Prague Travel: Advices for Hot Sightseeings, Travel Visas and Travel Costs

Beautiful buildings, bargain-price beer and Bohemian beads. Sightseeing in Prague means wandering through an invigorating diversity of neighbourhoods and pounding the cobblestones between old fortifications, historically resplendent squares and streets, majestic church-fronts, green open-air cuttings, and countless museum and gallery ticket booths.

Maticka Praha – ‘little mother Prague’ – was largely undamaged by WWII, and the cityscape is stunning. Its compact medieval centre remains an evocative maze of cobbled lanes, ancient courtyards, dark passages and churches beyond number, all watched over by an 1100-year-old castle.

Kidnapped by communism for 40 years, Prague has become one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations. Its traditional pubs and eateries have been augmented by a wave of gourmet restaurants, cocktail bars and trendy cafes – though you can still feast on pork and dumplings washed down with a beer. The author collect some most famous sights in this city, and some useful information for travelers.

Charles Bridge
Strolling across Charles Bridge is everybody’s favourite Prague activity. However, by 09:00 it’s a 500m-long fairground, with an army of tourists squeezing through a gauntlet of hawkers and buskers, beneath the impassive gaze of the imposing baroque statues that line the parapets (see the boxed text, ). If you want to experience the bridge at its most atmospheric it’s best appreciated at dawn.

Old Town Square

Exploring the Old Town is a monumental task. The centrepiece of Staré Město is the huge 1.7-hectare Old Town Square. It has been Prague’s working heart since the 10th century, and hosted its largest market until the beginning of the 20th century. It’s surrounded by a maze of alleys and is home to some of Prague’s most famous monuments.

Prague Castle
With a magnificent clifftop outlook, a 1000-year-old history going back to a simple walled-in compound in the 9th century, and a breathtaking scale that qualifies it as the biggest ancient castle in the world, Prague Castle is the indisputable centrepiece of the Czech capital. Spend at least half a day in awe here.

Franz Kafka Museum
This much-hyped exhibition on the life and work of Prague’s most famous literary son opened here in 2005 after three years in Barcelona and three years in New York. Entitled ‘City of K’, it explores the intimate relationship between the writer and the city that shaped him through the use of original letters, photographs, quotations, period newspapers and publications, and video and sound installations.

National Museum
Looming above Wenceslas Square is the neo-Renaissance bulk of the National Museum, designed in the 1880s by Josef Schulz as an architectural symbol of the Czech National Revival.

The displays of rocks, fossils and stuffed animals have a rather old-fashioned feel – serried ranks of glass display cabinets arranged on creaking parquet floors – but even if taxidermy isn’t your thing it’s still worth a visit just to enjoy the marbled splendour of the interior and the views down Wenceslas Square.

Visas:

Nationals of all western European countries, Japan, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand can visit the Czech Republic for up to 90 days, and UK citizens for up to 180 days, without a visa. Nationals of South Africa and many other countries must obtain a visa, which is good for a stay of between 30 and 90 days depending on your nationality. Note that although the Czech Republic is now part of the EU, the visas issued by the Czech Republic are national and not Schengen visas. When the Czech Republic joined the European Union they did not become part of the Schengen area. Therefore valid Schengen visas cannot be used for entering the Czech Republic. Note also that Czech visas do not allow aliens to enter the territories of other EU member states. All aliens who require a visa when travelling to the Czech Republic must therefore have a valid Czech visa, corresponding to the purpose and length of their stay in the country.

Travel costs:
Average Room Cost
Low                            Mid                                        High                                          

Kč500-1400         Kč 1400-4000              Kč 4000

Average Meal Cost
Low                                        Mid                       High                           Deluxe
Kč150-300           Kč 300-600             Kč 600-1000          Kč 1000+