rooms for kids in Central Europe. (Our son JJ just adores that place.) And St Barbara Cathedral is stunning and up there with the largest cathedrals of Prague. The museum of silver mining is a fun place to go, and the park underneath the convent and cathedral has some cool playgrounds for kids and benches to rest your legs after a lovely walk through the forest/park on the opposite side of the valley.
Kutná Hora has good coffee, too: we like Kafírnictví on the main square and Turistka by GASK. Café Havlíček and Café 21 are nice, too. If you want to eat great traditional Czech fare (and have a car or hire a cab), have your lunch at Na pašince. V Ruthardce is nice, too, but can get touristy. Čtyři sestry is a modern Vietnamese restaurant that is nice, too. And during the summer, treat yourself to ice-cream at Zmrzlinárna Kutná Hora. (If you have a car, get some traditional soft serve at Zmrzlina Karlov - you’re in for a very local experience.)
To summarise, Kutná Hora is the perfect one-day trip: easy to get in and get out, great sights and loads of history, but with local businesses that offer good quality. If we were you, we’d go on a working day - this is a very popular tourist destination for locals during the weekends.
Brno
Brno ideally needs a separate post to capture the greatness of it. The people of Prague love to make fun of Brno, the second largest city in the country, and the capital of Moravia, but in reality, it has become a popular weekend destination for many capital dwellers after they „rediscovered“ Brno during Covid when foreign travel was not possible. (The fact is - obviously - that Brno was great all along.)
The capital of Brno is stunning and easily walkable, offers great sights (the churches!), great food and drinks. Due to restricted traffic, the center has a great vibe at night with a lively scene on the streets (you will quickly realise that Brno is home to many universities) and just like with Bordeaux, the proximity to the wine country manifests itself with a surprisingly high consumption… of beer.
You can get to Brno by train, but given recent repairs, buses are a very good option, too. We suggest you take the two-hour bus ride to Brno and spend the night, especially during the weekend. (Avoid Brno on Mondays - the best restaurants are closed.)
What not to miss in Brno? Most people will immediately say Villa Tugendhat, the UNESCO-protected residential villa by Mies van den Rohe, and one of the most famous pieces of modern architecture in the world. If you want a tour, you have to book months ahead, but the garden is accessible without reservation, and you can see some of the interior, too. You cannot leave Brno without seeing it, that’s for sure. The Špilberk castle is a great (and short) walk uphill with some impressive views, and we love the Baroque explosion that is the Loretto hut in the Minorite Convent. The Capucin Crypt is creepy, as a crypt should be, and the St Peter and Paul Cathedral is stunning. We also love the recently renovated Applied Arts Museum, but there’s so many things to see and do in Brno… we’d need a separate post for it. (Did we mention that already?)
Where to eat? Dinner is easy - Atelier Bistro & Bar, or Element, or Manya. Brno has always been known for cocktails - so treat yourself to a boozy tour of Super Panda Circus, Bar, který neexistuje, Čtyři pokoje, Atelier Bar, and Whiskey bar. There’s so many craft beer pubs in Brno it’s difficult to figure out where to start, but Na stojáka would be a good place. Get your wine fix at justWine or Kaple. What else? Breakfast at Eggo is an absolute must (!), Bucheck food truck offers great fast food for lunch, Dezertina (run by Bucheck’s partner) is awesome for pastries, as is Sorry, pečeme jinak, and Ještě jednu serves arguably the best ice-cream in the country. Ramen Brno is where you get your ramen fix. And the restaurant of the Passage hotel is a great food option, too. But we’re definitely forgetting many more.
Coffee in Brno is great, too. The obvious stops are Monogram Espresso Bar, Industra Coffee and if you want to buy beans, too, go to The Roses. But Skog - with its crazy opening hours - is great, too, Café Mitte is atmospheric, and Café Friedrich is a beautiful neighbourly affair just off the city centre. Chleba Brno bakes the best bread in town.
Summary: Brno flies below the radar, and you should definitely visit. We usually book one night at the Barceló Palace hotel and enjoy the weekend vibes. Getting in and out from Prague is fairly easy, with a two-hour ride from centre to centre. Trains now take just under three hours now, due to repairs along the way (spring 2023).
Tábor
Flying a bit under the radar, Tabor is a beautiful little Medieval town in Southern Bohemia just one hour by train from Prague. Founded in 1420 by the Hussites, the city centre is a small but beautiful maze of narrow Gothic streets. Tábor also seems to have a working civic society, driven by natives who went to Prague and came back with liberal ideas about what the town should be. Finally, compared to the rest of the towns on this list, Tábor is arguably the least touristy.
If you crave coffee, definitely have your cup at Kafe Knihy Jednota - a cool café with some home-baked goodies and a great book store on the side. Just a bit down the road is Výběr, an organic store and bakery that also serves coffee in the back (both of these have great kids corners). Výčep on the main square is a great place to sample some local organic beers (with the great Obora brewery being the dominant force in the area). The Goldie restaurant may be a hotel restaurant with some questionable design choices, but the food is bona fide good Czech fare with some finishing touches that show major aspirations. The Rafariz Uyghur Noodle House serves tasty Uyghur noodles, while Tandoor a few blocks away is a surprisingly good Indian restaurant.
Karlovy Vary
When UNESCO came out with the Great Spas of Europe world heritage sites in 2021, it was no surprise to the Czechs that three of the eleven chosen spas were located in Czechia; the Western part of Bohemia is know for its spa towns, after all. And the most famous of them is undoubtedly Karlovy Vary, or Carlsbad.
The entire town is basically a big, fat Wes Anderson movie - think Grandhotel Budapest, but in the Czech Republic. When you go, try to book a room at the crown jewel of Carlsbad, the Grandhotel Pupp, an establishment that’s been there, in one form or another, since 1701. Remember when James Bond went to defibrillate himself in his Aston Martin after that poker game in Casino Royale? Well, that was the courtyard of Grandhotel Pupp.
In any case, Carlsbad is a beautiful Belle Epoque spa town with multiple mineral springs along the river Teplá. Just get yourself a spa wafer and one of those adorable mineral water cups with a spout and try the entire variety of what Jan lovingly calls „50 shades of sulphur“. The town used to be a bastion of well-off Russian emigrés and tourists, but that seems to be history now due to recent world events, so the town is now on a track of reinventing itself as a destination for spa-lovers from both Czechia and the Western world. For a week in June, Carlsbad hosts an international film festival, which turns the city into a party town where glitterati from Prague and elsewhere go and party all day and all night. This can obviously be super fun, but going some other time will give you a truer image of what Carlsbad really is.
What to taste? We’ll start with cocktails, because the Becher’s Bar at the basement of Grandhotel Pupp, adorned with black-and-white staged photos of the stars that visited the film festival throughout the years, would be one of the standouts in Prague, too. Promenáda is an old-fashioned restaurant where the waiter still prepares Crêpes Suzette on the flambé cart table-side. 480 Pizzeria Napoletana is a solid Neapolitan-style pizza, while Sabor Mediterraneo next door offers Spanish-style tapas and steaks. And Le Marché is a classic French restaurant. Coffee? Have it at Kavárna Lékárna by City Roasters or Republica coffee - they’re opposite each other. And Krcálek manages to serve specialty coffee, sandwiches and sweets on a tiny footprint.
Český Krumlov
There’s only two downsides to Český Krumlov, the beautiful town in Southern Bohemia protected by the UNESCO: it’s a bit farther away, just under three hours by train (you want to splurge on first class here: it’s still not expensive, and you get table service from the restaurant car), and it’s not a „hidden gem“ by any means - everybody knows about Český Krumlov. That’s why we recommend you spend a night there, because Český Krumlov is at its most beautiful before the buses of tourists arrive, and after they leave.
And beautiful it is: first mentioned in 1240, the town has been the seat of many aristocratic families throughout history, and they each left something behind. The town’s historical centre is compact and towers over the banks of the Vltava river, which is full of people during the high season - rafting and boating on the Vltava is a popular holiday pastime for the Czechs, and you can definitely rent a raft or a boat when you’re there. There’s also many museums in Krumlov, including the Egon Schiele Art Centre, dedicated to arguably the most famous resident of the town. But the best way to enjoy the town is just to get lost in the narrow Medieval streets and enjoy the serenity and the history of the place, palpable especially at night or early in the morning, without the crowds.
There’s also a few places to eat when in town: Topinka is a great breakfast or brunch place and the terrace seating offers a splendid view of the river and the town. (Check opening times - they change based on the season.) Get your coffee fix at Masná 130, or Kolektiv. Both offer specialty coffee and skilled baristas. Artisanal cocktails can be had at the great and atmospheric Apoteka bar. Depo is a great pub with fresh Pilsners, Bistro Náplavka is a food truck with tasty treats by the river that only works during the summer. Egon Café is great for wine and food, and Můstek will scratch your burger itch.
Olomouc
Just over a two-hour train ride from Prague you’ll find Olomouc, a medieval university town that became the Moravian bishop’s seat in 1063 and the seat of the first Moravian university in 1573. With a population of 100 thousand and 20 thousand university students, Olomouc mixes the old, Catholic and Jesuit with the very, very young.
Don’t get the first impression of a rather shabby railway station fool you: just hop on a tram and in 10 minutes you’re in a beautiful, cobblestoned city centre full of churches and university buildings. The main sights include the Holy Trinity Column, part of UNESCO’s world heritage, and a series of fountains with mythological themes. St Wenceslas Cathedral is properly impressive, as is the Archdiocesan Museum of Olomouc, which includes the Přemyslid Castle from 1055 that saw the murder of the last Přemyslid king, Wenceslas III, in 1306. Another interesting sight is the Astronomical Clock, where the 1955 remodelling added some Communist touches to the original.
Where do you eat? If you’re up for a fancy dinner, look no further than the Entrée restaurant, one of the best restaurants this side of Prague. Since the executive chef is now a judge on Masterchef, book well in advance to get a table, especially during the weekends. Long Story Short is a great modern restaurant and bakery right in the city centre - this is great for coffee and cake, lunch or dinner, either inside or - in the summer - in their beautiful courtyard. If you’re looking for good breakfast or lunch, also have a look at Paulus bistro, run by Chef Paulus who gained a Michelin star in Prague’s Alcron restaurant back in the day.
If you want a simpler pub fare, check out Drápal, a classic Pilsner pub just at the edge of the city centre. Need coffee? Olomouc delivers: we really like the tiny Traffic Coffee, the super popular Kafe jak lusk, or Pikola espresso bar. As always, European Coffee Trip has some great tips for coffee in Olomouc. Finally, when you’re there, you have to try Olomoucký tvarůžek, a local stinky (but surprisingly delicious) cheese. Cheers!
