Hi all,
I will be in Prague between Christmas and New Years. I want to see all the main sites and experience the city as a local. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to stay? It seems like Old Town has a lot to see but New Town has the restaurants etc.
I would also love any suggestions on where to eat if you loved a spot!
Thanks!
We stayed here: http://www.arcadiaresidence.com. It was absolutely awesome. Enormous apartment...at least 1000 square feet. Breakfast included each day...delivered to our apartment on a serving cart and set out for us. In the Old Town area.
Valerie is absolutely correct. Arcadia Residence is amazing. We were in the attic apartment at Kozna 6 in 2012. We booked 8 months ahead for them. I think she's referring to the apartments on Kozna 6, as they have others in other locations. If you are talking about Christmas 2015 I'm afraid you are out of luck for Arcadia Residence. They are a very popular place. Just for fun I emailed them a couple weeks ago about dates in late December 2015/early January 2016. Didn't even get a reply. I ended up booking this apartment at Municipal House:
https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/7333213
From this apartment its 7 or 8 minutes walking to the old town square to the west and same distance to the main train station to the east.
There are tons of restaurants throughout the old town area. No specific recommendations.
if you want to see the city as a local then get a job working in the tourist industry.
The Old town and new town are really just one large area and it is easy to walk through each area and hardly notice the change. Staying near the Old town Square would be great for you ,so much going on at that time of year .
I was in Prague last week(I visit the city several times a year and will be spending even more time there when I retire).
I don't tend to go to the fancier resturants and go to hospodas that are resturant /bars.
2 new places I was in last week were the Narodni Pivovar and Kozlovna Puakreta, both were very good and did Czech food in a more modern style ie gastro pub style . Both these places are in the old town close to the national Theatre ,in the same area is Café Louvre a real favourite spot of mine.Seriously you will be spoilt for choice in Prague for place to eat and drink in any area of Pragaue
We stayed at the Green Garland. Pension in Old Town:
http://www.uzv.cz/about/
It was centrally located a 5 minute walk in one direction to the Clock and 5 minutes to the near side of the Charles Bridge walking in the opposite direction.
That said Prague's Old Town and New Toiwn areas are compact and walkable.
Not a problem finding restaurants given its a tourist area, especially if you like Czech food and good beer.
I was there in May and had an absolutely gorgeous room at The Iron Gate on Michalska, very close to the main square. About $100 US, included a good breakfast and I was given a junior suite so had a lovely living room area and a separate bed chamber, every part of their service was top-notch.
We stayed at the Golden Prague Residence which is next to the Intercontinental Hotel and managed by them -- you have access to their gym and spa for free, can charge things to your room if you do breakfast there and they can arrange for limo to the airport or whatever -- but it is basically a 3 star level apartment. The location was fabulous -- we could easily walk to old town square and to the Charles Bridge and new town. We like having a kitchen and the extra space of a one bedroom apartment. This place was nicely furnished and pleasant and while we mostly ate breakfast in and dinner out, we did like having the Intercontinental available.
Prague is quite small and regardless of which part of town you choose to stay in, you will be within easy walk of most everything, especially if you take advantage of the extensive tram and metro system.
We really liked eating at Slavia Kavarna right on the river - original art deco decor interior and reasonably priced. It's a Prague landmark.
The modern art museum on the west side of the river has a great riverside restaurant with a great view.
I did my study abroad program in Praha and have been back several times. I will be back again about the same time as you in fact. I lived in Karlin/Florenc when I studied there and usually stay there when I return. There are few tourists there so I feel like a local but it is only a ten minute walk to Old Town or less via tram or metro. Plus, that is where the Pivovarsky Klub is and they have the broadest selection of beer in entire country.
This past August, we stayed at Hotel Residence Agnes - which was outstanding. I posted information about our experience in the "Hotel and Restaurant Reviews" (Czech Republic) section of this forum.
