Im heading to CZ @ the beginning of October for 5 or 6 days. Which is a better place to stay ? PLZEN or PRAGUE. Im assuming hotels in PLZEN are cheaper?
Posted by
Seattle
4637 posts
Hotels in Plzen are indeed cheaper. Plzen is the 4th largest city of the Czech Republic and it has about 160 thousand inhabitants. Prague has 1.3 million. Quite a difference. There is a nice square in Pilsen (German name for Plzen) with very tall tower (in Pilsen they say that is the tallest in C.R. There is a famous Pilsner Urquell brewery worth to visit. Plzen is also one of towns which were liberated by US Army in WWII. There is a Patton memorial there. I think that for the overwhelming majority of people Prague is better place to stay, especially if you haven't been there. Total eye candy, views across the river toward Hradcany Castle, medieval neighborhoods. The only advantage for Pilsen is that is cheaper to stay there. But you can find cheaper accommodation in Prague by staying farther from the center. If you like Pilsner Urquell, of course you can get it right from the source in Plzen but also all around Prague, C.R., Europe, world.
Posted by
San Francisco
14507 posts
If you want to avoid the swarms of tourists in Prague, then choose Plzen. I was there is 2001, saw the American Memorial, not that far from the train station. The farthest advance allowed by US troops in Czechoslovakia was Pilsen. That's why they were under under orders not to shoot for Prague and liberate that capital.
Posted by
Edinburgh
2639 posts
why are you visiting the CR? Prague is certainly the main tourist centre but Plzen is a fine place to visit but I think a day or two would be fine there.Hotels in Prague are pretty reasonable and if you stay outside of the main centre then you can get some very good deals.Prague also has an excellent transport system so if staying away from the centre then it is very easy and very cheap to use the public transport to get into the centre or indeed anywhere else in the city.
I am just back from Prague my second visit this year,i stay in the Dejvicka area of the city and love the area.The Hotel DAP that I use on many of my visits is about 100 yards from the metro and about 40 from the tram stop, though I spend little time in the tourist areas of Prague when I am there I can get to them in a few minutes by tram or metro.
Plzen is about 90 minutes by train away and run about hourly.