Excursions from Prague

A little more information might help. Are you committed to both arriving and leaving Europe from Prague? How many nights do you have total to sleep in Europe? If you're committed to Prague and have only 6 nights, I think those listed cities are going to be a tight fit because each one is at least a 5 hour travel time each way and you'll therefore take up 2 days with the travel.

If you can fly home from one of those cities, you have time for a quick visit to any of them. Prague is worth at least 3 nights, though, and probably more since your daughter is there. That does't leave you a ton of time. Cesky Krumlov is only about 170 km away and it's a nice little town for 2 nights. I haven't done other quick trips from Prague - hopefully someone else will weigh in with a few more ideas.

Yes, We are committed to both arriving and departing from Prague and will be staying in Europe for a total of 6 nights. I will look into Cesky Krumlov. Thank you for your input!

We took two day trips while visiting Prague last August: A full-day (10-hour) trip to Dresden with Kamil Vondrous (Prague-Extra) and a 6-hour trip to Terezin with "Helen" of Wittmann Tours. The latter was supposed to be a group tour, but my wife and I were the only customers that day, so it was essentially a private tour. I enthusiastically recommend both guides/companies, which are also listed in the RS guidebook.

Good evening Darlene,

With six days in the Czech Republic, I advise that you split your time between Prague, Brno and Olomouc. Both Brno and Olomouc are thriving university cities with lots of young people and lots of cool things to see and do.

Brno has a wonderful relaxed vibe, compared to the tourist mayhem of Prague. Also make sure that check out the Moravian Karst cave system (absolutely incredible) and try and schedule a visit of Villa Tugendhat.

Olomouc is as old as Prague, with incredible monuments, beautiful architecture and a rich history. It also has very few tourists which make it all the more fun to explore. It is a real hidden gem - and Rick rates it very highly.

Finally, I would avoid Cesky Krumlov. It is pretty, but is suffers from far too much mass tourism. Brno and Olomouc will serve you better and give you a real flavour for the country.

I hope that this helps,

Marcus

Marcus and Robert,
Thank you for your recommendations. We are now planning to stay in Prague for the 6 nights and take day trips to visit some of the towns and sites you've suggested and really get to enjoy as much of the Czech Republic as time allows.

Most foreign tourist see Cesky Krumlov as a day trip, but it takes forever to get there (~3h) since it's not really near Prague anymore. Easily doable are:

Kutna Hora - great cathedral and beautiful setting
Tabor - cute, untouristy town and historically interesting
Karlovy Vary - beautiful spa town
Bohemian/Saxon Switzerland - probably the most beautiful mountains of Central Europe
Dresden - museums, museums, museums... and a few famous, reconstructed buildings

If you are just going to do day trips then the suggestions Martin makes are excellent. I really love Tabor,not a great deal of English speaking tourist go there but it is a delightful Place and the most friendly place I have visited in the Czech republic.Karlovy Vary is beautiful but it is best in good weather as it really is one of these walking about towns.Kutna Hora is probably the easiest place to get to from Prague and has some fantastic sights, bit hilly(well built on a fairly steep hill) but manageable and plenty to keep you busy for the day.
Bohemian Switzerland, this is the area I first visited when I first came to the Czech republic about 23 years ago, just stunning places to walk.
Never been to Dresden so can't coment.
You could also consider doing a day trip to Terezin that Robert suggests and or half day trips to Lidice or Karlstejn.

As a day trip from Prague you can also do castles Konopiste or Krivoklat or about 100 km away Pilsen (Plzen). Moderate size city. Nice square with the tallest church tower in C.R. Most people go to Pilsen to do tour of Pilsner Urquell Brewery. Brewery is huge. If you are into history visit General Patton Memorial in Pilsen.
Brno (second largest) and Olomouc (sixth largest city in C.R.) are nice to visit too. But both are over 200 km from Prague. It takes two hours one way to Olomouc by the fastest train (Pendolino) and two and half hours to Brno by train or Yellow bus (Student Agency bus).

Forgot to mention that, on our way from Prague to Linz, Austria (to catch a train), we stopped at the (Budweiser Budvar Brewery) in Ceske Budejovice (CB). Had an excellent tour with an English speaking guide and also had made reservations to eat lunch at the brewery restaurant, which was quite good. You can make both tour and restaurant reservations on line. We had a private driver for this trip, but in a prior post to this forum I had asked about public transportation to CB, and several folks replied that it is doable (day trip wise) from Prague. 'Budvar' was my favorite beer when I lived in Vienna, so this was on my bucket list. I greatly prefer Budvar over Pilsner Urquell, which so many people rave about but I find to be bitter. That statement might start another whole string about the best Czech beers!

Beer should be bitter just right. It contains hops. Just right is different for different people. For me Pilsner Urquell is bitter just right and I consider it as one of the best beers anywhere.
By the way Budweiser from Ceske Budejovice (German name Budweis) is the original Budweiser and also much better than that yellow water from St. Louis.
C.B. as a day trip from Prague is on the edge because one way by train or bus takes two and half hours.

well if anyone wants to start a thread on Czech beer I am very willing to give my opinion ,been to numerous beer festivals in the Czech republic, visited all the major breweries apart from Krusovice but going there in a couple of weeks time.Visited numerous micro-breweries in Prague and various parts of the country, drank in more pubs than I could count, yeah had a few beers, some I like better than others and very few I would not drink again.