Prague, Early October 2026

I highly recommend the Grandium Hotel. Prices are very affordable and it is an excellent hotel. The breakfast is top notch. Only a 12-15 minute walk to Old Town and a metro stop a block away. 5 minute walk to the Prague Main Train Station. It is far away from the noise, but easy walk to all the sights of Prague.

I saw Grandium in Booking, but so many 1.0 ratings I moved on.

I stayed 8 nights in Prague in October 2025. I narrowed my choices down to Residence Agnes and Hotel Hastal, which are about a block apart. I mentioned my choice to a private guide with whom I was scheduling a couple of tours; she recommended Hastal over Agnes. I followed her advice and was very happy with Hastal. My thoughts as noted in my trip report for the 8-day stay in Prague:

I liked the hotel quite a bit. Front desk staff were professional,
friendly and helpful. Breakfast was great. The neighborhood was
reasonably quiet, even though it was just a few blocks off Old Town
Square. I reserved the one room in the hotel with a balcony; I enjoyed
sitting on it in the evening while watching the world go by. The
morning breakfast buffet had many hot and cold choices. My biggest
criticism is that the WiFi dropped out from time to time – not for a
long time, but just long enough to be annoying and long enough to lose
connections on WiFi phone calls. My second criticism is bad coffee –
both the brewed coffee in the breakfast area (weak) and the coffee
from the espresso machine in the lobby (not very pleasing flavor to
me). Happily, there was a great hole-in-the-wall coffee shop half a
block down the street called ONESIP COFFEE. Great coffee with a young,
friendly staff.

Day trips: I heard positive things from people who day tripped to Pilsen (though I did not do this). Dresden would probably be 2 hours each way by car; 2+ hours by train. That would be a little too much time lost to travel for me, and I feel like Dresden is worth more than a day trip.

I stayed at the Julius a little over two weeks ago.

All I can say is .....wow. It is an aparthotel and I stay in quite a few of them. This is the best one I've ever stayed in. The hotel is five star, the service is amazing.

Very quiet, clean, everything seemed very new. Just on the border of old and new towns. Very nice area. A 10-15 minute walk to the heart of old town.

It's a five minute walk to the main train station for day trips.

There is also a large self-service laundry with five washers and five dryers.

The down side....it is pricey. But it's now my go to hotel for Prague.

When I visited Prague I stayed at Hotel Roma
https://www.hotelromaprague.com/en/

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/czech-reviews/hotel-roma

A few of my go-to places for guests.

Czech U Pivrnice, U Parliamentu, Hybernska, Potrefena Husa, Kozlovna

Look at Archibald by Charles Bridge.. very central but set away from the main foot/bridge traffic.
Hastal is also central but on a lesser street. The Cube, Moods by Charles Bridge

Re:Dresden.. try to sit on the right side of the train headed out.. the route follows the river most of the way.

In Plsen, book your brewery tour on line. The Great Synagogue is wroth a visit. It is a very Pro American town.. this was the only area of Czecho to be liberated by the US

Have lunch at Teraza.. the Terrace.. overlooking the square. (atop the hotel)

I followed her advice and was very happy with Hastal.

We were also quite happy with our stay there. A short walk to the main square, yet on a quiet street. Excellent breakfast. It's a short walk from the tram stop for getting to/ from the train station.

PART 1

Hi All,

Here’s a quick summary of our Euro trip (21 Sep-14 Oct). Thank you all for your thoughts regarding this and other holidays.

We had attended a military reunion in Brunswick, ME previously to our BOS-CDG-LGW (Delta) flight. Flight good, but had only paid a bit more for Comfort - it was not as comfortable, nor the food and service as good as on our usual carrier, United - price was right and UA didn’t have a way to get us to LGW. Gatwick because our friends we visited with for three days lived closer to it than Heathrow.

British friends are charming and such wonderful hosts! Summer had been long and hot and dry, but England was still beautiful!

We stayed overnight at Hampton Inn at LGW because flight was at 0700 … our friends appreciated this, I think :-) LGW-HAM EasyJet flight was fine, but, well, EasyJet. German friends picked us up at HAM and we stayed at their home an hour away for three nights - another super experience with incredible hosting and wonderful people (we had met them a year ago on a cruise in Alaska) - their turn next year at our home! So much fun, so much great German food. He is fluent and she is nearly so. Just so much fun!

Relocated to the Renaissance Hamburg in order to see the city a bit (walking tour with guide), and to attend a concert at the incredible Elbphilharmonie - a very wow architectural wonder - our son is a classical musician so we’re continuing as supportive parents. Hamburg is a big city - wish we could have stayed longer!

Grabbed the U-Bahn the next morning to get to the Hamburg Hbf to train to Lübeck - stayed at the Atlantic Hotel (a nice place). Fun walking the old town and a day trip to Schwerin for quick look at the castle (kind of a meh). A monthly pass “Deutschland Ticket" (1st - 30th/31st) is €63 (automatically renews on the 10th of each month so one must cancel by the 10th) - this pass made sense as our relocations were via train - and most of the routes were serviced mainly by Regional (R or RE) trains, vice the ICE/IC, EC trains, which are not included on this ticket - nor is 1st class, but again, our trips were short (1.5-3 hours).

3 Oct is German Unity Day - we trained to Warnemünde and arrived as the folks were celebrating being in a beachside community! I liked Warnemünde - on the Baltic with beaches and many, many restaurants - would like to have stayed longer than the two nights. Small hotel was very nice, great breakfast, service, spa, etc - Baltic Hideaways.

PART 2

Headed to Ostseebad Binz - another nice beachside location - history as a beach resort with incredible architecture. While I didn’t like it as much as Warnemünde, it was nice. Older hotel with maintained historical architecture - Hotel Freustil - they met us at the Hbf and provided wine and beer at check-in. Note - we usually try to stay somewhere walking distance to the train station - just makes everything less stressful - and, it's good exercise! Another nice spa. Toured the area a bit, and then met the wife of our German friends - she was from that area - gracious and fun! Not as many restaurants as Warnemünde, but sufficient - all good, too.

Had a reasonable departure time from Binz - took advantage of a ride back to the Hbf for the long ride to Praha. I like trying to understand train systems in Europe - and, this was another interesting excursion into a rabbit hole! Since the trip involved both German and Czech trains, and I wanted first class due to the distance (all ICE/IC/EC trains) I started with DB (German) site for the tickets, but then tried the CD (Czech) site - half the German price. An interesting point - DB does not automatically include assigned seat (reservations), but CD does (only on the CD train, though) - DB train from Binz to Berlin Süd Kreutz, and CD train from Berlin Süd Kreutz to Praha hl.n. (same as Hbf). So, I made CD reservation for tickets, and chose seats in a quiet compartment, then purchased DB seat reservations for the DB train. All worked fine - conductor comes through and show the tickets on your phone - or printed copy - no issues.

There is an issue with trains originating in Germany that cross over to Praha - apparently always late - and it is actually the fault of both train lines. Re trains - I was not impressed with the German trains - they simply did not meet their reputation, or my expectation. French trains far nicer, faster, quieter, and better maintained. We arrived Praha in driving rain after dark so Uber’d to the hotel - we were going to walk, and the hotel had offered to pick us up for a small charge (€15), but we decided to walk - bad idea. Would have been in during daylight, but 1.5 hour total delay.

Arrived at cute little hotel off the beaten path in old town - here we met our traveling friends from previous trips - check in was much like the hotel in Warnemünde - sit down with clear, they provide beer and wine - very civil and fun! Friends had just checked in so a great place to meet them - the staff thought we were quite the show. Hotel Residence Agnes - very fun. Great breakfast - and it took two minutes from phone call to delivery of cappuccino! Always ready to assist. Come back from dinner and a walk, and the desk clerk was ready and able to fix a drink, or bring a beer or wine - prices were pretty great - like €4 for a beer or wine. Always fun at Hotel Residence Agnes!

Lots of touring on foot - best day was 20,000 steps. Drinks on top Teraza, toured Petří Hill, guided tour of Prague Castle/St Vitus Cathedral. Trained one day to Plzeň for beer factory tour at Pilsner Urquell - fun to visit birthplace of Pilsner beer, but not overwhelming - limited English tours. Departed late afternoon last day and spent night at PRG due to 0600 flight out - uneventfully connecting through AMS and ATL. Same general comment wrt Delta.

Happy to answer questions!